Shelley McNamara

Twelve new members including architect Shelley McNamara were elected today to Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland, bringing its total membership to 220. The new members were elected following a ballot at this year’s General Assembly, which was held today at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, Dublin. The agenda for the day-long Assembly, which is an annual event, included a private session in the morning where Aosdána reviewed its affairs and held a ballot to elect new members. This year, there were 12 available places for new members to join the affiliation with 27 nominations.

Shelley McNamara was born in Lisdoonvarna in County Clare. She attended University College, Dublin (UCD) in 1974 and together with Yvonne Farrell established Grafton Architects in 1977. Shelley has worked as a studio lecturer at the Grafton School of Architecture in UCD since 1976 and is visiting critic to schools of architecture abroad including Oxford Books University, Mendrisio and Oslo. Shelley was elected a fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland for achievement of excellence in design.

Shelley has directed the design and construction of the following projects (sample): Motorway Bridges at Dublin Airport; Office Building, Dublin City University; Dun Shaughlin Civic Offices in County Meath; Mixed Development, South King Street; screening room at Little Bird Productions at Denzille Lane in Dublin; Department of Mechanical Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin; Temple Bar Square in Dublin and St. Paul’s Secondary School in Oughterard. Her company was the winner of an international design competition for the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan due for completion in 2008. Ms McNamara is also directing this project. She represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 2002.