No single book can capture the multifarious characteristics of a city. Dublin by Design, by celebrating the city’s architectural and urban works, reveals a fascinating story of the making and remaking of its fabric. Marking one hundred years since the city’s trajectory shifted as it emerged as the capital of a newly minted free state, the contributors reveal some of the layers of this complex tapestry that provide the back story to its iconic structures, streets and spaces. Lending reason to the haphazard, and clarity to the interplay of culture, science, technology, religion and politics, a new brightly lit capital city is revealed.  Interwoven through this story are images of the significant contribution that architecture has made to the public realm.  If the last one hundred years are a measure, the next hundred will see Dublin impacted by economic, environmental and physical challenges. 

Contributors Dr. Mary Clark (City Archivist), Gráinne Shaffrey, Frederick O’Dwyer, Dr Brian Ward, Anthony Reddy, Dr Ellen Rowley, Frank McDonald, Shane O’Toole, Paul de Freine, Jackie Bourke, Dr Lorcan Sirr, Gerry Cahill, James Pike, Éanna NÍ Lamhna, Dr Denis Byrne, Sean O’Laoire, and Shelly McNamara & Yvonne Farrell (Grafton Architects)

Heavily illustrated with plans, drawings and photographs. In association with The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).

For the architects, historians and sociologists in the family, get Dublin by Design. Edited by Noel Brady and Sandra O'Connell (O'Brien Press, €29.99), it's an informative history of Dublin and its evolution, beautifully illustrated with archive and contemporary images. With contributions from a range of influential people, including Mary Robinson, and Pritzker-prize winning architects Yvonne Fallon and Shelley McNamara, it discusses the direction in which we are heading with the city. Not light reading but extremely informative

Dublin by Design unfolds a fascinating story … Meticulously and lavishly illustrated, Dublin by Design will be pored over by fans of architecture and those passionate about planning … Further chapters take on more of Dublin’s histories, through the Georgians and Victorians and beyond, there are stories of the Liffey and of Phoenix Park. The book also explores topics from transport to community, green spaces to culture, housing to health. Contributors include Shane O’Toole, Ciarán Cuffe, Éanna Ní Lamhna, Gráinne Shaffrey, Ellen Rowley, Shelley McNamara, Yvonne Farrell and more

This lavishly illustrated and hefty publication is an edited collection of reflections on the evolution of Dublin since independence (1920-2020) … Authored by twenty contributors, who each know their city intimately, the scope of Dublin By Design is in many ways emblematic of Irish architectural practice: erudite, indebted to history, creative set-pieces with a respect for pre-existing order… This is an ambitious collection that captures many of the ‘toils and tribulations’ of a living city. The hope is that, as Chomsky advocated, its publication builds the basis for debate, further scholarship, or a synthesising sequel

A very welcome addition to studies of the development of the city... a book that will surprise and is probably not quite as expected but which succeeds nonetheless…a beautifully produced and presented work and great credit is due to O'Brien Press and the RIAI …Many of the illustrations are uncommon, such as the map extract showing the extent of military engagements during the Easter Rising. The photographs, which are of superb quality, often show buildings from perspectives that are not easily obtained… the book will engage, stimulate and occasionally annoy the reader, especially in its more opinion-oriented pieces … a wide readership and the reader will get value for money

Published by the RIAI, in partnership with O’Brien Press, to commemorate the upcoming centenary of the Irish Free State, Dublin by Design: Architecture and the City is a compilation of essays on ‘the city’s architectural and urban works’. In that context, it is to be praised for the inclusion of many facets of the city and its hinterland, presenting a rounded view of the layers of design that have impacted upon the creation Dublin. Not only does it record the influence of commissioned architects and designers upon the cityscape, but it analyses the effects that industry, population, and nature have had on the built environment … Brady’s interview with Shane O’Toole in ‘A Small But Significant was a stand-out read … Dublin by Design: Architecture and the City is to be praised for its broad inclusion of issues and influences which have constructed the metropolitan region we know today. And perhaps like its subject the sprawling, varied city of Dublin - Dublin by Design is best experienced as independent pieces of insight, each contributing to a wider whole