Oct. 06 2009
London (October 6, 2009)- I.M. Pei, one of the most honored architects in history, can add yet another major award to his collection.
The Royal Institute of British Architects has named the 92-year-old Pei as the winner of the 2009 Royal Gold Medal- one of architecture’s highest honors.
Pei was nominated by RIBA honors committee member David Adjaye, who described the architect as a “giant in the canon of greats”.
“I remember as a young student first visiting the Louvre in Paris and marveling at its extraordinary ability to unify and modernize what was a much loved but disparate institution, and beholding its magnificent, gravity defying, glass pyramid,” Adjaye said. “He became a role model for me as a young architect.”
“He is one of the greats of 20th – and 21st – century architecture; a man whose work I have always admired,” added RIBA president Ruth Reed. “A list of his influences and those he has influenced reads like a roll-call of the modern movement. Seldom has such a reward been so overdue or so just.”
Pei’s major projects include the glass pyramid at the Louvre and the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.
Pei, who was in New York City when the award was announced, was humbled by the honor.
“It is a great honor 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. I look forward to attending the ceremony in February, and to thanking personally RIBA President Ruth Reed and the Honours Committee, and David Adjaye, who nominated me.”
Pei will be awarded the medal by the Queen of England in a ceremony on February 11 at the RIBA’s London headquarters.
