Nicholas Grimshaw PPRA

Born: 9 October 1939
Elected RA: 23 May 1994
Category of Membership: Architect

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw graduated with Honours from the Architectural Association in 1965. He immediately started his own practice and won many architectural awards for his buildings in the 1960s and 1970s. These buildings were noted for their innovative approach to construction and detailing.

In 1980 Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners Ltd was formed continuing this tradition, winning much acclaim and 97 awards for Architecture and Civic Design. The practice is now recognised as GRIMSHAW and operates internationally with offices in London, New York and Melbourne.

The practice is best known in the UK for the Waterloo International Station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. Other significant projects are the RAC Regional Headquarters in Bristol; the Western Morning News Headquarters and Printing Press in Plymouth; and, in London, Sainsbury’s urban quarter in Camden, the Financial Times Print Works, the Headquarters for Lloyds TSB Bank in Gresham Street, the UCL Cancer Institute, and the re-development of Paddington Station.

Ongoing projects in the UK include the development of ExCel conference centre in London’s Docklands and a number of university buildings.

Nicholas Grimshaw PRA, Frankfurt Trade Fair Hall

The practice is well known in Europe having completed six projects in Germany – the Ludwig Erhard House, which originally housed the Berlin Stock Exchange, the headquarters for IGUS plastics, VITRA furniture, MABEG sign systems, Pfeiffer Vacuum Systems and the Frankfurt Trade Fair Hall. Elsewhere in Europe the practice has completed the Ijburg Bridges and Bijlmer Station in Amsterdam (winner of the Building Magazine Building of the Year 2008), the British Pavillion at Expo ’92 and the Caixa Galicia Art Foundation both in Spain, plus the new Airside and Landside centres for Zurich Airport.

Ongoing projects in Europe include the E3 Fashion and Design Events Building in Milan, which will form part of Cesar Pelli’s masterplan in Garibaldi Republica.

Further afield, GRIMSHAW has completed the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, USA, and the National Museum in Monterrey, Mexico. Other ongoing projects include the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York State, and the Fulton Street Transport Center close to Ground Zero, the Queens Museum of Art in New York, the Earthpark in Iowa and, more recently, the Miami Science Museum and Pulkovo Airport at St Petersburg.

In Melbourne, Australia, the team has completed the refurbishment of Southern Cross Station, winner of RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize 2007.

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw has lectured in 23 countries worldwide, including the USA. Most recently he gave his lecture ‘Embedded Intelligence’ in New York, Mexico City and Monterrey. Previously he has given his lecture entitled ‘Going Green – Architecture, the Environment and Eden’ at the National Building Museum in Washington DC and the Louis Kahn Memorial Lecture at Penn University, Philadelphia. He is a registered architect in England, France, Germany and Spain. Following examination in 2002 he is also registered to practice architecture in the State of New York.

Sir Nicholas was elected a Royal Academician in 1994 and in the same year he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the AIA. He was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 and in December 2004 was elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts. He was President until 2011. In 2008 he was conferred as Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts London.

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw continues actively to lead his own practice as the Chairman of the Board.

The work of GRIMSHAW is the subject of a series of books published by Phaidon in London: Architecture, Industry and Innovation deals with the years 1965-1988; Structure, Space and Skin covers 1988-1993; and Equilibrium deals with the work of the Practice form 1993 – 2000.

Education, Scholarships and Memberships
2007 Elected Honorary Fellow of the Mexican Institute of Architects
2004 Elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts
2003 Prince Philip Designers Prize – Special commendation for outstanding achievement in design for business and society
2002 University of the State of New York License to practice Architecture
Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
Created Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty the Queen for Services to Architecture
1999 Elected President of the Architectural Association
1995 Elected Honorary Member Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA
AJ Centenary Medal for Contribution to Architecture
1994 Elected Vice President of the Architectural Association
Elected Royal Academician
Hon. Fellow American Institute of Architects
Elected Member of the Ordre des Architectes, Paris
1993 Hon. Doctorate of letters at the University of the South Bank, London
Created Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty the Queen
1991 Certificate of the Ministry of Education and Science giving permission to practice architecture in Spain
1988 Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers (formerly the Society of Industrial Designers and Artists)
1966 Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects
1965 Bronze Medal awarded by the Societe d’ Architectes Diplome par le Gouvernement (SADG) France for the Best Student Thesis at the Architectural Association
Registered Architect of the Architects Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK)
1964 British Universities Travel Scholarship to the USA
1963 Travel Scholarship from the Architectural Association to Sweden
1962 Scholarship awarded by the Architect’s Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK) for study at the Architectural Association
1962-1965 Architectural Association School of Architecture
1959-1962 Edinburgh College of Art School of Architecture

Teaching
2008 Visiting Professor, University of the Arts, London
1996 Visiting Professor, University of Southbank, London
1978-1979 Visiting Lecturer in Architecture, Cambridge University
1972-1973 Lecturer in Architecture, Bartlett School, University of London

Publications
2003 The Architecture of Eden, Eden Project Books/ Transworld
2000 Equilibrium: the work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners 1993-2000,Phaidon Press, London
1998 Fusion: An Exhibition of Industrial Design, Art Books International
1965-1988 Phaidon press, London
1996 Architecture, Industry and Innovation: the early work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partner
1993 Structure, Space and Skin: the work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners 1988- 1993, Phaidon Press, London
The Private Client and his Architect, Royal Society of Arts, London
1988 Product + Process, Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, London
1986 Reinventing the Factory, Royal society of Arts, London
1984 The Future of Industrial Building, Royal Society of Arts, London
1980 Energetic Architecture, RIBA JOURNAL, October issue

