Meet the Speakers

Micheál Martin is the Taoiseach.

He served as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence from 17 December 2022 to 23 January 2025.

He served as Taoiseach from 27 June 2020 to 17 December 2022.

Previously, he has served as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1992-93, and on the Fianna Fáil front bench and in four cabinet posts:

• Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008-2011)
• Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (2004-2008)
• Minister for Health (2000-04)
• Minister for Education (1997-2000)

Micheál Martin was born in Turners Cross, Cork. He attended University College Cork where he qualified with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Sean Mahon FRIAI is the RIAI President for 2025-2026. 

Seán Mahon served previously as RIAI First Vice-President and chaired the workgroup that developed the RIAI Strategy 2023-2027. Sean has worked across many areas of the RIAI over the last 30 years including education, practice and architecture. He has worked to strengthen the position of the architect within the design team and to bring awareness to the diverse range of skills within the profession.  

He has also served on various boards and committees within the architectural and healthcare sectors in Ireland, including as a former President of the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI).

Seán is a Registered Architect with over 25 years’ experience in design, planning and development of healthcare facilities. His projects include many of the recent national projects, including the new National Children’s Hospital; the National Maternity Hospital; the National Rehabilitation Hospital (RIAI Award 2021); and the North-West Cancer Centre (RIAI Award 2018). He continues to advise many healthcare providers and the HSE on current projects and strategies.

Seán graduated from the School of Architecture UCD in 1986 and worked with James Stirling in London and Berlin before returning to Dublin in 1990 to work with O’Donnell + Tuomey on cultural projects in Temple Bar. He is a founding Director of O’Connell Mahon Architects in 1998 and has been Managing Director since 2008. 

Valerie Mulvin is a co-founder of McCullough Mulvin Architects, a Dublin-based practice focusing on the design of sustainable cultural, educational and civic buildings, with an interest in innovative contemporary architecture, place, and history. Award-winning buildings in Ireland and internationally include; Trinity Long Room Hub, Dublin Dental School & Hospital, Waterford Fire Station, Butler Gallery, Medieval Mile Museum, Printing House Square Student Housing, and the Learning Laboratory in Thapar University, India.  She is currently working on a series of critical buildings in Dublin at 11 Parnell Square, the old Fever Hospital on Infirmary Road and the Old Library in Trinity College.

Valerie’s work is extended by publications, teaching and research, and has been exhibited internationally. Her book Approximate Formality – Morphology of Irish Towns discusses the origin, originality and potential of towns and town plans in Ireland, and this research currently forms part of the touring exhibition The Reason of Towns, a collaboration with the Irish Architecture Foundation.

Valerie is a member of Aosdána.

Kristiaan Borret graduated as a engineer-architect (KUL, Leuven), and holds additional diploma’s in philosophy (KUL, Leuven), science politique et affaires publiques (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) and Master in Urbanism (UPC, Barcelona).

From 2015 to 2025, Kristiaan Borret was the Bouwmeester – Maître Architecte (BMA) of the Brussels Capital Region. The BMA is a government appointed official who advocates for spatial quality in urban development from an independent position. Recently, the book Soft Power – 10 years of Bouwmeester Maitre Architecte in Brussels (Walther und Franz König, Köln) was published on his work in Brussels.

He previously held a similar position of Stadsbouwmeester of the City of Antwerp (2006-2014) and, since 2017, he works also for the City of Amsterdam as quality supervisor for the Oostenburg and Hamerkwartier urban transformation areas.

His career is marked by a close relationship between theory and practice, between the public and private sectors, between policy and design, and between architecture and urban planning.

Kristiaan Borret is professor urban design at Ghent University since 2005.

Francine Houben (the Netherlands, 1955) is Founding Partner and Creative Director of Mecanoo.

Her work ranges from theatres, museums and libraries to neighbourhoods, housing and parks. Each design is founded on the observations of people, location, culture and climate. This analysis amounts to designs that respond to current needs yet are also prepared for (un)predictable change.

With her practice, she has gained international acclaim. She holds Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC). Francine was granted lifelong membership to the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and received the International Honorary Fellow Award by the Architecture Institute of Taiwan.

Francine Houben was professor of mobility aesthetics at Delft University of Technology and also taught at the universities of Harvard, Yale and Mendrisio. As curator of the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2003), she brought the theme of the aesthetics of mobility to the forefront of international design consciousness.

