Liam O'Connor (architect)

Last updated

Liam O'Connor (born 1961) is a British architect best known for designing national public memorials in the classical style. [1]

Contents

Biography

O'Connor established his own practice, Liam O’Connor Architects and Planning Consultants, in 1989. [2] In 1992 he won a European prize for his design of three buildings as part of a new urban block development in the centre of Brussels. [2] In 1992, O’Connor received the first prize for his masterplan on the redevelopment of the area around the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. [2] Between 1995 and 1997 he was a special adviser for architecture and urban design to John Gummer during his tenure as Secretary of State for the Environment. [2]

In 1999 he won the international competition to design the Memorial Gates, London, which were inaugurated by Elizabeth II in 2002. [3] In 2004, O'Connor was the architect for the Victoria Cross and George Cross Memorial at the Ministry of Defence Main Building in London. [4] The same year he entered the winning design for the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, which was official dedicated in a ceremony led by Elizabeth II on 12 October 2007. [5] O'Connor subsequently designed the RAF Bomber Command Memorial, which was unveiled by Elizabeth II in 2012 during her Diamond Jubilee year. [6] O'Connor was commissioned to design the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, France, which was formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019 by British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. [7] [8]

O'Connor is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Art Workers' Guild and INTBAU, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. [1] [2] He was previously an adjunct professor in architecture at the University of Notre Dame. [2] In addition to memorials, he has designed numerous residential and commercial buildings. [2]

Although Mr. O'Connor is a jus solis British citizen being born in London, he is also a jus sanguinis Irish citizen, with both of his parents being from the Republic of Ireland.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Lutyens</span> English architect (1869–1944)

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials and public buildings. In his biography, the writer Christopher Hussey wrote, "In his lifetime (Lutyens) was widely held to be our greatest architect since Wren if not, as many maintained, his superior". The architectural historian Gavin Stamp described him as "surely the greatest British architect of the twentieth century".

Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era but commonly known for its presence in post-war communist nations. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design. The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette; other materials, such as steel, timber, and glass, are also featured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Knott</span> British architect

Ralph KnottFRIBA was a British architect. He was responsible for building the massive 6-storey "Edwardian Baroque" style County Hall building for the London County Council.

The year 2007 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasmeen Lari</span> Pakistani architect

Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan's first female architect. She is best known for her involvement in the intersection of architecture and social justice. Since her official retirement from architectural practice in 2000, her UN-recognized NGO Heritage Foundation Pakistan has been taking on humanitarian relief work and historical conservation projects in rural villages all around Pakistan. She was awarded the prestigious Fukuoka Prize in 2016 and the RIBA's Royal Gold Medal in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alireza Sagharchi</span> British-Iranian architect

Alireza Sagharchi RIBA FRSA is a British-Iranian architect. He is an internationally renowned and leading practitioner of contemporary classical architecture and traditional urban design. During his professional career, he has been responsible for major master planning and building projects in the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Robert Ashbee</span> English architect and designer

Charles Robert Ashbee was an English architect and designer who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement, which took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the socialism of William Morris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Workers' Guild</span> Organization of British artists

The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of all the arts', denying the distinction between fine and applied art. It opposed the professionalisation of architecture – which was promoted by the Royal Institute of British Architects at this time – in the belief that this would inhibit design. In his 1998 book, Introduction to Victorian Style, University of Brighton's David Crowley stated the guild was "the conscientious core of the Arts and Crafts Movement".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allies and Morrison</span> British architectural firm

Allies and Morrison LLP is an architecture and urban planning practice based in London and Cambridge. Founded in 1984, the practice is now one of Britain's largest architectural firms. The practice's work ranges from architecture and interior design to conservation and renovation of historic buildings to urbanism, planning, consultation and research. The firm's notable projects include the redevelopment of the Royal Festival Hall, the masterplan for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, BBC Media Village and the redevelopment of King's Cross Central. The practice has a reputation for designing modernist, yet stylistically restrained buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Adjaye</span> Ghanaian-British architect (born 1966)

Sir David Frank Adjaye is a Ghanaian-British architect. He is known for having designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Adjaye was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to architecture. He is the recipient of the 2021 Royal Gold Medal, making him the first African recipient and one of the youngest recipients. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2022.

