The young architect Niall McLaughlin identifies seven themes underlying his work: the use of light, the history of place; materials and making determining the architecture, buildings as metabolisms or ecosystems; building space in the landscape, landscape providing metaphors for buildings, and collaboration. This last he says is a way of "ambushing his own imagination" and "a route into originality".
Each of the themes is discussed in relation to one or more of his projects, each solution unique and innovative: small wonder that early in his career he received the accolade of Young Architect of the Year.
Born in Geneva, McLaughlin was raised in Ireland. After his architectural training at University College, Dublin (1979 - 1984) he worked for Scott Tallon Walker in Dublin and London, and in 1991 set up his own practice in London while teaching at Oxford Brookes University and later at the Bartlett School of Architecture.
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