Who holds the Royal Gold Medal right now? Irish architect Níall McLaughlin is the 2026 Royal Gold Medal laureate, announced by RIBA on 29 January 2026. This page profiles one of the medal’s most influential recipients: Frei Otto, the German pioneer of lightweight tensile architecture, who received the Royal Gold Medal in 2005 and became the Pritzker Prize’s only posthumous laureate in 2015.
| Born – died | 31 May 1925, Siegmar, Germany – 9 March 2015, Leonberg, Germany (89) |
| Known for | Tensile and membrane structures — tents, cable nets and gridshells of unprecedented lightness |
| Key works | West German Pavilion, Expo 67 Montreal (1967) · Munich Olympic Stadium roof (1972) · Multihalle Mannheim (1975) · Munich Zoo aviary (1980) · Japan Pavilion, Expo 2000 (with Shigeru Ban) |
| Research base | Institute for Lightweight Structures, University of Stuttgart (founded 1964) |
| Major honours | Royal Gold Medal (2005) · Pritzker Prize (2015, posthumous) · Praemium Imperiale (2006) · Wolf Prize (1996/97) |
| Current RGM holder | Níall McLaughlin (2026), after SANAA (2025) |
Frei Otto was a German architect who paved the way for architects and engineers and revolutionized tensile structures. Growing up, he spent a lot of time building model planes. When he got drafted to join the military as a pilot, he got to see the city from above and experience the destruction from an aerial perspective, of which, generations of architecture were destroyed in a mere instant.
Towards the end of the second World War, he got imprisoned at a war camp, where he started feeling the need to build inexpensive temporary shelters, which resulted in him making tents.
Before pursuing his studies in architecture, Frei Otto met an architect and structural engineer that inspired him to study tensile structures. Living through Hitler’s reign, everything around him was built with weight and density and as a young architect, he knew he wanted to bring a fresh, novice way of thinking and approach to the built environment.
It was, however, his own experimental work with Peter Stromeyer on the making of the tent that expanded his interest. Together they developed a new material that maximized the stiffness of the fabric form through prestressed membranes using embedded cables. Frei Otto went on to use media like soap where the form self-organizes and emerges out of a physical process. Which in return taught him how to create the maximum enclosure with a minimum of material, leading to more robust stretch of fabric models. From the late 1960 onward, Frei Otto was recognized as the young tent builder to have an eye on.
Frei Otto also looked towards nature to find national forces that have essentialism to them due to his interest in biology and understanding of the role of humans in creating architecture and the environment which are evident in all his works.
Frei Otto’s works
Frei Otto’s major breakthrough came in 1967, when his first real experiment with tensile structure was for his design of the cable net tent at the German pavilion in Montréal’s Expo of 1967. At a time when computer methods were still not common, he completed the design by making a large-scale “measuring model”, used to define the cable lengths and measure the tensions in the cables under load. The modeling method defined the construction system as well as the actual geometry.
The Institute, still standing today at Stuttgart University, known as Otto’s research center, was originally a trial structure built for the Montreal tent. It was made of a lightweight tensile structure by his students and colleagues implementing Otto’s philosophy of experimentation. This lightweight structure continues to investigate natural forms as well as lightweight structures till this day.
Frei Otto, a pioneer in large-scale tensile structures, crossed borders from pure engineering to a design engineering approach offering structural stability; where the thinking approach of building form and structure became unified and not separated.
“To build means to make architecture real on the border of knowledge”, – Frei Otto
Frei Otto’s 22m high aviary at Hellabrunn Zoo spans an area of 5000 sq. m. and follows his philosophy of using nature. This zoo was designed in dialogue with nature taking into consideration the need for animals to feel free and the openness the people visiting would feel. By completely embracing the function of the building and advancing his technique, he created a stainless-steel mesh canopy that was innovative, thin, and breathable, done with complete intricacy and delicacy. He was awarded the Bavarian BDA Architecture Prize by the Federation of German Architects for creating this specific tensile structure with an organic variation, and a light footprint; making nature work in symbiosis with architecture. This project is one for the books.
