Our Studio

We create joyful spaces that deliver social impact and drive positive change.

Focused on delivering housing and public buildings, we work closely with ambitious clients and stakeholders, designing spaces that respond to their unique needs and contexts. Our process achieves high-quality results efficiently and effectively, and contributes to positive change for people and communities.

We work across three core sectors: housing, public buildings, and education.

What We Offer

  • Our clients enjoy our collaborative approach. We establish clear lines of communication, fostering a close working relationship with our clients and design team, encouraging a positive and proactive attitude.

  • We develop design briefs for private and public projects using a data-driven analytical process and benchmark case studies. This crucial first step ensures we fully understand our clients needs, and provide the right spaces at the right cost.

  • We work iteratively and quickly, testing and refining design options to meet, and often exceed, the project brief. The initial Feasibility Study fits the aspirations of the brief to the site, and determines the capacity and constraints of each project.

  • We have an excellent track record and have never had a planning refusal on architectural grounds. We carefully develop and refine the design, bringing the project toward reality through the crucial planning process.

  • It is a point of pride for us to deliver technically resolved, efficient, and optimised buildings. We understand the importance of buildability and longevity, we apply rigorous attention to the design, detail and construction stages of all projects within a culture of continuous improvement. We provide technical support and advice to both the client and the contractor to assist in their evaluation of the best value and quality achievable within cost constraints.

  • During construction we lead by example – setting the tone across the design and construction team with effective, active management, driving the delivery of the project. 

    Good communication, transparency and regular site visits throughout the construction stage mean that we can remain closely involved throughout until the project is handed over.

  • Our design excellence is delivered through effective leadership and efficient project management.

    We lead the team through a process of regular Design Review Meetings, Coordination Workshops, Technical Reviews, Client Presentations and Public Engagement. We will set very clear agendas, deliverable outputs for each team member, and client decisions required at each stage, to keep the project on track.

  • Good design is all about collaboration between designers, our client, and contractors. The skills, experience, and commitment we bring to each project ensure outstanding outcomes.

    • Inclusiveness and accessibility for all

    • A positive impact on the environment

    • Low-as-possible running and maintenance costs

    • Fitness for purpose, without expensive add-ons

    • Completion on-time and on-budget

    • Providing the flexibility for future uses and expansion

    • Delivering value over the whole life of the building - in the long term, good design always costs less.

Our Values

  • We make simple, joyful and efficient buildings that meet and exceed expectations, all while maintaining operational efficiency and attention to detail.

    We ensure projects are delivered efficiently, with certainty and with reduced risk during construction. It is this combined approach that enables us to deliver large scale international projects while maintaining a client centred approach.

1

  • We work closely with our clients and stakeholders, ensuring that every project is a shared journey, shaped by deep understanding of the needs, aspirations, and context of our clients and projects, ensuring meaningful results rooted in the needs of the client, the people who will inhabit the spaces and the wider community.

2

  • Our work is driven by a commitment to social and environmental sustainability, aiming to positively transform communities and ecosystems. We make long-life, low-energy, environmentally and socially sustainable buildings which will stand the test of time and last for generations. We take our environmental responsibilities seriously, and our practice is a member of the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC)

3

  • We balance traditional craft with cutting-edge technologies. From integrating new ideas and materials to rigorous management and close communication, we ensure precision and quality - delivering dynamic, impactful and beautifully crafted spaces.

    We undertake independent research and development in all of our projects, pursuing ongoing insights into new techniques and materials to reduce embodied-carbon in the buildings and landscapes we make.

4

Biography

David Williams

MRIAI, B.Arch (Hons) SAUL, Director

David Williams, Architect, Dublin. David Williams & Co Architects - DWCO

I'm from Tralee, Co. Kerry. I studied architecture at Newcastle University and the University of Limerick, then worked at Reiach and Hall in Edinburgh, Haworth Tompkins in London, and O'Donnell + Tuomey in Dublin. After a decade learning how large practices run, I came back to set up my own.

I started David Williams & Co. because I wanted to work directly with the people commissioning the buildings. In a small practice, that's exactly what happens. Every client works with me from the first conversation through to completion on site.

Our work is concentrated in housing, schools, and public buildings - that's a deliberate choice. These are the projects that affect how people actually live, learn, and come together. I'm less interested in architecture as a spectacle and more interested in buildings that do their job well - warm, efficient, well-made places that work for the people inside them. 

We work across Ireland and internationally, with a strong concentration in Kerry and the west, where I grew up and where many of our clients come back to us.

In 2024 I was named Rising Star in Architecture at the Building and Architect of the Year Awards. In 2023 I received the RIAI Future Award (Highly Commended). I completed my Professional Diploma in Architectural Practice at TU Dublin and am accredited in Health and Safety in Construction.

RIAI Member No. 16128


Awards & Recognition

Joyful Efficiency in Practice

Learn about collaborating with us

See our work in housing, public buildings, and education.