At least that is what publisher John Gandon found when he wanted to put together a book marking the work of Scott Tallon Walker.

"The book was originally meant to be much smaller, " says Ronnie Tallon, one of the founding partners of the practice, "but it just kept expanding."

When the publication "Scott Tallon Walker, 100 Buildings and Projects'" is launched on Tuesday, it will pay homage to four decades of an architectural practice that has played a key role in both reflecting and ushering in the enormous changes that have taken place in Irish society over the past few decades.

Today, with so many Irish architects finding a platform on the international stage, it is easy to forget that Scott Tallon Walker were once the only Irish architects to gain a reputation abroad. Founding partner, and "father" of Irish architecture, Michael Scott, had already paved the way with buildings such as the Irish Pavilion for the New York World's Fair (1938-1939) and it was his commitment to excellence and risk-taking, which continued to drive the practice he set up with Robin Walker and Tallon in 1960.

"I don't think we could have taken any of those things on - the enormous risks that we took in technology and searching for new ways to do things - without Michael's extraordinary confidence and the help he gave in marketing our ideas and concepts, "Ronnie Tallon says in an interview in the Gandon book.

Scott's influence, and his commitment to quality, was a deciding factor in helping to realise the practice's early - now feted - buildings, such as the Bank of Ireland headquarters on Baggot Street in Dublin, the Carrolls Factory in Dundalk, and the creation of the RTE campus in Donnybrook, a project that began in 1960 and continued for more than 30 years.

But Robin Walker, too, brought his own ideas to bear on the team's work. A period studying in Chicago had left him committed to the design philosophy of Mies Van Der Rohe, and the influence of one of architecture's luminaries is consistently evident in Scott Tallon Walker's first designs.

The practice moved on, however, and soaked up other architectural ideas. Ronnie Tallon likes to think of Mies Van der Rohe as an influence from the past, but is nonetheless equally certain that Scott Tallon Walker's guiding philosophy has not changed over the decades. "It's based on a mood, " he says, "back in the 1960s, we were very modern in terms of building. We were creating the most modern buildings in Ireland. These days, our policy and philosophy still follows the modern movement. We have avoided architectural fashion; our buildings are still based on a clarity of structure and making the most out of building material. Our ultimate policy hasn't changed."

If there is one building Tallon believes lives up most clearly to those principles, it is the former Carroll's Factory in Louth. Now a listed building, and owned by the Department of Education, he sees it as one of the firm's most achieved works.

"It fits into our principles of the time, " he says, "we were interested in creating expandable buildings which adhered to a multi-cellular principle. This is clearly shown in the simplicity of this building. It was expanded three times without anyone knowing."

In addition, the firm was able to incorporate some unique works of art into the building, something it has tried to do with each of its projects.

So, after 40 years in business, is now a better or worse time to be an architect in Ireland? Better, avows Tallon.