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Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey, founding partners at O’Donnell + Tuomey, are arguably the most important architectural practitioners within the British Isles. Noteworthy works include Belfast’s Lyric Theatre and Cork’s Glucksman Gallery whilst closer to home they have contributed to Trinity’s own built environment, converting the Provost’s Stables into The Irish Art Research Centre.

Space for Architecture follows on from Selected Works, offering an updated and comprehensive look at some of the Irish firm’s most important recent projects. In a stunning coincidence, the book’s release occurred alongside the firm’s winning of RIBA’s Royal Gold Medal — the world’s most prestigious architectural prize for which they have previously been shortlisted twice.

The volume opens with Studio Life — a vivid insight into daily practice, from conceptualisation to completion and all “the false starts and dead ends” in between. It creates an image of a dynamic workplace abuzz with the ideas responsible for driving architecture forward. The World Outside details how O’Donnell + Tuomey’s projects are rooted in reality and never isolated from their sociocultural context. How space interacts with place is key to how well architecture performs, and theirs excels. In Venice Excursions the pair describe their close relationship with the city, its influence on their practice as well as its international exhibition in which they have partaken several times. This nostalgic account adds humanity and humility to a profession which often comes across as lofty.

Space for Architecture is as visual as one would expect. At times, however, one might find themselves left longing for more textual insights, whilst other sections seem to end abruptly. Despite this, the book is essential reading for fans of the virtuoso duo and thought-provoking contemporary architecture.