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Monday 13 April 2026, 6:00 PM

The University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning was pleased to host Irish architect, educator, and writer Níall McLaughlin, recipient of the 2026 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal, for the inaugural Rothwell Public Lecture.

Described as a “pivotal figure in contemporary architecture” by the RIBA Honours Jury, McLaughlin has created buildings across a wide range of scales and typologies, each distinguished by a deep sensitivity to place, material, craft, light, and form. 

His work ranges from the cloud-like Bandstand at Bexhill and the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin, to the timber Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxford and the Stirling Prize-winning New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Across these projects, his architecture is recognised for shaping profound spaces of communal gathering, including chapels, libraries, and museums. 

McLaughlin shared highlights from Níall McLaughlin Architects’ (NMLA) notable and extensive portfolio, reflecting on the role of architecture in shaping collective experience through craft, materiality, and making.

McLaughlin also announced that NMLA has been appointed to design a new Catholic Cathedral in Sydney’s Waitara suburb. The project will form the centrepiece of a new spiritual, civic, and cultural precinct for the Diocese of Broken Bay in New South Wales.

“Building is an act, not an object,” says McLaughlin. “Architecture lies in its making and the way that it shapes learning, culture, and communal life.”

This lecture was made possible thanks to the generous support of alumni Garry and Susan Rothwell, whose contribution enabled the launch of the Rothwell Public Lecture series.