In 2014 Francine was named Woman Architect of the Year by the Architects’ Journal and in November 2015 Queen Máxima of The Netherlands presented Francine with the Cultuurfonds Prize for her wide-ranging career. Francine was awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Université de Mons, Belgium (2017) and the Utrecht University (2016). In 2018 Francine received the BNA Kubus Award for her oeuvre; the International Prize, Prix des Femmes Architectes (2019) and distinguished with the TU Delft Alumnus of the Year (2020). In 2021 Mecanoo and Francine were presented with the European Prize for Architecture.in 2024, King Willem-Alexander has appointed Francine Knight of order of the Lion of the Netherlands.

Selected works include Delft University of Technology Library, Delft (1998), La Llotja Theatre and Congress Centre, Lleida, Spain (2008), Library of Birmingham, United Kingdom (2013), National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts, Taiwan (2018). the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, United States (2020). The New York Public Library’s former Mid-Manhattan Library (reopened in 2021 as the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library) and  the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Midtown Campus masterplan.

Andy Burnham was first elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2017, re-elected for a second term in May 2021 and a third term in May 2024.

Responsible for shaping the future of Greater Manchester, Andy’s priorities for his third term include continuing to build a London-style integrated transport system, ending the housing crisis by 2038, offering a new technical education pathway as an alternative to university and creating a new Live Well service, making Greater Manchester a great place to grow up, get on, and grow old.

Before being elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy was MP for Leigh from 2001. In government, Andy has held Ministerial positions at the Home Office, Department of Health and the Treasury. In 2008 he became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, before returning to Health as Secretary of State in 2009.

In opposition, Andy has served as Shadow Education Secretary, Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Home Secretary.

Arch. DI Katharina Bayer studied architecture at TU Wien and TU Delft. In 2006, she co-founded einszueins architektur with Markus Zilker, and Markus Pendlmayr became a partner in 2018.

The firm focuses on residential construction, with a core strength in collaborative planning and involving future users as the foundation for holistic, sustainable, and integrative architecture.

Einszueins architektur has received numerous awards, including the State Prize for Architecture and Sustainability, the New European Bauhaus Prize, and the City of Vienna Award for Architecture. Beyond her office work, Katharina Bayer regularly teaches, including as a visiting professor in 2019 at the Institute of Urban Planning and Design at the Vienna University of Technology.

She brings many years of experience as a member of international juries and as a lecturer. Katharina Bayer also serves as chair of the aspern Advisory Board and is a member of the City of Vienna’s Real Estate Advisory Board.

O’Donnell + Tuomey is a studio-based architectural practice, with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland and London, UK. Committed to the craft and culture of architecture, they have worked on numerous urban design, cultural, social and educational projects and have a reputation for engagement with complex urban situations and sensitive landscapes. They have completed schools and universities, theatres and cinemas, community centres and social housing, art galleries and libraries in Ireland, the UK and Europe. They have exhibited six times at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Winners of more than 160 awards, RIBA Royal Gold Medal, and two RIAI Gold Medals recipients, their buildings include The Glucksman, Cork; Irish Language Cultural Centre, Derry; Lyric Theatre, Belfast; V&A East Museum and Sadler’s Wells Dance Theatre, London; Liverpool University School of Architecture; London School of Economics Student Centre; Central European University, Budapest, University College Cork Student Centre and The Hedge Theatre, Stone Vessel and Passage House at Fartha, County Cork, Ireland.

Dr. Andrew Clancy is a director of Clancy Moore Architects, an architectural practice he founded with Colm Moore in 2008.  The practice designs cultural, infrastructural and residential work in Ireland and elsewhere and has been extensively published in places such as A+U. AR, Casabella, AMAG and has been exhibited in the Venice Biennale. Andrew is full Professor of Architecture in the Kingston School of Art, a role he has held since 2018, and where he directs Register – a research group concerned with the fullest range of architectural practice.

Since 2023, he is visiting Professor to the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio, and was Visiting Professor at the Arkitektskolen Aarhus, Denmark in 2015. He has examined and been a guest critic in a wide range of schools including ETH; HKU; EPFL; TUM; AHO; AA; London Met and TU Dublin. He frequently writes critically about architecture and is on the scientific committee of 6850 - a new journal of architecture from Mendrisio. He has a PhD from RMIT and is a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. He is a board member of the Irish Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealíon. 

About Clancy Moore
The practice seeks to understand the context of each project in its fullest sense. Due to architecture’s fundamental interconnection with the world, it is shaped by many aspects – be they physical, historical, social, legislative and economic. Clancy Moore believe that it is in the abrasion of these pressures that projects frequently find meaning and clarity. 

