We are an architectural practice based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, established by Kieran McGonigle and Aidan McGrath in 2012, following their collaboration over two decades as Twenty Two Over Seven architects.

Our work is recognised for its exceptional formal and material clarity and a concern for placement in landscape. Over time the relationship of external formal intent and internal spatiality in our work has developed, leading to very explicit relationships between rooms and landscape while maintaining external formal rigour.

We undertake a range of project types, but the single family home is a central theme in our work. We take on projects in rural and urban locations at various scales, involving both new buildings, and re-use of existing buildings, including works to listed buildings and within Conservation Areas.

Our work is informed by a sensitivity to context, a consideration of form, materiality and craft, and an understanding of the quality and simplicity of buildings well made. The influence of modern painters and photography, the resource of mapped lines, and a sense of the memory of rural architecture background a work methodology which uses composition, enclosure and profile within a developing architectural language which seeks to articulate spatial relationships between form, volume, and landscape. A key interest threading through our work is the relationship of architecture to the ground. We make close observations of ‘place’ through models, drawing and photography, and much of our work is developed from having a profound understanding of the found condition of the site.

Every commission is considered as an opportunity, a collaboration between architect, client and site, with a unique and individual outcome. We engage in a critical investigation of each project's needs and constraints through dialogue, observation and research, informed by our considerable project and academic experience, with the objective of delivering the highest level of design quality, and buildings which are inspiring, practical and beautiful. Our work is also characterised by a rigorous approach to function and planning, and a thorough process of refinement which is applied to every detail.

We have been internationally recognised with success in the RSUA, RIBA and AAI Awards programmes, and the buildings and projects of the practice have been widely published. In 2019, we won the RIBA House of the Year competition for House Lessans, a reinterpretation of rural forms in a single dwelling in the rolling countryside of County Down, and in 2020, we received the BD Architect of the Year Award, in the Individual House category. Recently we received RIBA National Awards for House at Lough Beg, Hill House and House at Redbrae Farm, and have won Northern Ireland’s House of the Year Award every year from 2021–2024.

McGonigle McGrath architects is registered with both the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Architects Registration Board, and we take on projects in Northern Ireland, Ireland and throughout the UK.

‘The apparent ease and elegance expressed in plan, section, and detail belie the many years of dedication these architects have made to the discipline of architecture. The detailing and workmanship are superb; there is no sense of verbosity or extravagance. Rather, there is a directness and eloquent economy that creates spaces of great stillness – a rare quality. The architects have navigated the design process through intelligence, discipline and experience. The natural reticence of the north is palpable in their work. This architecture places a premium on a measured and careful exploration of the discipline itself: space, volume, proportion, material.’
- RIBA Jury Citation for House on Redbrae Farm, 2024

‘This landscape has been the scene for much of McGonigle McGrath’s work, their early moves influenced by the language of existing built form – linear buildings determinately arranged and typically stacked astride or parallel to the inescapable drumlin slope. McGonigle McGrath respond eloquently, the houses being amalgams of place and the consequence of the orthogonal nature of their design production (drawing board, card model, 2D CAD), this overlaid with an acute visual sensibility. Diagram figures but is mediated by the contingencies of site, and (until recently) roofs often dominated in their work – partly as a reassurance of appropriateness, partly a deference to a formal orthodoxy. Materials are used with great consistency and clarity, and the whole affair beautifully detailed and crafted. As anticipated with McGonigle McGrath, there is a very careful and nuanced fit of lifestyle and family in the arrangement of spaces – clearly the house is enjoyed. Once again McGonigle McGrath confirm that built work of exceptional design quality is achievable here, once again a challenge to a prevailing mediocracy.’
- Prof Michael McGarry, Perspective, 2024

‘Longhurst’s architecture is urbane, courteous, and contemporary. It is characterised by a sense of weight and materiality through its in-situ concrete, dark timber, and smooth render. There is no doubt that Longhurst can sit within the canon of significant modern houses. The architect is known for the precision and care with which it details and makes its buildings, and Longhurst is no exception. However, what this villa also reveals is a sophistication of designing in plan and section that is rare.’
- RIBA Jury Citation for Longhurst, 2024

‘The house is a demonstration of the skill and mastery of architect McGonigle McGrath in working with form, space, light and material. This is the latest in a sequence of beautifully crafted houses designed and nurtured through the process of construction by the practice. The architect has wrought a series of spaces providing ambitious and generous internal volumes that also offer domestic comfort and warmth. This is an exemplar of the finely honed skill of the architect in understanding how to work with scale, light and acoustics. The jurors were unanimous in their admiration of Hill House and its obvious worthiness of being recognised with an award. All agreed that Hill House is an extremely accomplished example of domestic architecture of the highest standard.’
- RIBA Jury Citation for Hill House, 2023