Tom de Paor
Tomás "Tom" de Paor is an Irish architect and member of Aosdána.
Early life
De Paor was born in London in 1967 and grew up in County Clare.Career
de Paor studied architecture at TU Dublin and in UCD, where he graduated with first-class honours.Built works
In 1991 he won the international competition for the design of a reception building at the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Ballincollig, County Cork, a building which won an AAI award in 1993 and an RIAI award in 1994.Since then his public work has included works to the A13 in London [Borough of Barking and Dagenham|Barking and Dagenham] in London, the National Sculpture Factory Cork, Comhdháil Naisiúnta na Gaeilge Dublin, Clontarf Pumpstation and landscape, Irish Aid Centre Dublin, Druid Theatre Galway and the Landside Bar Dublin airport.
More recently de Paor designed the Pálás cinema in Galway, which was awarded an AAI and RIAI award for Best Cultural Building, two Irish Concrete Society awards, two Civic Trust awards and a World Architecture Award. He has also designed a number of one-off houses and gardens, both urban and rural, across Ireland.
Exhibitions
In 2000 he was invited to design the inaugural Irish representation at the Venice Architecture Biennale and he contributed to subsequent Irish Pavilions in 2006, 2008 and in 2010, which he co-curated. He exhibited in the international pavilion in 2010 and 2018. He represented Europe in New Trends of Architecture Europe and Japan in 2001.In 2022 de Paor staged the retrospective exhibition ‘i see Earth: building and ground: 1991–2021’, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, The [Irish Architecture Foundation], Visual Carlow, and curated by N. Weadick. He works with Peter Maybury under the imprint Gall.