Both partners research and write critically about architecture and a book authored by the practice about the Danish architect Kay Fisker has been published by Lund Humphries. The practice has been voted the AR Peter Davey Award winners 2019, the BD Young Architects of the Year 2018, and has been twice awarded the AAI Downes Medal. The Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant has received the RIAI Sustainability Award and RIAI Public Buildings Award in 2025.

Clancy Moore value collaboration and the expertise of others and the practice has developed a rigorous method based on conversation, care and curiosity. In this context the architecture is not imposed top down, but is drawn from congruencies in this broader conversation that allow each work to speak about the place it stands in, the people who use it, the techniques and people that made it, and the broader society it is a part of.

Holly co-founded We Made That in 2006.

We Made That create equitable places through incisive research and impactful projects. She is a registered architect and an affiliate member of the Landscape Institute. She has led a unique range of urban projects for the practice, from pioneering industrial intensification work to comprehensive high street regeneration projects. Holly advocates for community involvement within the design process, empowering women in the built environment and equitable city-making.

Holly is the Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority and is a Design Council Expert. She has also contributed as a national High Streets Task Force Expert.

Currently, she is the Town Architect for Hackney Central.

tún is a design and research based architecture practice founded in 2015 by Rose Bonner Alexander MRIAI, David Jameson MRIAI and Paul Fox MRIAI.

Working in education and residential design, the practice recently completed Harcourt Terrace Educate Together National School, the winning entry of the Department of Education / RIAI competition for a new urban primary school. It prototyped a new arrangement of classroom spaces to allow additional informal learning and social spaces. This model has since been adopted by the Department of Education as a template for new schools. The school has won both AAI and RIAI Awards.

In parallel to built work, the practice members teach and engage in research. David is a studio tutor in TU Dublin, and researches the cultural and built landscape of Ireland’s peatlands, through the Bog Bothy project. Rose teaches in NCAD, recently completing her MA, Rethinking demolition: an ethos of retention repair and anticipation in architecture today which was commended in the Research category of the RIAI Awards 2025.

José Toral founded the Barcelona architecture firm Peris+Toral Arquitectes with Marta Peris. Peris+Toral Arquitectes are dedicated to researching new ways of living associated with innovative construction methods. Their focus is on addressing the challenges of the climate emergency and housing.

José Toral works also as an Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Projects at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB), which is part of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). He is also a visiting Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland since 2024.

The work of Peris+Toral Arquitectes has been recognised with the RIBA International Prize 2024, the Spanish Architecture Award CSCAE 2022, and the DETAIL Award 2024. They were finalists for the EUmies Award 2022 with their project 85 Social Housing Units in Cornellà and shortlisted .

Their works have been exhibited at the Cité de l'Architecture in Paris 2022, Best Architecture Exhibition Spain-Korea SEOUL 2021, in the Spanish Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2016 and 2025, at the UIA TOKYO 2011, among others. Both their works and their writings have been widely published in national and international journals and media.

Dr.-Ing. Gesa Matthes, HafenCity Hamburg GmbH, is head of Strategic Innovation.

Dr. Gesa Matthes studied town planning and, following her doctorate at Hamburg University of Technology, worked there initially as a research associate at the Institute for Transport Planning and Logistics, before moving to the Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt.

Before joining HafenCity Hamburg GmbH, the engineering graduate was a specialist for transport issues in urban development at Hamburg’s Ministry of Transport and the Mobility Revolution (BVM).

She is member of the Technical Committee of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) and the ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association.

Photo: Stefan Groenveld

Andrée Dargan has led the Architectural Department of dlr as County Architect since 2008. The department plays a key role in all matters relating to the built environment of the county and their work extends from housing and civic buildings to public realm and urban design.

The County Architect is also the Council’s designated Energy Performance Officer, a nomination required by Government for each public sector body to meet 2030 and 2050 energy efficiency and carbon emission targets. dlr’s 2030 energy efficiency target has already been achieved, and dlr is ahead of the glidepath to meet the more recently applied 2030 exacting carbon emissions targets.

dlr Architects are a recognised leader in sustainable building practices and have won numerous awards in recognition of their work. Aligned to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, dlr Architects’ urban design work has transformed towns and villages into climate-resilient sustainable neighbourhoods that encourage walking and cycling.

