RIBA Gold Medal 2010 – I M Pei

RIBA Gold Medal 2010, Winner, I M Pei, Architect, Prize, Architecture

RIBA Gold Medal 2010

I M Pei wins Royal Institute of British Architects Award

Royal Gold Medal 2010

I M Pei awarded 2010 RIBA Gold Medal

Museum of Islamic Art Doha
photo : Courtesy of the Museum of Islamic Art

2010 Honours Committee:
Chair – Ruth Reed, RIBA President
David Adjaye
Ted Cullinan, Gold Medallist
Max Fordham
Anne Lacaton
Laura Lee

I. M. Pei receives the Royal Gold Medal for architecture 2010

I. M. Pei
photo of I.M.Pei from RIBA

The 92 year old Chinese-born American architect I. M. Pei on 11 February 2010 received one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for architecture, the Royal Gold Medal, at a gceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London. I. M. Pei was presented with the medal by RIBA President, Ruth Reed. I. M. Pei is best known for buildings including the pyramids at the Louvre in Paris and the East Wing of the National Gallery Washington DC.

Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by Her Majesty the Queen and is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence ‘either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture’. Previous winners include Sir Edwin Lutyens, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Oscar Neiemeyer, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers.
At the ceremony the RIBA will also present I. M. Pei with a specially commissioned digital film of his ‘building that wasn’t built’ – the Hyperboloid – a tower he designed in 1954 for Manhattan, the plans for which inspired organic structures around the world. The film is produced by Crystal CG International.

RIBA Gold Medal

I. M. Pei said of the honour,
‘It is a great honour to receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. I am humbled indeed to read the names of those who have preceded me as recipients.’

Museum of Islamic Art Doha
photo : Courtesy of the Museum of Islamic Art

RIBA President Ruth Reed said,
‘The Royal Gold Medal has been called, often erroneously, a lifetime achievement award. Seldom has it been so true as it is in the case of I. M. Pei. At 92 he is that rarity, an officially retired architect, though there is still work in the pipeline to be delivered, work that will crown the extraordinary achievements of six decades in which he has reinvented the housing, gallery and commercial building types. He is truly an inspiration for all architects.’

Ieoh Ming Pei (always known as I. M.) was born in China in 1917. He travelled to the United States in 1935 to study architecture, and never returned to live in his home country. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received a Masters degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Gropius and Breuer, coming under the influence of the International Style which was to inspire his work for almost 70 years.

I. M. Pei was nominated for the 2010 Royal Gold Medal by UK-based architect David Adjaye.

As winner of the Royal Gold Medal, I. M Pei generously donated a drawing of the Louvre pyramid to the RIBA collections.

Ieoh Ming Pei : Pritzker Prize architects Winner 1983

I. M. Pei architect – further information

To celebrate I. M. Pei receiving the Royal Gold Medal there was a celebratory film screening in his presence at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

I M Pei – Key Projects

Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar
Museum of Islamic Art Doha
photo : Courtesy of the Museum of Islamic Art
Museum of Islamic Art Doha

Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong
I.M. Pei & Partners, Sherman Kung & Associates Architects Ltd


Bank of China Hong Kong
image © Andrew McRae
Bank of China Hong Kong

Pyramide du Louvre, Paris, France
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Louvre Pyramid
photo © Adrian Welch
Louvre Pyramid

RIBA Gold Medal 2010 Winner information from Royal Institute of British Architects

Location:UK

RIBA Gold Medal Winners

Royal Gold Medal Recipients

RIBA Gold Medal 2013 : Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor
photograph : Gerry Ebner

RIBA Gold Medal 2012 : Herman Hertzberger
Herman Hertzberger Architect
photo © Hans van den Bogaard

RIBA Gold Medal 2011 : David Chipperfield
Neues Museum
photograph : Ute Zscharnt

RIBA Gold Medal 2009

RIBA Stirling Prize

RIBA Awards

Architecture Awards

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RIBA Gold Medal 2010 – page

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