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I.M. Pei Receives Royal Gold Medal From RIBA

Previous recipients of the honor include Sir Edwin Lutyens, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Oscar Neiemeyer, Norman Foster, and Richard Rogers.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 2/22/2010 12:00:00 AM

RIBA Royal Gold Medal I.M. Pei If you've already won the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Medal for Architecture, gold medals from the American Institute of Architects, and the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, and been named an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, what's left? If you're I.M. Pei, it's the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The 92-year-old Chinese-born, American-bred architect, who transcended his field to become an international figure with work that includes the Louvre pyramids in Paris and the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., received the honor in front of family and 200 guests at ceremony at RIBA's headquarters in London on February 11.

Pei was nominated for the award by UK-based architect David Adjaye and presented with the medal by RIBA president, Ruth Reed, after Queen Elizabeth herself personally approved of the recognition, given to those who have exerted a significant influence on the advancement of architecture. Previous recipients of the honor include Sir Edwin Lutyens, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Oscar Neiemeyer, Norman Foster, and Richard Rogers.

"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," says Reed. "At 92 he is a 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."