MCOH Architects has taken Building of the Year in the Public category at the Building and Architect of the Year Awards 2026, earning recognition for a library that demonstrates how civic architecture can serve its community with both design ambition and rigorous clarity of purpose. It is a win that reflects the full weight of what the Public category demands.

Portlaoise Library impressed the judges across every dimension of its delivery. The panel praised the submission for its "exceptional balance of design innovation and clear decision-making process," a verdict that speaks to the discipline behind the design as much as the quality of the finished building. Fluent design and creative ambition are qualities many projects aspire to; the achievement here lies in the precision and care with which those qualities have been executed throughout. Few public buildings of this scale manage to sustain that level of intention from the earliest design decisions through to the details of construction.

The relationship between the building and its surroundings is equally well handled. The scheme integrates seamlessly with its context, neither overstating its presence nor retreating from it, and the result is a public building that feels as though it belongs exactly where it stands. That sense of place is not accidental, it is the product of a design process that clearly gave as much weight to urban context as to interior quality and programme. For a building serving the public, that responsiveness to setting is not optional; it is essential.

What the judges ultimately recognised in Portlaoise Library is a building with genuine community longevity. This is a scheme designed not simply to function well on opening day but to become, as the panel noted, "an integral part of the community" over time. In a category defined by public purpose, that is the most meaningful standard of all, and MCOH Architects has met it with confidence and clarity.

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