Frei Otto Awarded Royal Gold Medal

Frei Otto Awarded Royal Gold Medal
The German architect and engineer, Frei Otto, whose pioneering tensile structures and grid shells have inspired architects such as Richard Rogers, Michael Hopkins and Ted Cullinan, has been awarded the 2005 Royal Gold Medal.

Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by Her Majesty the Queen and is given annually to a person or group of people whose influence on architecture has had a truly international effect. The award is for a body of work, rather than for one building or for an architect who is currently fashionable. Previous winners include Le Corbusier (1953), Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1925), Frank Gehry (2000) and Archigram (2002), among many others.

The Royal Gold Medal for the promotion of architecture was inaugurated by Queen Victoria in 1848 and is conferred by the Sovereign annually on a distinguished architect or person “whose work has promoted, either directly or indirectly, the advancement of architecture.&#822 1;

Frei Otto will be presented with the Royal Gold Medal at the RIBA on 16 February 2005.