Judges 2009
Shane O'Toole
Ireland
Shane O'Toole lives in Dublin, where he is active as an historian, author, editor, curator, broadcaster and campaigner for threatened buildings. He has been President of the Architectural Association of Ireland and Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, and was Ireland’s Commissioner for the Venice Biennale in 2004 and 2006. He was a founder of urban design collective Group 91 Architects and ran his own practice during the 1990s. His awards include the Grand Prix of the Cracow Architecture Biennale (1989), the Architectural Association of Ireland's Downes Medal (1996), finalist in the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award (1996), the UIA’s Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize for town planning and territorial development (2002) and a Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland's Triennial Gold Medal commendation (2003). A member of CICA (the International Committee of Architecture Critics), he has written for the Irish edition of The Sunday Times since 1999. He was named International Building Press Architectural Critic of the Year in 2008.
