Tom de Paor facts for kids
Tomás "Tom" de Paor is a famous Irish architect. He was born in 1967. He is also a member of Aosdána, which is a group of Irish artists.
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Early Life
Tom de Paor was born in London in 1967. He grew up in County Clare, a beautiful county in Ireland.
Career in Architecture
Tom de Paor studied architecture at TU Dublin from 1985 to 1988. He then continued his studies at UCD from 1989 to 1991, where he finished with top grades.
Important Buildings He Designed
In 1991, Tom de Paor and Emma O’Neill won an international competition. They designed a reception building for the Royal Gunpowder Mills in Ballincollig, County Cork. This building won awards in 1993 and 1994.
Since then, he has worked on many public projects. These include designs for the A13 road in Barking and Dagenham, London (1996). He also designed the National Sculpture Factory in Cork (1998). Other projects include the Comhdháil Naisiúnta na Gaeilge building in Dublin (1999). He also worked on the Clontarf Pumpstation and its surrounding area (2007).
He designed the Irish Aid Centre in Dublin (2008) and the Druid Theatre in Galway (2009). He also designed the Landside Bar at Dublin Airport (2011).
More recently, Tom de Paor designed the Pálás cinema in Galway (2017). This cinema won many awards, including for Best Cultural Building. It also received awards from the Irish Concrete Society and the Civic Trust.
He has also designed many unique houses and gardens. These can be found in cities and in the countryside across Ireland.
Exhibitions and Art Shows
In 2000, Tom de Paor was asked to design the first Irish display at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. This is a very important international architecture event. He also helped with later Irish displays in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In 2010, he even helped organize the exhibition. He showed his work in the international part of the Biennale in 2010 and 2018. In 2001, he represented Europe in a special exhibition called "New Trends of Architecture Europe and Japan".
In 2022, de Paor had a big exhibition of his work called ‘i see Earth: building and ground: 1991–2021’. This show looked back at his projects from 1991 to 2021. It was supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and other groups. He also works with Peter Maybury on projects under the name Gall.
Awards and Recognition
In 2003, Tom de Paor became a Fellow of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. He was also named "Young Architect of the Year" by Building Design magazine. In 2015, he was chosen to join Aosdána, a special group for Irish artists. In 2017, he became an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was only the third Irish architect to receive this high honor. People described him as "the leading Irish architect of his generation."
Teaching and Lecturing
Tom de Paor has been invited to give talks and teach at many places around the world. He has taught at UCD since he graduated. He has also taught at schools like Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Santiago, Chile. He also taught at the Porto Academy and the Harvard Graduate School of Design from 2016 to 2021.
Personal Life
Tom de Paor lives and works in Greystones, County Wicklow, in Ireland.
