RIAI lifetime achievement award for UCD Professors Emeriti O’Donnell and Tuomey

24 November 2025


^{Professors Emeriti John Tuomey and Sheila O'Donnell Credit: Conor Healy}

The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) has awarded its lifetime achievement award, the RIAI Gandon Medal, to Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey for their outstanding contribution to architecture in Ireland, the UK and Europe.

Both Professors Emeriti at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy, O’Donnell and Tuomey founded their architectural practice (opens in a new window)O’Donnell + Tuomey in 1988. The practice now has studios in London, Dublin and Cork.

The pair graduated from the School of Architecture at UCD in 1976, with Tuomey later gaining a masters’ degree from UCD in 2004.

 “Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey have, over the past 40 years, produced some of the most thoughtful, inventive, and culturally engaged architecture, consistently demonstrating a deep respect for context and craft, balancing intellectual rigour with poetic sensitivity,” said RIAI President Sean Mahon.

The architects’ most illustrious projects include the Shanghai Opera House, the Irish Film Centre, and new spaces for the V&A Museum and Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London.

They have also worked on many academic buildings, including the UCD Centre for Research into Infectious Diseases (now the CEPHR Belfield Hub), a commission they acquired through an extensive architectural competition.

O’Donnell and Tuomey have also won several awards for their work, including the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, one of architecture’s most prestigious accolades.

By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie