Níall McLaughlin Receives 2026 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture

January 2026

Established in 1990, Níall McLaughlin Architects is a London-based practice designing buildings for education, culture, faith, care, and housing, all grounded in an approach that sees architecture as learning, craft, and ritual that endures through human engagement and collective use.

Acknowledging the award Níall said ‘Architecture is a patient and ethical act, one that unfolds through care for people, places, and institutions, over time. To receive the Royal Gold Medal from a jury so deeply engaged in education, culture, and civic life is an honour that affirms these values. It encourages us to continue working with the same attentiveness, restraint, and responsibility that have shaped our practice from the beginning.’

RIBA President and Chair of the 2026 RIBA 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.

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.”

The 2026 RIBA Honours Jury was chaired by RIBA President Chris Williamson and comprised of 2025 Royal Gold Medal recipient 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.

An Oxford Outing

December 2017

Last month NMLA’s Balliol College team went on a celebratory excursion to Oxford to mark an important project milestone. We visited selected buildings by the office and by others, called at the site to observe demolition-in-progress, and finally hid from the rain for festive beverages.

All aboard the 9 o’clock train from London Marylebone. The sky is grey and the clouds are heavy.

One hour later, two taxis crawl up the hill to Ripon College. Ten excited people are deposited on its driveway.

We enter the chapel. Two people to pull the entrance door wide. Eyes up; iPhones out; pause to pose for photo.

Outside, driver’s thumbs drum-drumming against the steering wheel. Doors open; it’s time to go. Heart FM for the drive into town.

Students mill around Somerville College. Camouflaged amongst them we enter NMLA’s housing block. Up the stair tower, peeking into bedrooms and kitchens, we debate the merits of bathroom pods.

Herzog and de Meuron’s Blavatnik School of Government stands next to Somerville, glittering. Like magpies we are drawn through its doors.

On the roof terrace Oxford is laid out beneath us, dreaming spires etc., but next: lunch.

Heavier and happier, we walk to Worcester College’s Nazrin Shah Building. Heads pressed to the glass we stare greedily inside.

Later, eleven sets of PPE are donned and rainclouds assemble as we tour the site. Mud, glorious mud. Three years till ribbon-cutting.

The rain starts, the pub beckons. Cheers to Balliol!