Irish firm chosen for flagship 'Ireland House' in Tokyo

Ireland House Tokyo design competition winners, Maria Mulcahy & Peter McGovern of Henry J Lyons Architects present their winning designs.

An Irish architecture company has been chosen as the design firm for the new €21 million Ireland House in Tokyo.

The Henry J Lyons Architects consortium has been selected as the winning entry for Ireland House Tokyo which will be home to the Irish embassy as well as several State agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) had asked architecture firms from across the world to come up with designs that would capture “all aspects of our rich heritage, culture and Ireland’s position as a modern, forward-looking and technology-driven nation”.

Ireland House Tokyo will be the centre of Ireland’s presence in Japan, the third largest economy in the world and will be a venue to learn about Ireland and will advertise Ireland as somewhere to study, do research and to visit.

Niall Burgess, the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated: “The selection of this design is just the first step of this project. 

"The new ‘Ireland House’ will support a deeper and broader partnership with Japan in the decades to come, and help drive new opportunities for Irish business in the region."

"The new flagship Ireland House in Tokyo forms part of the Government’s ‘Global Ireland’ expansion of overseas representation, hosting our Embassy; and State Agencies including IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia and Tourism Ireland, and providing a superb promotional platform for Ireland.

“The winning design by Henry J Lyons architects imaginatively fulfils our vision by delivering welcoming and vibrant symbol of Ireland in Japan," he said.