Cecil Balmond wins Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture 2016 

Sri Lankan born architect Cecil Balmond OBE has been awarded the 2016 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture by the University of Virginia. The award is the highest accolade bestowed by the University which does not grant honorary degrees. It recognises the exemplary contributions of recipients in endeavours which Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third US President excelled in and held in high regards. Awards are given in architecture, law, citizen leadership and global innovation. 

Cecil Balmond joins the list of distinguished architecture medal laureates including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson and Frank Gehry. The award has been given annually since 1966 and is now in its 50th year. The awards will be presented on 13th April, on Jefferson’s birthday. During his visit Cecil Balmond will be presented with the medal and he will give a free public lecture at the university. The program also includes ‘Informal’, an exhibition of Balmond’s work showcasing key projects as well as his unique design philosophy and methodology. 

Balmond is widely considered to be one of the most significant creators of his generation. He is an internationally renowned artist, architect and engineer. Balmond has spent over 40 years investigating the relationship between form and the very roots of order at the core of life. This groundbreaking approach has won Balmond numerous awards including the IED Gerald Frewer Memorial Trophy 2011; the Sir Banister Fletcher Prize for his book Informal (2005); the Riba Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice 2001 and the Gengo Matsui Prize for the Serpentine pavilion designed with Toyo Ito (2002). Snow Words, a light sculpture created for Anchorage, Alaska was heralded as one of the best public artworks in 2013 by the American for the Arts, Public Art Network Year in Review. 

By Tina Edward Gunawardhana