When Níall McLaughlin was shortlisted for the Stirling prize in 2013, for designing an exquisitely jewel-like chapel for a theological college near Oxford, he brought along his client to the prize-giving ceremony. It was the first (and possibly last) time a group of Anglican nuns had ever graced such a spectacle.
Despite clearly having God on his side, he lost out that year, but eventually scooped the Stirling in 2022, for the New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Founded in 1428, Magdalene’s alumni include Samuel Pepys, Norman Hartnell and Bamber Gascoigne. Oxbridge colleges expect their buildings to endure, and McLaughlin delivered a reassuringly robust and handsomely detailed exemplar, mixing crisp planes of brick that recalled the American modernist Louis Kahn, with top notes of English Arts and Crafts, echoing the gabled forms of the college’s historic courts.
McLaughlin has now gone one better with the award of this year’s royal gold medal, one of the world’s most illustrious architectural honours. Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the gold medal is awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) on behalf of the monarch, to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture.
It recognises McLaughlin’s impact across architectural practice, critical discourse and design education. Riba’s honours jury describes him as a “pivotal figure in contemporary architecture”, whose work “not only enriches the architectural profession but also addresses its evolving challenges”.
It’s an intriguing choice, as McLaughlin is not especially known for big statement projects. Rather, there’s a sense of thoughtfully getting on with things: designing, teaching, building and thinking. But perhaps it reflects these less statement-conscious times. Given the imperatives and challenges of the climate crisis, architecture has long moved on from its turn-of-the-millennium flamboyance and profligacy. “Building is an act, not an object,” says McLaughlin. “Architecture lies in its making and the way that it shapes learning, culture and communal life.”
In practice for three decades, after his architectural training at University College Dublin, McLaughlin runs a modestly sized studio of 26 people, unglamorously located above an Aldi on London’s Camden High Street. Projects vary in type and ambition, from a sculptural bandstand on Bexhill’s seafront, billowing like a giant wimple (those nuns again), to an Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin, structured around interconnected pavilions within an old walled garden. Yet all his schemes are united by a sense of formal clarity, elemental geometry and ascetic use of materials.
In a world in thrall to design branding, McLaughlin disdains the idea of the architect’s authorial signature. “A project can be incredibly original on account of the way the brick is bonded,” he says. “Sometimes it’s the quiet thing within a project that’s original.”
He has become something of a favourite with Oxbridge colleges. As well as Magdalene’s library, he designed the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre for Worcester College, Oxford, as a laconic, low slung volume clad in creamy stone, overlooking the emerald sward of college playing fields. At the building’s heart is an apse-like auditorium for lectures and performances. Worcester has a reputation for student theatricals, so McLaughlin wanted the auditorium to replicate the experience of standing under a tree, like a strolling player at ease in the landscape.
At the less rarefied end of the spectrum, he also manages to bring a semblance of decency and dignity to social housing, long regarded as the Cinderella of architecture. He has designed several schemes for Peabody, a not-for-profit housing association, including apartment blocks in Silvertown, east London, enlivened by disco-bright dichroic cladding, and at Darbishire Place in Whitechapel, on one of Peabody’s oldest London housing estates. Constructed from more sober, speckled grey brick, this takes its cues from archetypal Peabody housing blocks originally designed by Henry Darbishire in the 1860s.
“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,” says McLaughlin. “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.”
Teaching is also a fundamental part of McLauglin’s oeuvre, with stints at Oxford Brookes and the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, where he is currently professor of architectural practice. He has also taught in the US, as a visiting professor at Yale and the University of California.
Riba president and chair of the honours jury, Chris Williamson, said: “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.”
• Níall McLaughlin will deliver the royal gold medal lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London on 30 April. For details see riba.org
