de Blacam & Meagher is an Irish architectural firm

Architectural firm

An architectural firm is a company which employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture.- History :Architects have existed since early in recorded history. The earliest recorded architects include Imhotep and Senemut . No writings exist to describe how these...

 formed in 1976. The firm is known for its use of natural materials especially wood. In the book Architects Today De Blacam & Meagher and O'Donnell & Tuomey

O'Donnell & Tuomey

O'Donnell + Tuomey is an architectural practice based in Dublin, Ireland.The partnership was established in 1988 by Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey...

 are referred to as "the godfathers of contemporary Irish architecture."

History

After training in Dublin, Ireland and Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, Shane de Blacam (born 1945) worked for Chamberlain Powell & Bon on the Barbican Centre

Barbican Centre

The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...

 in London and for Louis Khan in Philadelphia. John Meagher (born 1947) studied at Dublin Institute of Technology

Dublin Institute of Technology

Dublin Institute of Technology was established officially in 1992 under the but had been previously set up in 1978 on an ad-hoc basis. The institution can trace its origins back to 1887 with the establishment of various technical institutions in Dublin, Ireland...

 and for a year at Helsinki School of Architecture in 1971, and also worked early in his career in the United States for Venturi Scott Brown.

De Blacam & Meagher were the principal exhibitors in the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

 in 2010. The historian Roy Foster

R. F. Foster (historian)

Robert Fitzroy Foster FBA FRHistS FRSL - generally known as Roy Foster - is the Carroll Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, Oxford in the UK.-Background and education:...

, particularly referring to the firm's work in Dublin wrote in the exhibition catalogue of their commission's "masterly introduction of light, the texture of appropriate materials (brick, hardwood, pre-patinated copper) a use of space and volume at once imaginative and respectful of their surroundings."

Rewards

The practice has won a number of awards. The Chapel of Reconciliation

Chapel of Reconciliation

The Chapel of Reconciliation stands on the site of the old Church of Reconciliation , on Bernauer Straße in the Mitte district of Berlin.- Church of Reconciliation :...

 at the Catholic shrine at Knock, Ireland (1990) was the first Irish finalist in the Mies van der Roheaward for European architecture. The Beckett Theatre at Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

 won the Architectural Association of Ireland

Architectural Association of Ireland

The Architectural Association of Ireland is an organisation dedicated to architecture. It is not a professional accredited organisation but is open to all. In support of the profession, its activities and programs include a public lecture series, annual national architectural awards , site visits,...

's Downes Bronze Medal in 1993. De Blacam was presented with the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland

Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland

The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland founded in 1839, is the competent authority for architects and professional body for Architecture in the Republic of Ireland....

 (RIAI) in 2003 by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese

Mary McAleese

Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...

 for a library and information technology extension at Cork University (opened 1996). Another project of the practice, the renovation of the Abbeyleix

Abbeyleix

Abbeyleix is a town in County Laois, Ireland about from Portlaoise and located on the N77 national secondary route. Formerly the N8 National Primary Route ran through the centre of the town, making Abbeyleix an infamous bottleneck on the Dublin-Cork corridor with up to 15,000 vehicles passing...

 Library in Leinster

Leinster

Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...

won the RIAI Best Conservation/Restoration Project Award in 2009.

Other works

• Apartments on the corner of Werburgh Street and Castle Street in Dublin (2003): won the Ireland Housing Medal in 2003
• Esat Headquarters, Esat (2002)
• Houses in Waterloo Lane (2002)
• Wooden Building housing, Temple Bar (2000)

External links

• De Blacam & Meagher, practice website