Ian Ritchie (architect)


Ian Ritchie is a British architect who founded Ian Ritchie Architects in 1981. His projects include the RIBA Award-winning Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall for the Royal Academy of Music, Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London and the American Institute of Architects Award-winning Royal Shakespeare Company Courtyard Theatre. Ritchie was the first foreign architect to receive the French Academie d'Architecture Grand Silver Medal for Innovation.

Career

Born in Sussex, England, Ritchie graduated from Liverpool John Moores University School of Architecture in 1968. He went on to research Urban Studies for a year in Oita-Osaka, Japan and graduated with a Diploma in Architecture with Distinction from PCL, London in 1972. After working with Norman Foster, Ritchie spent two years in France designing and constructing projects before joining Arup's Lightweight Structures Group. In 1979, he founded Chrysalis Architects with Alan Stanton and Mike Davies. In 1981, he created Ian Ritchie Architects in London, and co-founded the design engineering firm Rice Francis Ritchie with Peter Rice and Martin Francis in Paris. Before he left RFR in 1990, the practice had been responsible for major projects in Paris including the Bioclimatic Facades at La Villette Cité des Sciences and the Louvre Pyramids and Sculpture Courts with I M Pei. Alongside his work at Ian Ritchie Architects, Ritchie has held numerous public and professional appointments relating to his public policy interests in pan-disciplinary and environmentally intelligent design. He has acted in an advisory and teaching capacity to government, universities and charitable trusts, and regularly lectures on topics including art, urbanism and regeneration at venues worldwide. Among other accolades, Ritchie was awarded a CBE in 2000, and was elected a Royal Academician in 1998 and Professor of Architecture at the RA Schools in 2004. Ritchie have received over 80 national and international award nominations and have been shortlisted four times for the RIBA Stirling Prize and EU Mies Award. Ritchie is an elected member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

Major architectural projects

In 1999, Ian Ritchie Architects completed Scotland's Home of Tomorrow - new social housing for Glasgow's East End
ImageProjectAwards and nominations


Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art

Madrid, Spain

Completed 1990


Louvre Museum Inverted Pyramid

Paris, France

Completed 1993


Leipzig Messe Glass Hall

Germany

Completed 1995


Crystal Palace Concert Platform

Completed 1997

Jubilee Line Extension, Bermondsey Station

London, UK

Completed 1999

  • Concrete Society Award Certificate of Excellence
  • British Construction Industry Special Award
Plymouth Theatre Royal Production Centre

Plymouth, UK

Completed 2002


The Spire

Dublin, Ireland

Completed 2003

  • British Construction Industry International Award finalist
  • RIBA Award and Stirling Prize shortlist
  • Mies van der Rohe Award shortlist
RSC Courtyard Theatre

Stratford-upon-Avon, UK

Completed 2006



RSC The Other Place

Stratford-upon-Avon, UK

Completed 2016

RSC Courtyard Theatre
  • American Institute of Architects Award
  • MIPIM Client Satisfaction Award
  • RIBA National Award and Stirling Prize mid-list
  • RICS Award - West Midlands: Community Benefit
  • RICS Award - West Midlands: Sustainability shortlist
  • West Midlands Architect of the Year
RSC The Other Place
  • AJ Retrofit: Cultural Buildings Award - Cinemas and Theatre shortlist
  • LEAF Awards: Refurbishment of the Year shortlist

Wood Lane Underground Station

London, UK

Completed 2008

  • British Construction Industry Award shortlist
  • HSBC Rail Business Awards - Station Excellence
  • Institute of Structural Engineers Award for Transport Structures shortlist
  • National Transport Awards Rail Station of the Year shortlist
  • Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award shortlist
  • RIBA Award shortlist

Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits & Behaviour, University College London

London, UK

Completed 2016

  • Galvanizers Association Duplex Award winner
  • BCI Award: Major Building Project of the Year winner
  • BCI Award: Judges Special Award shortlist
  • BCI Award: Prime Ministers Better Public Building Award shortlist
  • Building Magazine Project of the Year finalist
  • LEAF Award: Best Façade Design and Engineering
  • LEAF Award: Overall Winner
  • NLA Award: Education shortlist
  • Offsite Construction Award: Best Use of MEP Prefabrication shortlist
  • Offsite Construction Award: Product Innovation shortlist
  • RIBA London Awards Shortlist
  • Society Facade Engineering Awards finalist
  • Surface Design Award: Public Building Exterior shortlist
  • World Architecture Festival Awards: Higher Education and Research shortlist
  • World Architecture News Facade Award longlist
Royal Academy of Music Susie Sainsbury Theatre and the Angela Burgess Recital Hall
London, UK

completed 2018

  • Chicago Athenaeum/The European Centre International Architecture Award: Winner
  • 2019 USITT : Architecture Merit Award
  • World Architecture Award: Winner
  • The Institute of Acoustics Peter Lord Award: Winner
  • Civic Trust Award: Winner
  • Mies van der Rohe Award: Nominee
  • AJ Specification Awards - Fit-out and Interiors: winner
  • British Constructional Steelwork Association's Structural Steel Design Award: Shortlisted
  • Surface Design Awards - Public Building Interior: Shortlisted
  • Surface Design Awards - Light and Surface Interior: Shortlisted
  • 2018 Architecture Masterprize – Educational Buildings
  • RIBA National Award: Winner
  • RIBA Award Building of the Year: Winner
  • RIBA Award : Winner
  • AJ Retrofit of the Year Award: Winner
  • AJ Retrofit Award - Cultural Buildings - Performance and Events: Winner
  • AJ Architecture Awards 2018 - Higher Education Project of the Year: Winner
  • BCI Awards - Cultural & Leisure Project of the Year: Winner
  • FX International Interior Design Award - Public Sector of The Year: Winner
  • NLA Award Culture & Community: Winner
  • London Construction Awards - London Build Excellence Award: Winner
  • RICS Award Tourism & Leisure: Winner
  • UK Property Award Leisure Architecture: Winner
  • Wood Awards - Interiors: Winner
  • WAF Awards Best use of certified timber prize: Highly Commended
  • WAF Awards Higher Education and Research - Completed Buildings: Finalist
  • LUX Awards Hospitality, Leisure and Faith Project of the Year: Commended
  • WAN Awards Performing Spaces: Shortlist
  • London Construction Awards - Interior Design of the Year: Finalist
  • ABB LEAF Awards - Public Building: Shortlist
  • Blueprint Awards Best Public-Use Project : Shortlist
  • AIA Award of Design Excellence: Shortlist
  • ANC Awards - Building Acoustics: Commendation
  • AR Future Projects: Commendation
  • WAF Awards Education - Future Projects: Finalist
  • NLA Awards - Conservation and Retrofit: Shortlist

Public and professional appointments (selected)

Educational appointments (selected)

Awards and honours (selected)