UCC Lewis Glucksman Gallery shortlisted for Gold Medal

20 Nov 2013

On Friday the 8th November 2013 the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins presented the Gold Medal award at RIAI, Merrion Square, Dublin.  This is the highest accolade that a building can be awarded in Ireland for the design of a building of exceptional merit completed within a three year old period.  UCC's Lewis Art Gallery was shortlisted for this award.  

Architect: O' Donnell and Tuomey Architects

Standing aloft in woodland on UCC's campus, a timber perch set above the lawn entered from below as one would a tree house, the Glucksman Gallery takes a radical interpretation of comtemporary gallery design, insisting on the importance of location and space, and eschewing the arguable blandness of the neutral white box.  The quality of this beautifully crafted building is its very particularisation of site and programme and their architectural resolution.  As a venue it produces engaged responses from those curating, reinforcing that place and spaces are inseparable from the occasion of the appreciation of art - a most memorable addition to University and City.