A new special-educational needs school in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, has been named Ireland’s favourite building in the public choice category of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland’s Architecture Awards for 2026.
The Little Angels School, designed by McGarry Ní Éanaigh Architects, is within a landscape of sensory gardens, trails and amenity areas.
The school was designed for students with complex needs, requiring architects to navigate regulations, site challenges and varied human experiences.
The project was described as “a masterclass in inclusive design”, providing a vibrant, intuitive new home for an established community of staff and students aged 3 to 18.
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The school caters to pupils with moderate, severe, or profound learning disabilities, alongside students on the autism spectrum.
Speaking of the winning entry, RIAI president Fionnuala May said the school had “transformed the lives of its students, staff and wider community, demonstrating the power of architecture to create meaningful and lasting change”.
She said the school stood as a strong example of how architects were “catalysts in the delivery of the high-quality public infrastructure” needed by Ireland to meet “our social and economic ambitions in the decades ahead”.
The runner-up in the public-choice award was the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s Project Connect by Henry J Lyons.
Lyons redefined the college’s facade and civic presence on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.
The awarding body said the building balanced “bold contemporary architecture with sensitivity to its historic surroundings”.
The Shackleton Experience in Athy, Co Kildare, dedicated to the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, ranked in third place.
The museum, with its striking protruding iceberg-like glass extension, transformed the protected structure into a “world-class visitor experience, boldly reimagining the building as a civic and cultural home for Ernest Shackleton’s legacy”, the RIAI said.
The RIAI received 174 entries for this year’s Architecture Awards, with 44 projects shortlisted, including six international buildings from the US to Japan. All the entries can be viewed at riai.ie.
The RIAI Architecture Awards presentation will take place tomorrow evening at Merrion Cricket Club in Dublin 4, designed by 2022 RIAI winner Taka Architects, where the full list of winners across all categories will be announced.
