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Highly esteemed British architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw has died aged 85.
In 1980, he founded Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, the practice behind several iconic projects - including the Financial Times printworks in east London (1988), the Eden Project in Cornwall (2001), and the International Terminal at Waterloo Station in London (1993), which won the 1994 RIBA Building of the Year Award, the precursor to the Stirling Prize. In 2024, the practice won its second Stirling Prize for the Elizabeth Line.
Today, Grimshaw has offices in London, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Dubai, Paris, New York and Los Angeles. In Australia, Grimshaw's practice has also achieved significant success with projects such as the Parramatta Aquatic Centre - designed with Andrew Burges Architects and McGregor Coxall - which won the Australian Institute of Architects 2024 National Award for Public Architecture and the 2024 Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design. Other notable works include the Martin Place Metro in Sydney (2024) and the Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail stations (2019).
Grimshaw was knighted for his services to architecture in 2002, served as the president of the Royal Academy from 2004 to 2011, and was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2019. At the time of receiving the 2019 RIBA Gold Medal, he reflected, "My life, and that of the practice, has always been involved in experiment and in ideas, particularly around sustainability; I have always felt we should use the technology of the age we live in for the improvement of mankind."
In 2022, Grimshaw established a foundation aimed at supporting and empowering young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by helping them explore creative and built environment career paths. According to his firm, the Grimshaw Foundation has supported more than 500 young people over the past three years, helping them to develop practical skills, build confidence and curiosity, and see creative careers as both realistic and achievable.
Grimshaw's firm, which announced his passing today, characterised him as "a man of invention and ideas" who will be remembered "for his endless curiosity about how things are made and his commitment to the craft of architecture and building."
"Nick had an extraordinary ability to convince others that daring ideas were possible."
Chairman of Grimshaw Andrew Whalley recalled that from the very first day he arrived at the practice in 1986, he felt the warmth and generosity of Nick's leadership. "The lack of hierarchy in the studio, shaped by his amiable and open personality, was its true strength. It created a collegiate spirit, a place where people genuinely enjoyed working together, supporting one another, and finding the tenacity to deliver some of the most complex buildings," said Whalley.
"His architecture was never about surface or fashion, but always about structure, craft and purpose - about creating buildings that endure because they are both useful and uplifting and, in Nick's words, 'bring some kind of joy.'"
Grimshaw lived with his wife and was a proud father of two.
