“You can't look at the competition and say you're going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say you're going to do it differently.” After honing skills at industry giants like Hopkins and Grimshaw, Pol struck out to chase a wilder, more expressive vision. Since then, the competition arena has become our laboratory—a space to inject radical creativity into the built environment. In a world often limited by bottom lines and rigid rules, our mission is simple: we are here to put the joy back into design.

Our story

From day one, ZAP rejected the safety of a steady paycheck to chase more ambitious design challenges. We walked away from the mundane and sometimes safer commerical world to sharpen our teeth in the cut-throat world of open design competitions.

Our origin story was’nt in a boardroom; or connections - it was reputation. ZAP was grown by hopeful artists, subsidizing unpaid ambition with teaching gigs, bar shifts, and sleepless nights. We are dreamers who conspire with fellow makers and craftspeople to build the inspiring.

Ten years of effort, grit, and unexpected wins later, the scale has changed, but the hunger hasn't. We’ve earned our reputation as visionary disruptors. Now, we are lucky enough to have the clients brave enough to match our ambition and strive for something exceptional.

AIR B’N’B INTERNATIONAL CONTEST

LONDON HOUSING CRISIS

Open Competition

DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY international competition

“my final nod of appreciation must go to Pol Gallagher of Zap Architecture. Memorise the name as Pol is a star on a rapid ascent. From Donegal and based in the bell tower of a church next to the Houses of Parliament in London, he was recommended to me by the Royal Institute of British Architects as the only member who could turn my dreams of bobbing plants, twirling trees and a garden folly which doffs its hat to the gathered crowds of expectant gardeners into a reality. It's no surprise that his imagination is being harnessed by Orla Kiely, Dublin City University and the developers of the old BBC TV Centre in Shepherds Bush. If you have a project which requires pure imagination, have it Zapped!”

— Diarmuid Gavin (Garden Designer)…published in Irish Times 29 May 2016