Anyone who's never heard of Peter Rice, the brilliant Irish structural engineer, should check out a great exhibition of his life and work, Traces of Peter Rice, at the Cowshed Gallery at Farmleigh House in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

Rice, who died in 1992 from a brain tumour at the age of 57, was involved in several of the world’s most outstanding architectural projects – Sydney Opera House, the Centre Pompidou and the pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.

Presented by the Office of Public Works, it consists of spectacular vintage photography – including work by renowned photojournalist Marc Riboud – as well as drawings, notes, films and architectural models of Rice's building designs.

Most stunning is a photograph showing a sweaty foundry worker with the cast-steel gerberettes (above) that Rice designed for the Centre Pompidou so that its vast exhibition floors could be supported without a single intervening column.

Traces of Peter Rice is at Farmleigh until December 22nd