Commenting on the decision, RIBA President Ben Derbyshire said the award was "significantly overdue" and that for more than half a century, Sir Nicholas's (80-year-old) influence on British architecture has been exceptional. He is the author of a huge number of buildings and infrastructure projects of international importance. The core of his aesthetics is technology. He inspires the next generation of architects, - said the head of the Royal Institute.
According to Grimshaw himself, the announcement of the award "delighted him." “My life and my architectural practice have been associated with experiments and ideas, primarily in the field of 'sustainability'. I have always believed that we should use the technologies of our century to improve [the life of] the human race. " The architect also thanked everyone who contributed to his nomination and everyone who has ever worked in his office, enriching him with ideas and helping to make "this place pleasant and humane."
Grimshaw is nominated for a Gold Medal by Simon Alford, Co-Founder and Head of the AHMM Architectural Bureau and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the British Architectural Foundation; according to Alford, he managed to work for Grimshaw in the 1980s. The nomination was supported by Frank Gehry, Peter Cook, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster and others.
The RIBA report named Grimshaw's “Probably the Most Famous” Buildings the Eden Project in Cornwall, completed in 2001, which turned the quarry into a world-renowned eco-center, and the International Terminal of Waterloo Station in London (1993; RIBA named the Best Building of the Year 1994).
Grimshaw builds airports, train stations and transport hubs around the world and is renowned as a renowned master of infrastructure projects. He, in particular, owns the concept of a new terminal.
airport "Pulkovo" in St. Petersburg.
The RIBA Gold Medal is the highest architectural award in Great Britain, and the Queen herself approves the winners. The award, according to the official wording, is awarded to those who "directly or indirectly contributed to the progress of architecture." In addition, the award is the oldest in the world, since it has been presented since 1848. Among those who received the medal are Leo von Klenze (1852), Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (1864), Frank Lloyd Wright (1941), Victor Vesnin (1945), Le Corbusier (1953), Berthold Lubetkin (1982), and almost all of the largest modern "stars": Norman Foster (1983), Arata Isozaki (1986), Frank Gehry (2000), Rem Koolhaas (2004), Toyo Ito (2006), Fry Otto (2005), David Chipperfield (2011), Zaha Hadid (2016), Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2017). Indeed, it is surprising that Grimshaw was only now awarded.
