The Sunday Times

Every once in a while you come across a building that turns your head, quickens your pulse and makes you pause to catch your breath. That sudden, unexpected, fluttery feeling - an involuntary response to unusual beauty - is a rare sensation in contemporary architecture. Experienced abroad more often than at home, its pursuit can cause lovers of buildings to travel great distances. You can take it that the men - and women - in black are about to descend on Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, just as soon as word of Grafton Architects' recently opened civic centre gets round.