One of the projects Frei Otto worked on in collaboration with architect Günter Behnisch, was the Munich Olympic Park which left a big impression. Frei Otto created a transparent tensile roof structure covering the entire stadium which featured some lifted multiple peaks acting as a reflection of the mountains of the Alps.
Frei Otto may be an architect who designed a few major buildings but his contribution to architecture, engineering, and education at a time when computer programs weren’t available set a high tone and standard for young architects, allowing and inspiring a complete exploration of form.
“I have built little, but I have built many castles in the air”, – Frei Otto
Frei Otto won Britain’s Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 2005 and began being the inspiration for all roofs that were built in pavilions, exhibition halls, and stadiums. He passed away at the age of 89 before he was named the recipient of The Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture. Frei Otto’s research paradigm and new thinking approach created a shift of perspective that sparked a new way of thinking for an entire generation of architects and engineers.
The Royal Gold Medal: Recent Winners (2021–2026)
First awarded in 1848 and bestowed on behalf of the British monarch, the Royal Gold Medal is one of the three highest honours in world architecture, alongside the Pritzker Prize and the AIA Gold Medal. The current laureate, Irish architect Níall McLaughlin — announced on 29 January 2026 — is the 2022 Stirling Prize winner for the New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and delivers his medal lecture in London on 30 April 2026.
| Year | Royal Gold Medal laureate |
| 2026 | Níall McLaughlin (Ireland) |
| 2025 | SANAA — Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (Japan) |
| 2024 | Lesley Lokko (Ghana / Scotland) |
| 2023 | Yasmeen Lari (Pakistan) |
| 2022 | Balkrishna Doshi (India) |
| 2021 | Sir David Adjaye (UK / Ghana) |
Frei Otto received the medal in 2005, joining a lineage that runs from the Italian engineer Pier Luigi Nervi — honoured in 1960, the same year the Scottish architect Basil Spence received his knighthood — to later laureates RTF has profiled, including Herman Hertzberger (2012) and Peter Zumthor (2013). For the American counterpart, see our guide to the winners of the AIA Gold Medal.
Frei Otto in 2026: A Legacy That Keeps Growing
A decade after his death in March 2015 — and following his centenary on 31 May 2025 — Otto’s influence has never been stronger. His cable nets, gridshells and membrane roofs anticipated today’s search for minimum-material, low-carbon construction, and his collaborative Japan Pavilion at Expo 2000, built from paper tubes with Shigeru Ban — himself the 2026 AIA Gold Medal laureate — connects Otto directly to the current generation of material innovators. Told of his Pritzker shortly before he died, Otto responded in character: “I’ve never done anything to gain this prize… I try to help poor people, but what shall I say here — I’m very happy.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the current Royal Gold Medal winner?
Níall McLaughlin, the Dublin-educated, London-based Irish architect, holds the 2026 Royal Gold Medal, announced by RIBA on 29 January 2026. SANAA of Japan received the 2025 medal.
Which Italian engineer was awarded the Royal Gold Medal?
Pier Luigi Nervi, the great Italian structural engineer, received the Royal Gold Medal in 1960 — the same year the Scottish architect Basil Spence was knighted.
What is Frei Otto famous for?
Otto pioneered lightweight tensile and membrane architecture — the soaring cable-net roof of the 1972 Munich Olympic Stadium, the West German Pavilion at Expo 67 and the Multihalle gridshell in Mannheim — and founded the Institute for Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart in 1964.
Did Frei Otto win the Pritzker Prize?
Yes — uniquely, as the prize’s only posthumous laureate. Otto learned of the 2015 award shortly before his death on 9 March 2015, and the public announcement was brought forward to the following day.
When did Frei Otto win the Royal Gold Medal?
In 2005, a decade before his Pritzker. His honours also include the Praemium Imperiale (2006) and the Wolf Prize in Architecture (1996/97).
Sources for the 2026 update: RIBA (Royal Gold Medal announcements, January 2026); Pritzker Architecture Prize (2015 citation); Wikipedia and RIBA Journal (Royal Gold Medal recipient records).
References:
- www.youtube.com. (n.d.). FREI OTTO: SPANNING THE FUTURE. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5hKnOyg43k&t=1s [Accessed 29 May 2022].
