Royal Gold Medallist Níall McLaughlin brings architecture centre stage at the Lyric Theatre
Níall McLaughlin, architect and recipient of the 2026 Royal Gold Medal, one of the highest individual architectural honours in the world, will deliver a keynote public lecture highlighting the value of architecture in Belfast on Friday 25th September 2026.
The Building Inspiration Lecture, organised by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) in partnership with Arup, will be delivered at the Lyric Theatre which itself is regarded as one of the finest examples of architecture in Ireland this century.
The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) is the professional body for chartered architects in Northern Ireland with c.800 chartered members.
The theatre, designed by O’Donnell and Tuomey, won the Royal Institute of Irish Architects (RIAI) Gold Medal in 2021 for its proven record of success over time.
Over the years the Building Inspiration Lecture has brought some of the most influential practices in world architecture to Belfast including Zaha Hadid Architects, Snøhetta and Daniel Libeskind Studio.
With over 30 years in practice, Níall McLaughlin has created a portfolio of outstanding projects, marked by their deliberate modesty, ranging from the RIBA Stirling Prize winning New Library in Cambridge’s Magdalene College; the cloud-like Bandstand in Bexhill On Sea; the calm pavilions of the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin and the latticed timber oval of the Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxford.
Níall also designed the Architecture Exhibition in the Irish Pavilion for the 15th Venice Biennale, in collaboration with architect and academic Yeoryia Manolopoulou.
Speaking in advance of the event Ciarán Fox, Director of RSUA said: “It’s exciting to have one of the world’s best architects coming to engage with a Belfast audience and we couldn’t ask for a more fitting setting. Architecture is all around us and it impacts so profoundly on our lives.
“It’s so important that we constantly strive to raise the standards of what gets built in our own communities and that’s something that everyone can play a role in.
“I have no doubt that Níall’s work can inspire us all, from those who are just curious about architecture right through to clients, architects and the whole supply chain who have the responsibility of creating our built environment.
Reuben Lucas, Associate Director at Arup said: “Good design comes from bringing different perspectives together, and collaboration between architects, engineers and the wider project team is at the heart of what we do at Arup.
“We’re particularly pleased to support an event that opens up that conversation to a wider audience, and we look forward to what promises to be a really inspiring evening.”
There are a few final tickets remaining for the Building Inspiration Lecture 2026.
Visit: www.rsua.org.uk to book.
BIO: Níall McLaughlin was born in Geneva in 1962. He was educated in Dublin and studied architecture at University College Dublin between 1979 and 1984. He worked for Scott Tallon Walker for four years and established his own practice in London in 1990. He designs buildings for education, culture, health, religious worship and housing.
In 2020, he was awarded an Honorary MBE for Services to Architecture and has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013, 2015 and 2018 winning the Stirling Prize in 2022 for the New Library, Magdalene College.
Níall is also a professor of architectural practice at University College London’s Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment. He was a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 2012 to 2013 and was appointed Lord Norman Foster visiting professor of architecture at Yale for 2014 to 2015.
