IRISH architects are well represented on the shortlist for this year's prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize for Britain's best new building.
Darbishire Place, E1, designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects, is a 13-home apartment building for the Peabody Trust, and one that "oozes care" according to this year's judges.
The judges from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) said the £23m building is "a brilliant piece of urban design".
The panel singled out the building's stairwell for specific praise, suggesting residents "must feel a million dollars, like stars on an ocean liner" as they encounter its "graceful curves" and "elegant swooping hand-rail".
Niall McLaughlin Architects was set up in 1990. McLaughlin received his architectural qualifications from University College Dublin in 1984, and worked for Scott Tallon Walker in Dublin and London between 1984 and 1989.
The University of Greenwich, Stockwell Street Building, also on the shortlist, has been designed by Heneghan Peng Architects.
The Dublin-based company, founded by Roisin Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng, designed the campus building to house the 2,000 students that make up the university's architecture and landscape department.
Heneghan Peng Architects have already won a RIBA national award for the Giant's Causeway Visitors' Centre. Other projects have included the Grand Museum of Egypt, and Aras Chill Dara in Kildare.
This year's winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize will be announced in London on October 15.
The other four shortlisted projects are Burntwood School by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Maggie's Lanarkshire by Reiach and Hall Architects; NEO Bankside by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; and The Whitworth by MUMA.
