tóg

For many people, building a house is the largest investment they'll ever make, the place where their life unfolds, and it matters profoundly. That's why tóg exists. I founded this practice on a simple idea: that a project this important deserves an architect who's genuinely invested in getting it right - someone who knows your site and your life, and who stays with you from first sketch through to completion.

I spent years at practices designing larger projects and high-end residential, institutional work that was genuinely impressive. But I kept running into the same problem - the work that mattered most to people living with it had nothing to do with budget or accolades. It was about a place shaped around how you actually live. So I started tóg around that idea.
Residential work done with the seriousness and craft it deserves - reading your site properly, designing for how you actually live, building things that last. Not generic solutions. Not render boxes. Work that's rooted in place.

Ivor Hession.

I'm an RIBA and RIAI registered architect, a certified Passive House Designer, and have lectured and been a guest speaker at the Belfast School of Architecture at Ulster University.

Before founding tóg, I worked at McGonigle McGrath, MMAS, and ArdMackel Architects — three of Ireland's most awarded practices, contributing to projects including Lessans House and the Sportlann at Coláiste Feirste. That time shaped how I think about buildings: grounded in material and tectonic understanding, designed for the specific conditions of a site rather than imported from a template.

My undergraduate thesis was awarded the RSUA Bronze Medal, and my Masters dissertation — Context [is everything] — was nominated for the RIBA Silver Medal.

tóg exists because residential work deserves that same rigour. A house is not a lesser project. It's the most significant thing most of our clients will ever build, and it gets treated that way.