Eduardo Souta de Moura Receives UIA Gold Medal

Barcelona is hosting the UIA World Congress of Architects the same year the Catalan city is celebrating the legacy of architect Antoni Gaudí, who died one hundred years ago, and has inaugurated the Tower of Jesus Christ that tops his most famous creation, the Basilica de la Sagrada Família. The church—now the tallest in the world—is therefore a fitting venue for awarding the UIA’s highest honor, the UIA Gold Medal. Eduardo Souta de Moura joins fellow countryman Álvaro Siza (2011) and a distinguished list of architects from five continents, most recently Paulo Mendes da Rocha from Brazil (2021), Toyo Ito from Japan (2017), and I. M. Pei from the United States (2014).

A number of members of government and institutional representatives spoke during the ceremony—among them UIA President Regina Gonthier, CSCAE President Marta Vall-llossera, and Iñaqui Carnicero, Secretary General for Urban Agenda, Housing and Architecture at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda—some of them commending Souta de Moura’s architecture as rigorous, precise, and restrained. There were even some words from former US President Barack Obama, recorded from the ceremony for Souta de Moura’s 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize, and an appearance by the president of Portugal, António José Seguro, who embraced the UIA Gold Medal recipient at the end of the night.

What did the jury, made up of Gonthier and architects David Adjaye and Lu Wenyu, think? The jury remarks read, in part:

For Souto de Moura, architecture has always been about defining how we live, and in his world, we live with beauty, clarity, and dignity. His work elevates the human spirit not through spectacle, but through rigour. Each building is the result of careful thought, precision, and a refusal to accept anything unnecessary. His architecture never shouts for attention, but sits quietly in the landscape, confident and composed, and it is precisely this restraint that gives it lasting emotional resonance.

Souto de Moura’s technical mastery matches his artistic expression. He consistently achieves the near-impossible of crafting buildings that feel effortless, inevitable, as though they could only exist in the form they take. This clarity is the result of decades of disciplined thinking, deep knowledge of construction, and an unwavering commitment to architecture as a serious cultural act.

Eduardo Souto de Moura is as generous as he is brilliant. His work is not a passing moment or a stylistic statement tied to a particular time. It is enduring, thoughtful, and deeply human.

Souta de Moura was not the only award recipient Wednesday night. The UIA also gave out a half-dozen prizes in various categories, each of which was decided by a separate jury (more details on them here and more details on the winners via the links below):

• UIA Young Architects Prize for Architectural Excellence and Innovation in the Design Process (Inaugural Edition): Cierto Estudio (Spain)
• Patrick Abercrombie Prize for Urban Planning and Design: Paola Viganò (Italy)
• Auguste Perret Prize for Technology in Architecture: Fetdeterra (Spain)
• Jean Tschumi Prize for Architectural Writing: Jacques Gubler (Switzerland)
• Robert Matthew Prize for Sustainable and Humane Environments: Song Yehao (China)
• Vassilis Sgoutas Prize for Implemented Architecture Serving the Impoverished: Caravatti Caravatti Architetti (Italy)