McCullough Mulvin Architects is an architecture and urban design practice based in Dublin. Much of our work has been in the design of cultural and civic buildings around Ireland, projects working to define a new public realm in a changing society, dealing with Ireland's diffuse light and stark materiality. The work is based around an idea of experimentation - from small domestic work through to larger civic projects - testing at all scales, the work is original and the response to each brief particular. There is no house style, rather a concern for improving the lives of people by designing public and private spaces where life is played out. The practice pursues architecture for many contexts, ordinary & extraordinary, reflecting a specific response to site and place. There is a resonance in the juxtaposition between old things and new ones, relationships explored in projects like Waterford and Rush Libraries, the Model Arts and Niland Gallery or the Dublin Dental Hospital. McCullough Mulvin combine modern architecture and the spirit of intervention with being Conservation Grade 1 architects.Their work - schools, houses, libraries- is located in Ireland off the West coast of Europe in the context of the spareness of island conditions; issues of climate, vegetation & the form of particular landscapes creates a recognizable backdrop. The buildings are simple; they use simple technologies and uncomplicated structures to create density of form, making an architecture at the border between the ordinary and the special. The practice operates in a particular way by digging into the ground on which projects are to be located. Measurement of response can include a clear assessment of context - which may lead to incorporation or rejection.The design of libraries and arts related buildings - for instance Source Arts Centre and Library, Thurles - is a particular expertise. Recently, McCullough Mulvin have also been successfully involved in residential and PPP projects. This work is carried through practice in projects particular to the landscape and to their home city of Dublin- houses, urban structures and public buildings that reflect the modern spirit of the city and push the boundaries of possibility for the re-imagining of existing contexts: Dublin Dental Hospital, Trinity Long Room Hub, Ussher Library TCD, City Wall space at Wood Quay Venue, Engineers Ireland, St Brigid's, The Coombe & City Arts.Through publication, on typologies (A Lost Tradition), the process of change (Palimpsest) and then on the city (Dublin: An Urban History) Niall McCullough and Valerie Mulvin have explored the context of architecture in Ireland. A number of books have been published on the work of the practice including Work, Rush Library and Trinity Long Room Hub. The range of practice is extended by teaching and research. Directors Valerie Mulvin, Niall McCullough and Ruth O Herlihy have lectured and taught in Ireland (UCD, DIT, UL, QUB), the UK, USA, Scandinavia, Poland, Spain (University of La Coruna), Tenerife and in ETH, Lausanne, Switzerland.