The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU) is an international organization established in 2001. The organization arose from a research project initiated in 2000 at The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment and undertaken by Dr Matthew Hardy, an architect and architectural historian. INTBAU is "dedicated to the support of traditional building, the maintenance of local character and the creation of better places to live", and has a Central Office located with three related charities in The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment building in Shoreditch, London, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John James Burnet</span> Scottish architect

Sir John James Burnet was a Scottish Edwardian architect who was noted for a number of prominent buildings in Glasgow and London. He was the son of the architect John Burnet, and later went into partnership with his father, joining an architectural firm which would become an influential force in British Modern architecture in the 20th century.

Richard Sammons is an architect, architectural theorist, visiting professor, and chief designer of Fairfax & Sammons Architects with offices in New York City, New York and Palm Beach, Florida. The firm has an international practice specializing in classical and traditional architecture, interior design and urban planning. Sammons was instrumental in the reemergence of classical design as a major movement in America through his designs as well as his work as an instructor at the Prince of Wales Institute in Britain in 1992-3 and as a founding member of the Institute of Classical Architecture in 1991. From 1996 to 2004, the Fairfax & Sammons office also served as the headquarters for the noted American architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr. (1915) and Classical America, the organization he founded in 1968. In 2013, Fairfax & Sammons received the Arthur Ross Award for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture, an award created to recognize and celebrate excellence in the classical tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Bomber Command Memorial</span> Memorial in Green Park, London

The Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial is a memorial in The Green Park, London, commemorating the crews of RAF Bomber Command who embarked on missions during the Second World War. The memorial, on the south side of Piccadilly, facing Hyde Park Corner, was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other allied countries, as well as civilians of all nations killed during raids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Classical architecture</span> Postmodern classical architectural movement

New Classical architecture, New Classicism or Contemporary Classical architecture is a contemporary movement in architecture that continues the practice of Classical architecture. It is sometimes considered the modern continuation of Neoclassical architecture, even though other styles might be cited as well, such as Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance or even non-Western styles – often referenced and recreated from a postmodern perspective as opposed to being strict revival styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial</span> Memorial in London

The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial, situated between The Mall and Carlton Gardens in central London, is a memorial to King George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth. Completed in its present form in 2009, the memorial incorporates an earlier, Grade II listed statue of George VI by William McMillan, unveiled by his daughter Queen Elizabeth II in 1955. The reconfigured memorial, which includes a statue of the Queen Mother by Philip Jackson, relief sculpture by Paul Day and an architectural setting by Donald Buttress and Donald Insall, was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009.

Philip Dalton Hepworth was a British architect. He studied in both the UK and France, at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and the École des Beaux-Arts, and returned to work as an architect after serving in the First World War. He rose to prominence in the 1930s, featuring in a book by architectural critic Trystan Edwards and winning the commission in 1932 to design Walthamstow Town Hall, which was eventually completed in 1942. Another civic building of this period was Wiltshire County Hall at Trowbridge. He also designed a handful of private houses, including Pemberley, in Loughton, 1936. He lived in Zoffany House in Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, London, from 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Williams-Ellis</span> British sculptor (born 1959)

David Williams-Ellis is a British sculptor whose primary subject matter is the human figure.

The year 2021 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

The British Normandy Memorial is a war memorial near the village of Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy, France. It was unveiled on 6 June 2021, the 77th anniversary of D-Day, and it is dedicated to soldiers who died under British command during the Normandy landings.

References

  1. 1 2 "Liam O'Connor". Art Workers' Guild. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Liam O'Connor". INTBAU. International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  3. Stamp, Gavin. "London: Commonwealth Gate". Twentieth Century Society. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  4. "Victoria Cross And George Cross - Ministry Of Defence". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  5. Williams, Rachel (13 October 2007). "National Armed Forces Memorial unveiled". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  6. "Bomber Command Memorial moves veterans". BBC News. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  7. "British Normandy Memorial unveiled in France to honour D-Day and Normandy fallen". BBC News. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  8. "Making of the Memorial". British Normandy Memorial. Retrieved 31 July 2023.