Nicholas Grimshaw Wins 2019 RIBA Gold Medal
Nicholas Grimshaw
Photo by Rick Roxburgh, courtesy RIBA/Grimshaw
Eden Project
Photo © A1personage via Wikimedia Commons
International Terminal Waterloo by Grimshaw
Photo courtesy Jo Reid and John P
Thermae Bath Spa by Grimshaw
Photo courtesy Jason Hawkes
British Pavilion Expo 1992, Seville by Grimshaw
Photo courtesy Jo Reid and John Peck
Bath Spa School of Art and Design (formerly the Herman Miller Factory, also by Grimshaw)
Photo courtesy RIBA
Architects & Firms
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has named British architect Nicholas Grimshaw recipient of the 2019 Gold Medal for lifetime achievement.
Known for Modernist public buildings and infrastructure projects—including the International Terminal at London’s Waterloo station, the 1994 RIBA Building of the Year Award, and the Eden Project in Cornwall, England, an ecological attraction with distinctive ETFE-clad biome domes—Grimshaw founded his firm in 1980. Today, the practice employs over 600 people in offices across the globe.
“He is responsible for an extraordinary number of buildings and infrastructure projects of international significance, and for the continuous development of an architecture which places technology at the heart of the aesthetic,” said RIBA President, Ben Derbyshire, in a statement, adding, “His influence on architecture extends beyond his work as a practitioner. He is an educator, champion for the UK architectural profession and for culture more widely.”
“My life, and that of the practice, has always been involved in experiment and in ideas, particularly around sustainability,” said Grimshaw in a statement. “I have always felt we should use the technology of the age we live in for the improvement of mankind.”
Social housing pioneer Neave Brown received the 2018 Gold Medal shortly before his death in January of this year. Past recipients include Zaha Hadid (2016), Frank Gehry (2000), Norman Foster (1983), and Frank Lloyd Wright (1941).
RIBA will present Nicholas Grimshaw with the Gold Medal at a ceremony in early 2019.
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