We combine contemporary insight with highly developed conservation skills to create sustainable projects that fully integrate old buildings with new architecture. Our approach is thoughtful, our way of building applicable in any culture and society, with award-winning buildings both in Ireland and internationally.
Valerie Mulvin and Niall McCullough founded McCullough Mulvin Architects in 1986, joined by fellow directors Ruth O'Herlihy in 2006, and Corán O’Connor in 2017. Tragically, Niall McCullough died in August 2021 after a short illness. We are now working to honour all of the core principles founded early in the practice, continuing the established ethos in work across many sectors, with a particular focus on place-making, context and innovative conservation.
Together with other long-term collaborators, we work at a range of scales, including cultural buildings, housing projects, hotels, office buildings, libraries, healthcare, schools and university buildings. The practice is highly collaborative and open in its dialogues; our clients form part of the team, with the end result reflecting that dynamic exchange. We extend our practice through research, writing and films, exploring the themes that inform our work.
Our work has been exhibited widely in Europe, Asia and America and exhibitions in Italy; Germany; the UK; Spain; Prague Quadrennial 2007 and Lisbon Triennale 2007. The Displaced exhibition travelled to Ahmedabad, India during 2019 and has been supported by Culture Ireland.
In 2022, our installation "Join the dots... 100 small ideas for sustainable change" was selected as one of the winning entries of the Housing Unlocked competition run by the Irish Architecture Foundation and The Housing Agency. The Housing Unlocked exhibition ran at the Science Gallery in Dublin from October 2022 to February 2023. McCullough Mulvin's installation displays answers to the question: How can we use untapped potential to solve housing problems in our towns?
The work of the practice is extended by publication, teaching and research. In 2015, our work was documented for an international audience by the publication of a monograph by TC Cuadernos ‘McCullough Mulvin Arquitectura 2004-2015’. Our directors have been involved in teaching in the Universities in Ireland, the UK and Scotland as well as Spain and Switzerland. They have each lectured widely throughout Ireland, the UK, the US, Europe and India.