The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced that Níall McLaughlin, the Irish architect, educator, and writer, will receive the 2026 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. 

The award, given on behalf of His Majesty the King, is one of the highest accolades in the field and acknowledges Níall's profound influence on architectural practice, thinking, writing, and education. 

With more than 30 years of experience, Níall's collection of work has a remarkable constancy independent of scale or budget, characterized by an unwavering dedication to the quality of space and a profound sensitivity to place, material, craft, light, and form. His unwavering commitment to the discipline's future is shown in his devotion to education.

Darbisher Place. Image © Nick Kane

The RIBA Honours Jury 2026 hailed Níall as a "pivotal figure in contemporary architecture", whose work "not only enriches the architectural profession but also addresses its evolving challenges." His projects "challenge conventional notions of architecture and regeneration, illustrating a visionary approach that prioritises environmental and cultural considerations."

Níall's work is characterized by a purposeful modesty, rooted in the idea that success is a team effort. The cloud-like Bandstand at Bexhill (2001), the serene orthogonal pavilions of the Alzheimer's Respite Centre in Dublin (2011), the latticed timber oval of the Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxford (2013), and the extremely basic brick volumes of The New Library Magdalene College (2021) are just a few of the exceptional projects that his practice has produced.

House at Goleen. Image © Nick Kane

With more than 25 years of experience teaching at The Bartlett School of Architecture, as well as positions at The University of California, Los Angeles (2012–2013) and Yale (2014–2015) as Lord Norman Foster Visiting Professor of Architecture, Níall's dedication to teaching sets a high standard in the field. 

Through both practice and pedagogy, he exemplifies a model way of working as an advocate for young architects, openness regarding mental health, and transparency in working hours and compensation.

Saltmarsh House in the north east of the Isle of Wight. Image © Nick Kane

"I am delighted and honoured to receive the 2026 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture," said Níall McLaughlin. 

"My team and I view architecture as a continuity of practice across generations. We are grateful to our teachers, who passed on the spirit, and our students, who continually question and transform it. As a small studio, we have grown and learned together. Thank you to all those who have collaborated with us and supported our ideals through commissioning, design, and construction."

"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."

"We accept this recognition with gratitude and with a renewed commitment to live up to its challenge," McLaughlin added.

The International Rugby Experience, a new cultural institution and visitor experience to honour the worldwide game of rugby in Limerick. Image © Nick Kane

"Always one to credit and uplift those around him, it is fitting that Níall is recognised for the resounding impact he has had on the profession. As an educator, he has been an outstanding role model for young architects, while his designs - eclectic in appearance and use - share a sense of care and grace that represent the very best of architecture," said Chris Williamson, RIBA President and Chair of the 2026 RIBA Honours Jury.

"Such sustained success has in no way diminished his humility. A humble visionary, his dedication to architecture as an art and professional practice has left an enduring mark on the discipline – one that will undoubtedly transcend trends and time," Williamson added.

The New Library Magdalene College at Magdalene College. Image © Nick Kane

On April 30, 2026, Níall will give a public lecture in London. The 2025 Royal Gold Medal winner Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA, Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, Isabel Allen, Editor, Architecture Today, and Victoria Farrow, Architect and Subject Lead in Architecture and the Built Environment at Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University, made up the 2026 RIBA Honours Jury, which was presided over by RIBA President Chris Williamson.

Read the fully citation by the 2026 RIBA Honours Committee:

Níall McLaughlin’s qualities as an architect stem from his ‘commitment to architecture as an art and professional practice’ said Charles Jencks when handing him the RIBA Charles Jencks Award in 2016 for Simultaneous Contribution to Theory and Practice. In 2020 he was awarded an Honorary MBE for Services to Architecture.  

With over 30 years in practice and a portfolio of outstanding projects ranging from the cloud-like Bandstand at Bexhill (2001); the calm orthogonal pavilions of the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin (2011); the latticed timber oval of the Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxford (2013); to the very simple brick volumes of The New Library Magdalene College (2021).  

His work for Peabody, Darbishire place (2014), one of Peabody’s oldest housing estates in London, represents a hugely impressive revival of a still vital tradition of housing delivery. Featured on the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist, it was arguably one of greatest relevance to the future of architecture in the UK. Critics remarked, if all new social housing was as thoughtfully designed as Darbishire Place, the green housing agenda would be well advanced.  

Níall has a robust reputation for thoughtful, innovative and well-crafted architecture. His rich enjoyment of the process of architecture has made him one of the most respected yet idiosyncratic architectural practitioners in the UK.  

McLaughlin’s contributions to architecture are multifaceted, encompassing award-winning building designs, critical discourse, influential writing, and impactful educational initiatives.  
Níall is a thinking architect, who embraces history, art and literature as muses. He believes that practice should be understood as a range of activities which are all necessary to each other. His approach for any audience is that they are engaged, motivated and valued.  

The work not only enriches the architectural profession but also addresses its evolving challenges, making him a pivotal figure in contemporary architecture.  

McLaughlin’s architectural vision is deeply informed by a nuanced understanding of time, social context, and environmental impact. In his talk "Six Pockets of Time," he said ‘Time, and how buildings embody this elusive medium, the apparently static durability of architecture, hides the fact that its representative of development, change and temporal depth at every level.’ He frames contemporary practice as a procession of communal performances organised in time.  

He argues that architecture represents the durability of communal bonds, and that this insight has critical relevance at a moment when the embodied investment in our existing building stock has urgent priority.  

Born in Geneva in 1962. He was educated in Dublin and studied architecture at University College Dublin between 1979 and 1984. He worked for Scott Tallon Walker for four years and established his own practice in London in 1990. He has designed buildings for education, culture, health, religious worship and housing.  

Teaching has been integral to his practice from the start, describing his first role at Oxford Brookes as his introduction to any coherent architecture scene in the UK. Teaching has remained important to him; he is a professor of architectural practice at the Bartlett – and views studying, practice and teaching as a vital continuum of learning and education. He was a visiting professor at the University of California Los Angeles from 2012-2013, and was appointed Lord Norman Foster Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale for 2014-2015. 

His own educational experience at University College Dublin is a constant referent when he discusses his approach to design – and underpins the intense ideation of materials in his projects.  

With a distinctive approach to materiality, his architecture is informed by ideas around the individual perception of space. McLaughlin emphasizes the importance of setting and light in architecture, which speaks to the cultural and technical aspects of his design principles. His projects often challenge conventional notions of architecture and regeneration, illustrating a visionary approach that prioritizes environmental and cultural considerations.  

McLaughlin’s is an architecture that plays with elemental geometries and simple palettes of materials and is not afraid to draw on nor to echo in its forms past models of Classicism or historical precedents.  

He doesn’t focus on the idea of the architect’s authorial ‘signature’. Instead, he feels, ‘Originality in building is rarely the way in which it is packaged and sold. A project can be incredibly original and beautifully built on account of the way the brick is bonded. Sometimes it’s the quiet thing within a project that’s original.’

In 2025, SANAA was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. 

The top image in the article is courtesy of RIBA.

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Níall McLaughlin RIBA