Níall McLaughlin awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2026

The RIBA Royal Gold Medal for 2026 has been awarded to Níall McLaughlin, recognising an architect whose quietly influential practice has reshaped contemporary architecture through care, craft, and a deeply human-centered architecture. Conferred by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the medal honours a body of work that prioritises how buildings are made, inhabited, and lived with over time.

Níall McLaughlin and the meaning of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal

One of the highest distinctions in global architecture, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal celebrates sustained excellence rather than a single project. In selecting Níall McLaughlin, the jury highlighted his three-decade contribution to architectural practice, education, and critical thought. Particular attention was given to Darbishire Place in London (2014), a socially minded housing project for Peabody that reimagines urban repair through generosity of space, environmental responsibility, and long-term use.

Responding to the award, McLaughlin described architecture as a shared, intergenerational practice, insisting that building remains rooted in human rituals and material intelligence rather than technological spectacle.

Human-centred architecture as a design philosophy

At the core of Níall McLaughlin’s work is a commitment to human-centred architecture—an approach that values atmosphere, material, light, and craft over formal excess. Founded in London in 1990, Níall McLaughlin Architects has delivered projects across education, housing, healthcare, and religious architecture, all united by restraint and clarity. From the Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxford to the New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge (winner of the 2022 Stirling Prize), his buildings favour making over image, and continuity over novelty.