Richard England — Architect · Artist

Philosophy

Making the ordinary extraordinary is what I believe is the job of the architect; extending function by adding poetry to the pragmatic in order to create an architecture which enriches the spirit and enhances the soul. To achieve this my tools are light, shadow, silence, dream, poetry, ritual, magic, mystery, and wonder to orchestrate an architecture which embraces, cradles and cuddles. My dream is to create an architecture where the floor is the earth, the walls are the wind and the ceiling is the sky.

Learning from the Vernacular

“What is new and significant must be grafted to old roots” — Béla Bartók

Festaval Tourist Complex, Mellieha, Malta

Seminary, Iklin (top) · Salina Tower Hotel, Qawra (bottom)

Dreamscapes

“I don’t want reality. I want magic.” — Tennessee Williams

Dar il-Hanin Samaritan Meditation Garden, Santa Venera, Malta

Sanctuaries of the Soul

St Francis of Assisi Church, Qawra, Malta

Dar il-Hanin Samaritan, Garden of the Olives, Santa Venera, Malta

Iraq

Working in the City of the Caliphs — Baghdad

Office Bab Al Sheikh around Kheylani Mosque

Mapping the Matrix

Dar il-Hanin Samaritan Meditation Garden

Golf 12 Apartments Belgrade ex-Yugoslavia

Dar il-Hanin Samaritan, Santa Venera, Malta

The Eye in the Hand

Metropoli + Mythopoli

CV

Richard England was born in Malta in 1937 and graduated in Architecture from the University of Malta. He continued his studies in Italy at the Milan Polytechnic while working as a student-architect in the studio of the Italian architect-designer Gio Ponti. England is also a poet, sculptor, photographer, artist and author of several books (art, architecture, mythology and religion.) Monographs have been published on his work by Charles Knevitt, Edwin Heathcote, Chris Abel, Dennis Sharp and Maurizio Vitta.

His buildings have earned him numerous international prizes and awards, including the C.I.C.A. silver medal, the 2000 Belgrade Architectural Triennale Gold Medal and the 2006 International Academy of Architecture Grand Prix. He was also the recipient of the 2012 International Academy of Architecture Annual Award, the Malta Kamra Tal-Periti Lifetime Achievement Galizia prize, and the Commonwealth Association of Architects Robert Matthew Award. In 2020 he was appointed Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia. In 2023 he was granted the Freedom of the City of London, and in 2024 he was awarded the President’s Prize of the Malta Architecture and Spatial Planning Awards. In 2026 he was awarded the International Academy of Architecture Career Prize.

englandrichard37@gmail.com

Appointments

Hon. Fellow American Institute of Architects
Ex-Vice President International Academy of Architecture
Academician International Academy of Architecture
Freeman of the City of London
Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia
Officer of the National Order of Merit Malta
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, U.K.
Hon. Professor University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hon. Fellow University of Bath, U.K.
Doctor (Honoris Causa) University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Doctor (Honoris Causa) Spiru Haret University, Romania
Doctor (Honoris Causa) University of Malta
Fellow Institute of Professional Designers London, U.K.
Hon. Member World Forum of Young Architects
Hon. Member Colegio de Arquitectos, Jalisco, Mexico
Hon. Professor University of Georgia
Visiting Professor University of Malta
Member of Architectural Space Network Tokyo, Japan
Fellow Foundation for International Studies Malta
Hon. Liveryman Company of Chartered Architects (UK)
Hon. Professor Institute of Advanced Studies, University of New York, U.S.A.

Critical Reviews

Richard England is a master builder. His is an architecture which is local but also global. His language is a language of poetry.

Renzo Piano

Richard England has built numerous projects, but what distinguishes his work in my view is his artistry. He has revealed himself as a master of connecting the sacred and profane by showing that sacred space is not something cut off from reality but is, indeed, its apogee. What makes Richard England special is whatever your belief, your nature, your religion – you will feel the accessibility to all that is spiritual.

Daniel Libeskind

Richard England seeks the essences of things not only through architecture, but also through sketching, painting, sculpting, and writing poetry. His artistic diligence and versatility is not a projection of self-assurance or self-conceit, but a consequence of the intensity of his exploration.

Juhani Pallasmaa

Richard England’s work is both art and document, a beautiful voice of constancy.

Ian Ritchie

Richard England is Malta’s accomplished architectural dreamer; his head in the heights of visions and his feet deep in the grounds of regional evocation. He truly merits our and his country’s highest consideration as both most remarkable architect and a greatly accomplished artist.

Emilio Ambasz

Richard England has enhanced the architectural values of his islands. His is an extraordinary talent that invades many corners of the creative processes.

Dennis Sharp

Visionary architect, artist, critic, poet and landscape designer, England is the personification of the fusion of the arts promised by the modern movement, but rarely delivered. His Manikata Church stands amongst the most original works of regional modernism of its time.

Chris Abel