Lorcan O'Herlihy

Modernist Lorcan O'Herlihy

In the work of Lorcan O'Herlihy, a significant emerging voice in this new generation, the faith in modernist reticence, in abstraction, in "white" architecture, is mediated through a contemporary sense of inventiveness in the use of materials, traditional and new, and a profound understanding of context, its landforms, vegetation, and above all, light.

Panoramic views

Taking his cue from the spatial organizations of Loos, Schindler, and Neutra, O'Herlihy deploys his intersecting volumes to take advantage of the often panoramic views, floods of light, and dramatic sites he occupies. If the West Coast equivalent of modernism's "Mediterranean" is the simple stucco cube, then O'Herlihy echoes its traditional play of wood and plaster in a combination that exploits "the new woods" and their golden, light distributing surfaces.

New modernity expressed by an authenticity of construction

The work of Lorcan O'Herlihy has emerged as a new modernity expressed by an authenticity of construction and craft. O'Herlihy's work invokes the spiritualism of Louis Kahn--the idea of order that can be sensed, that deals with the unspoken. A reductive vocabulary of basic elements allows a greater focus on materials and proportions and a greater potential to respond to the surroundings.

Constructive essence of architecture

Lorcan O'Herlihy commitment toward a search for primariness, for direct contact with the constructive essence of architecture, is revealed through form, detail, and the essence of materials. Currently on the boards are a number of retail projects and residential projects in Los Angeles and Europe. Lorcan lectures extensively in the United States and Europe and has held positions and the Architectural Association in London and at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.

Lorcan O'Herlihy's work

Lorcan O'Herlihy's work has been recognized internationally with a number of awards, exhibitions, and publications and has appeared in Progressive Architecture, G.A. Houses, Architectural Record, Architectural Review, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Metropolitan Home, and Interiors. Previously Lorcan worked in New York with Kevin Roche/John Dinkeloo and Associates on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with I.M. Pei & Partners on the Lourve Museum in Paris, and with Steven Holl.

Lorcan O'Herlihy Publication

Publisher: Rockport Publishers, 1999
ISBN: 156496504X

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