A total of 21 building projects, including a significant number in the public sector, have won recognition for excellence in this year's regional awards of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.
The awards, presented yesterday at a ceremony in Dublin by the institute's president, Mr Arthur Hickey, were for projects ranging in scale from St Mary's Oratory in Maynooth College to the restoration of a 12th century castle in Co Kilkenny.
Mr Hickey said the purpose of the awards, now in their 11th year, was to communicate to the general public the variety and quality of contemporary Irish architecture through an exhibition that will tour some 15 venues in Ireland and Britain.
The 2000 RIAI regional awards, sponsored by Roadstone, are subdivided into three categories on the basis of their budgets - under £100,000, over £100,000 and over £1 million - and distributed on a geographical spread.
Three architectural practices - Grafton Architects, Arthur Gibney and Partners and Brian Hogan Architects - won two awards each. Mr Hogan is a veteran Dublin-based architect with numerous buildings to his credit, including the Setanta Centre.
His practice scooped its two awards for the "dignified yet cheerful" South Eastern Health Board's Community Care Headquarters in Waterford and for the "crisp detailing" of design of a social housing scheme for NABCO in Dublin's Townsend Street.
Grafton Architects received their awards for the "skilfully-developed" Celbridge Community School in Co Kildare, with its shallow roofs and sharp edges, and the geometrical forms of an extension to Our Lady's Secondary School in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
The city architect's department in Cork won the major southern region award for a small infill housing scheme which was described by the judges as "urban infill at its creative best", maximising a steeply sloping and difficult site on Barrack Street, Cork.
Arthur Gibney and Partners received their awards for the Bookend apartment building in the Temple Bar area of Dublin, designed by the late Deirdre O'Connor, and the "sensitive restoration" of Clomantagh Castle for the Irish Landmark Trust.
Two major Dublin Corporation projects garnered awards for their architects - Drogheda-based McGarry Ni Eanaigh for the dramatic transformation of Smithfield and Howley Harrington Architects for the "controlled restraint" of the Millennium Bridge.
In the same area, where major redevelopment has been undertaken in recent years, Douglas Wallace Architects won an award for the design of the new Morrison Hotel on Ormond Quay, which has become something of a mascot for the new Dublin.
Other award-winners included Newenham Mulligan and Associates, for the restoration of the courthouse in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, as a heritage centre, and de Paor Architects for a new visitor space called The Van in the National Sculpture Factory, Cork. The conversion of a warehouse for use as offices in Dublin earned NBK Design an award as did a mould-breaking garage conversion by Box Architecture in Dun Laoghaire and a fit-out of the Milkbar, in Montague Street, by O'Donnell and Tuomey.
Private housing and apartments featured strongly this year, with Duffy Mitchell Architects and P+A Lavin each receiving an award for private house conversions in Dublin, and De Blacam & Meagher for the design of a partly timber-clad building in Castle Street.
Hassett Ducatez Architects won an award for the Coill Dubh Credit Union in a Bord na Mona village near Naas, Co Kildare, while John Thompson and Partners received an award for the restoration of No 2 Pery Square, a major project by Limerick Civic Trust.
The RIAI Regional Awards 2000 exhibition opens to the public today at the Architecture Centre, 8 Merrion Square, Dublin.
