Grafton Architects was established in 1978 by Yvonne Farrell & Shelley McNamara, both graduates of UCD. They are Fellows of the RIAI, International Honorary Fellows of the RIBA and elected members of Aosdána, the eminent Irish Art organisation. Teachers at the School of Architecture, University College Dublin from 1976 to 2002, they were appointed adjunct Professors in 2015. They have held the Kenzo Tange chair at GSD Harvard and the Louis Kahn chair at Yale University and have been visiting professors at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland and Accademia d’Archittettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland, where they were appointed as full professors in 2013. Grafton Architects are winners of numerous international awards including the RIBA Stirling Prize (2021); the Pritzker Prize (2020); the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (2020) and the World Building of the Year Award (2008).

Grafton Architects have also contributed in Making In /19 Public.