Niall has received an honorary doctorate for having attained outstanding distinction in his field from University College Dublin. The other semester’s honorary doctorate recipients included cancer support advocate and public sector chief executive Sir Ciarán Devane; poetry anthologist Niall McMonagle; diplomat David Donoghue; and scientist Alistair Hetherington.
Niall McLaughlin nominated Herman Hertzberger as the recipient of the 2012 Royal Gold Medal. At the award ceremony in London this month Niall delivered the formal citation for Herman Hertzberger on behalf of the honours committee.
“For Hertzberger inhabitation is the key….architects should be specialists in the daily life of people. This is done not by asking people what they want but by undertaking a rational observation of what they are.”