Architectural competitions are rarely free of frisson, and the €300 million UCD Gateway contest is no exception. The fact that no exclusively Irish team made the shortlist raised eyebrows - and not just those of John Graby, director of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI). His initial reaction was indeed to express surprise, especially "given the internationally recognised standards of Irish architecture" - as exemplified by Heneghan Peng winning the worldwide competition for the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and Henchion Reuter winning another to revamp Leipzig Zoo. Graby also cited Grafton Architects' €65 million project at the Bucconi University in Milan, which is now nearing completion. It is known that Grafton made the "long list" for UCD, as part of a team that also included McCullough Mulvin, Shay Cleary, O'Mahony Pike and London-based David Pritchard.
