Introduction by Ruth O'Herlihy: About ten years ago we received an e-mail in the office from Ricardo Meri de la Meza. He was enquiring if we would be interested in a collaboration on a publication. We were delighted to meet him, to make sure he was for real, and to hear the story about how he had been carrying around ideas or pieces of our work for years – how lovely it was to receive a call like this. Niall and Valerie went to meet him in the Sta Caterina markets in Barcelona which was always the first port of call for us off a flight, a glass of Spanish white and a large bowl of calamari followed by a visit to the COAC bookshop around the corner. So a wonderful friendship and meeting of minds was forged which endures to this day. We have been welcomed to his house and Ricardo to ours, and we are so sorry that he can’t be here this evening, but I am going to present his words and the images so carefully chosen by this very perceptive friend and collaborator.

“A man is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men.” Patrick Kavanagh

In my memory, Niall McCullough is a shiny brilliant man. I wish I could have known him further and deeper, but the moments, conversations and tasks shared were enough to admire and appreciate him profoundly.

When I left Portugal, after working with Eduardo Souto de Moura, I carried with me a list with some names of architects that I had circumstantially discovered in those years, and whose work had particularly interested me. On that list, there was a team from Dublin, which I contacted years later to propose a monograph on their work, once I felt confident enough in my work as an editor of architectural books.

The task was not easy, but I must say it was very enjoyable and rewarding. Two trips to Ireland were necessary to focus the structure of the book and how we were going to explain their works. Those two trips allowed me to get to know their work firsthand, and also the team that was making it happen. It was probably the most enriching experience I have ever had as an editor.

On the first trip, Niall picked me up at the airport and took me to Howth's west pier so I could have a late dinner. In that conversation, while I was eating, I remember that he was much more interested in making me understand the essence of the city of Dublin, its structure, and the particularities of Irish architecture than in telling me about his own work.

Besides their love for Ireland, for their land, on that trip, I discovered Valerie and Niall's passion for Rome, and their vital journey to Italy. Also, that we shared a passion for the map of Nolli, that I saw for the first time in real size hanging on a wall in their home. Or the shared passion for the figure of Aldo Rossi that I had rediscovered and put into a new perspective a few years earlier thanks to two other architects whom I especially admire and appreciate: Livio Vacchini and Pedro Mejia.

From that perspective it is easier to appreciate some of the decisions we made to describe their work in the TC Cuadernos monograph. The need for a mental map, and the need to compare at a glance the floor plans of their most important buildings. The structure in three categories (Dublin, Interventions and Roofs in the landscape) was also determinant to better understand their way of working and the dimension of what they were presenting.

Those journeys were an intimate encounter. And they engraved countless memories in my heart, opening my perspective on things that transcend architecture. I remember with special fondness the conversations with Niall about books and Irish culture. He discovered for me not only his own writings but also other books that have become an essential part of my library; both physical and mental. He provoked in me an exacerbated curiosity and passion for Alberto Manguel's books, for example. And he allowed me to approach with different eyes to things I knew but was not able to appreciate in their full depth. His amused and playful gaze explained better the subtleness of things.

The gratitude I feel for the opportunity I had to meet Niall and to share with him, Valerie and Ruth those days (and others a short time later in Valencia) is immense.

I love windows. I like these five windows to contemplate Ireland and the world through. And a shared project that we had planned (a book about India), which unfortunately Niall will not be able to see.

I still have in my mailbox his last mail on the subject. I haven't had the courage to delete it. It reminds me of a pending task, perhaps another tribute, to be carried out when life has the mercy to allow us so to do.

—Ricardo Meri de la Maza, Universidad Politécnia de Valencia and Editor of TC Cuadernos