Delivering energy efficient housing and civic buildings is a key focus. Using the fabric first approach dlr Architects design to the stringent Passive House standard. This has created low energy, healthy buildings for DLR tenants, while achieving reduced energy bills and carbon emissions.

Quality is vital in all work. With changing delivery methods being promoted by Government in a drive to increase housing production, dlr Architects have adapted to achieve delivery while ensuring quality is maintained. To ensure environmental standards don’t decline, dlr Architects offer added value marks to tenderers for additional energy proposals.

Michael Horan founded Axo Architects in 2006 with associate directors Joana Nunes and Seamus Lunn. The practice has offices in Castlebar, County Mayo and in Dublin.

The practice works mainly on Visitor Centres, Museums, Ecclesiastical, Education, Healthcare, and Residential buildings, many of which combine conservation with appropriately contemporary interventions.

Over the past 10 years, the practice was tasked with the design and delivery of a series of important projects at the world renowned Kylemore Abbey and Gardens in Connemara, County Galway. These projects involved works to the Abbey itself, the University of Notre Dame Global Education Centre, the neo-Gothic Church restoration, the Victorian Walled Gardens, the Gate Lodge, and most recently a new Benedictine Monastery, which is the first new female monastery built in Ireland in 350 years.

The Benedictine Monastery received the Public Choice Award and a Housing Award at the RIAI Architecture Awards 2025. The project also featured on the recent RTE documentary, ‘The Hills are Alive’.

Dorothy Cross was born in Cork in 1956. Her work ranges from object to opera, working with sculpture and photography. It examines time and transformation, and what may be considered sacred or maligned. Shark skins gilded with pure gold, operas in handball alleys, feet carved in marble from around the world, and kisses cast in silver taken from the inside of two mouths. Her work moves from gallery and museum to external projects that may take years to make and may only exist for a short time.

Some recent exhibitions include: Veins of Other, Kerlin Gallery (2024); Damascus Rose, Frith Street Gallery (2022); Connemara, Turner Contemporary (2013). She has represented Ireland in several biennials, including Venice in 1993. In 2019, as part of Sounds From a Safe Harbour, she created Heartship, where a navy ship containing a human heart on board sailed up Cork Harbour with Lisa Hannigan singing on board. She recently returned a mummified body of an Egyptian man to Cairo that had been in Ireland for 100 years. This story was told through the project Kinship / Home.

She is represented by Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, and Frith Street Gallery, London.

Lawrence and Long Architects was established by Joe Lawrence and Pierre Long in 2005.

The practice is known for producing high-quality architectural work with a focus on elegant design solutions, conservation, and sustainable technology. Since its establishment, the firm has completed a diverse and award-winning portfolio of projects, many relating to protected structures and Architectural Conservation Areas.

Boyd Cody Architects was established in 2000 by Dermot Boyd FRIAI and Peter Cody FRIAI. The practice is widely published and has received numerous design awards since its foundation in Ireland and abroad.

Dermot is a Senior Lecturer at TU Dublin, and Peter, an Assistant Professor at UCD. They both completed PhDs in Design Practice at RMIT in 2019.

Peter McGovern is a director at Henry J Lyons where he has practiced since graduating from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 1996. His work spans master-planning, civic, workplace, education and residential projects.  

Among his works of note are the recently completed Ireland House in Tokyo, the Criminal Courts of Justice on Parkgate Street, the Central Bank of Ireland at North Wall Quay, the new school of Population Health at 118 St. Stephens and the academic hub and library at No.26 York Street, both for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He has also designed headquarter buildings for Grant Thornton at City Quay, Workday at College Square and for KPMG on Harcourt Street in Dublin. 

Peter has twice won the RIAI Public Choice award, as well as having received RIAI Awards in the commercial, education and residential categories. He was elected to the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts in 2019. 

We are delighted that Architect, artist, broadcaster and writer Róisín Murphy will return as moderator for Day 1 of the RIAI Conference 2025.

Róisín is the Presenter of Home Rescue on RTE1 and the resident Architect on Newstalk’s Home Show, which features her iconic object of design series. Qualifying with a first class honours degree in Architecture, Róisín had already established a reputation in the Irish design world, whilst still in college. She had won private commissions in London and had started a student movement ‘SADD’ campaigning for the conservation of Georgian Dublin. She was one of a new breed of ‘designer Irish’ awake citizens. Exhibiting student architectural work in Trinity College’s Atrium, she caught the attention of RTE and was interviewed on television. Once qualified, she began working in Douglas Wallace architects and rose to be a Director. Róisín subsequently set up her own practice.