Mayo-born architect is designing projects all over the world

A Mayo architect is one of the leading lights in her field designing major projects all over the globe.

Erris native Roisín Heneghan’s incredible talents are visible at some of the most famous landmarks in the world.

The UCD and Harvard graduate met business partner Shih-Fu Peng at Harvard, and they founded heneghan peng architects (hparc) in New York in 1999. Two years later, they moved to Dublin after winning an open international architectural competition for the design of the Kildare Civic offices.

Major projects include the Grand Museum of Egypt beside the Great Pyramids, the Giant's Causeway Visitors' Centre on the Causeway Coast World Heritage Site, the National Gallery of Ireland historic wings refurbishment, and the Palestinian Museum at Bir Zeit, which was awarded the Aga Khan Award in Architecture. Significant recent projects include the Visitors' Centre at the Botanic Gardens Berlin (with Studio Qwertz), Storm King Art Center in upstate New York, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtnis Kirche in Berlin.

Roisín's company recently won a high-profile competition for a new visitor centre located inside the old church tower of Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Roisín said she hoped the winning design would help “future generations understand and experience this space”: a neo-Romanesque structure opened in 1895 and badly damaged in an Allied air raid on November 23, 1944.

“We wanted people to get close again to the ruin so you feel the history embedded in those walls,” Roisín said. “For us, the church is a symbol of Berlin’s complex history and an international site for memory, understanding and reconciliation.” 

The competition jury praised Roisín and her team’s “intelligent reinterpretation of a historical place” that will more than double to 500m its exhibition space. Visited by 1.3 million people annually, the jury said it was confident the redesigned, barrier-free space will “enrich Berlin in every respect”.

Last March the Doolough native was elected to Aosdána, the prestigious affiliation of creative artists in Ireland. Aosdána, founded in 1981, celebrates artists whose contributions have significantly enriched the creative landscape of Ireland, supporting members in fully dedicating themselves to their art. Membership in Aosdána is limited to 250 living artists and is granted through peer nomination and election.

Roisín’s election to Aosdána acknowledges her significant contributions to the field of architecture and the arts in Ireland. She is one of only nine architects inducted into the organisation.

It was securing the contract for the design of the Grand Museum of Egypt that firmly established heneghan peng on the international stage.

“That was probably the project that we got best known for because it was a huge international competition. It had 1,500 entries, which is still the largest number of entries for an architectural competition for a project that’s built. It was a huge one. It’s like 100,000 square metres or a million square feet,” Roisin told the Western People.

The company takes a multi-disciplinary approach to design and has collaborated with many leading designers and engineers on a range of projects which include larger-scale urban masterplans, bridges, landscapes and buildings.

Roisín admits architecture didn’t loom large in her Mayo upbringing.

“I don’t think I knew an architect before I started studying it! I just had an interest in design and my mother would say: ‘She was always trying to fix the house!” 

Roisín said it is important not to rely on past work when taking on new projects.

“I think it’s about not relying on what you did before but trying to bring the same level of thought to every project. There can sometimes be a tendency to repeat.” 

She believes the Irish attitude to architecture is expanding and involving.

“Maybe at its best is when it’s not really seen as design but just a good building. Because I think sometimes something can be very expressive and there are other buildings or sites that just feel right. I think architecture is at its best when it just feels right.” 

Roisín believes a little bit of thought about design is all that is needed to protect and improve our landscapes.

“Let’s say the west of Ireland when you’re going along the coast, sometimes there are a lot of developments there that seem to ruin the reason people go to these areas in the first place. A little bit of thought and consideration would be a worthwhile investment upfront to preserve what was valuable about it all along.”