Fishing HUt. Image © Nick Kane
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https://www.archdaily.com/1038254/niall-mclaughlin-receives-the-2026-riba-royal-gold-medal-for-architecture
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced that Irish architect, educator, and writer Níall McLaughlin will receive the 2026 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Awarded on behalf of His Majesty the King, the Royal Gold Medal is among the significant international distinctions in architecture, recognizing a sustained contribution to the advancement of the discipline through built work, education, and critical discourse. In announcing the award, RIBA noted McLaughlin‘s long-standing influence across architectural practice and pedagogy, citing a career that spans more than three decades and reflects a consistent engagement with the cultural, environmental, and social dimensions of architecture.
Niall McLaughlin. Image © NMLA
Over the course of more than 30 years in practice, McLaughlin has developed a diverse portfolio that ranges across cultural, educational, religious, healthcare, and housing projects. Despite variations in scale and typology, his work is united by a careful attention to place, materiality, craft, light, and spatial quality, as well as an interest in elemental geometries and restrained material palettes. The 2026 RIBA Honours Jury, chaired by RIBA President Chris Williamson and including Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA, Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, Isabel Allen, and Victoria Farrow, described him as a “pivotal figure in contemporary architecture,” noting that his projects challenge conventional approaches to architecture and regeneration while foregrounding environmental and cultural considerations and prioritizing the experience of users.
Limerick. Image © Nick KaneProjects cited by RIBA include the Bandstand at Bexhill (2001), the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin (2011), the Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxford (2013), and the New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge (2021), which received the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize. While differing in ambition and program, these works share an approach that understands architecture as a collective and iterative process rather than the production of singular objects. This position is also evident in McLaughlin’s housing project at Darbishire Place for Peabody in London (2014), shortlisted for the 2015 Stirling Prize and frequently referenced in discussions on the future of social housing delivery in the UK.
Related Article “The Building as a Dance Between Design and Habitation”: In Conversation with Níall McLaughlin
Alongside his built work, he has taught at The Bartlett School of Architecture for over 25 years and has held visiting professorships at the University of California, Los Angeles (2012–2013), and Yale University as the Lord Norman Foster Visiting Professor of Architecture (2014–2015). RIBA also highlighted his advocacy for early-career architects, transparency in professional practice, and openness around working conditions and mental health, positioning his pedagogical work as closely aligned with his approach to practice.
Nazrin Shah. Image © Nick Kane
Through practice, we have learned that architecture is not the production of singular objects, but an ongoing performance of development, alteration, and reinvention through lived experience. At a time of accelerating technological change in design and construction, we continue to insist on the human rituals and material practices at the heart of our discipline. Building is an act, not an object. Architecture lies in its making and the way that it shapes learning, culture, and communal life. – Níall McLaughlin
Faith Museum. Image © Nick Kane
A public lecture with Níall McLaughlin will take place in London on April 30, 2026. Recent recipients of the Royal Gold Medal include SANAA, awarded in 2025 for their contributions to contemporary architecture through clarity, light, and spatial refinement; Lesley Lokko, honored in 2024 for her influence as an educator, curator, and advocate for decolonizing architectural discourse; Yasmeen Lari, recognized in 2023 for her work on zero-carbon self-build housing for displaced communities; and Balkrishna Doshi, who received the medal in 2022 for his lifelong contribution to architecture and urbanism, integrating modernist principles with local traditions.