Profile

McGonigle McGrath is an award winning architectural practice based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, established by Kieran McGonigle and Aidan McGrath in 2012. The practice has developed a reputation for producing thoughtful, crafted architecture informed by a sensitivity to context and place, and for achieving a high level of quality through inventive and precise detailing in all of their built projects.

The work of the practice has 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, the practice 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, they received the BD Architect of the Year Award, in the Individual House category. The practice recently received an RIBA National Award for their House at Lough Beg.

McGonigle McGrath undertake a wide range of project types, for clients from private, public and commercial sectors, including works to listed buildings and within Conservation Areas. The practice has considerable experience and research based knowledge, and offers a complete architectural service from project inception through to final completion.

McGonigle McGrath architects is registered with both the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Architects Registration Board.

The practice undertakes projects throughout the UK and Ireland.


Approach

The work of McGonigle McGrath is informed by a sensitivity to context and place, a consideration of form, materiality and craft, and an understanding of the quality and simplicity of buildings well made. Our passion for the contemporary is moderated by our experience in conservation and our respect for the vernacular.

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 and analytical approach to function and planning, and a thorough process of refinement which is applied to every detail.