Public Lectures
94 lectures worldwide covering 6 continents: 29 lectures in the UK; 11 lectures in the US; 11 lectures in Germany; 6 lectures in Spain; 5 lectures in Switzerland; 4 lectures in Italy and The Netherlands; 3 lectures in Mexico and Japan; 2 lectures in Australia, Greece and the Czech Republic; and 1 lecture in Singapore, Finland, France, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and Luxembourg.
1984 Architecture International Series, Australia
03/1985 Oxford Ice Rink, Royal Institute of British Architects, London
06/1988 Oxford Ice Rink and other projects seminar for the design of industrial buildings, Vienna
10/1988 When Structure Becomes Architecture, Deutscher Stahlbautag, Karlsruhe
03/1990 Structural Expression Forum, Architectural Association, London
04/1990 British Architecture Today, Amsterdam Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Amsterdam
05/1990 Structural Steel Institute, Helsinki
05/1990 Building in Steel Institute of Metals Conference, London
08/1990 Retail and Industrial Buildings International Steel Conference, Stratford
11/1990 Society of Czech Architects, Prague
04/1991 Basel Chapter of Architects, Basel
07/1991 Transport Conference, London
05/1992 Swiss Institute of Steel Construction, Solothern
06/1992 RIBA,The British Pavillion at Expo ’92, Seville
06/1992 International Seminar Techniche Universitat, Vienna
09/1992 Faculty of Architecture, University of Seville, Seville
10/1992 Structure, Space and Skin: The Lord Reilly Memorial Lecture, Design Museum, London
11/1992 Architectural trust Annual Lecture, RIBA Western Region, Falmouth
12/1992 Structure, Space and Skin, Japan Institute of Architects, Tokyo & Osaka
12/1992 Academy of Architects, North Rhine-Westaphilia, Dusseldorf
01/1993 The Private Client and His Architect, Royal Society of Arts
02/1993 Eugene Rosenberg Lecture, St Thomas’ Hospital, London
06/1993 Technical University, Berlin
07/1993 RIBA South Western Region, Plymouth
09/1993 Architecture and Steel, Syndicate de la Construction Metallique de France, Paris
09/1993 South Bank University, London
10/1993 Innovation with Stainless Steel, Bologna Fiere, Bologna
11/1993 University of East Anglia, Norwich
12/1993 Quaternario Foundation Awards, Singapore
01/1994 Royal Academy of Art, Copenhagen
06/1994 Regional Society of Architects, Hamburg
09/1994 Faculty of Architecture, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
10/1994 Department of Architecture and Urban Design, University of Rome
11/1994 Faculty of Architecture of Catalonia, Barcelona
01/1995 RIBA Building of the Year, London
05/1995 International Architecture Conference, The Lapidarium, Berlin
06/1995 Faculty of Architecture, University of Minneapolis
06/1995 The British Council, Amsterdam
07/1995 Architecture, Technology and Humanity Tokyo & Osaka
09/1995 American Institute of Architects, San Francisco
10/1995 International Bienniale of Architecture, Buenos Aires
10/1995 Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Chile
11/1995 Institute of Swedish Architects, Stockholm
02/1996 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
05/1996 5th International Architecture Symposium, Prague
05/1996 Ogilvy and Mather Colloquium, Venice
06/1996 Faculty of Architecture, University of Plymouth, Plymouth
09/1996 International Student Congress, Mexico
09/1996 University of Southbank, London
09/1996 International Railway Conference, Venice
10/1996 Faculty of Architecture, University of Athens, Athens
04/1997 AIA Masters of Architecture, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
06/1997 Architecture & Steel, International Symposium, Berlin
06/1997 Deutscher Architekentag, Berlin Chapter, Berlin
06/1997 Royal Institute of British Architects, London
09/1997 Keynote address to Japanese Institute of Architects, Tokyo
11/1997 The Cornwall lecture, Truro
03/1998 Architecture Association, London
06/1998 New Trends in Architecture with Steel, Budapest
06/1998 Technical University, Berlin
10/1998 Royal Australian Institute of Architecture, Cairns
11/1998 The British Council, Athens
02/1999 Kongresszentrum, Messe Basel-Swissbau, Basel
04/1999 The British Council, Madrid
04/1999 Arquitect, Architecture & City, Madrid
10/1999 The Pratt Institute, USA
10/1999 Princeton, USA
10/1999 Factory Planning Conference, Stuttgart, Germany
10/1999 Building with Steel Congress, Lucerne, Switzerland
03/2000 Light and Build, Frankfurt, Germany
10/2000 New Work Architecture, Orgatech, Köln, Germany
06/2001 Recent Works, Zürich, Switzerland
06/2001 Rotterdam Architectural Conference, Netherlands
06/2001 Arts Club, London
11/2001 RIBA Southern Region Lecture, Oxford
02/2002 Authur H Schein Memorial Lecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
02/2002 Rensselaer Polytechnic
03/2002 Revitalising the European City, Architectural Review Conference, RIBA
05/2002 Rome University
05/2002 Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland Lecture, Iverness
05/2002 Steel in Sustainable Architecture, Luxembourg
05/2003 Greening the European City, RIBA, London
05/2004 National Building Museum, Washington DC
05/2003 The Louis Khan Memorial Lecture, Philadelphia
06/2003 North Rhein Westphalia Architects Conference, Jersey
12/2003 The Leggett Memorial Lecture, University of Surrey
06/2004 Construmental Conference, Sao Paolo, Brazil
10/2004 RIBA, London
11/2004 University of east Anglia, Norwich
05/2007 Architecture Foundation Lecture, London
06/2007 The Art Fund Annual Lecture, Norwich
10/2007 Innovation Conference, New York
10/2007 Tecnologico de Monterrey/ Catedra Luis Barragan, Mexico City
10/2007 Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

Contact details for further information
Email membershipoffice@royalacademy.org.uk

• Royal Academy of Arts