Marco Lorenzo Sinnott Goldschmied is an architect best known as co-founder and managing director of Richard Rogers Partnership. He now runs the Marco Goldschmied Foundation and was previously a president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1998 he founded The Stephen Lawrence Prize alongside Doreen Lawrence, and in association with the RIBA. The annual award recognises the best architectural projects with a construction budget under £1 million. It was set up in memory of the teenager who was setting out on the road to becoming an architect when he was murdered in 1993, and is intended to encourage fresh talent working with smaller budgets. Son of British Elinor and Italian Guido Goldschmied, Marco was born in England in 1944 and moved to Trieste, Italy in 1946 during the Allied Military Government - Free territory of Triest. Following the death of his father in 1955, he returned to London with his mother in 1956.
Career
Goldschmied trained at the Architecture Association where he met two future partners; Mike Davies and John Young. In 1971 he was associate partner of the Piano + Rogers architecture practice which was established to design the competition winning Centre Georges Pompidou. He was co-founder of the Richard Rogers Partnership with Richard Rogers, Mike Davies and John Young in 1977 becoming managing director in 1984, and was involved in many of the major projects undertaken by the practice. He left in 2004 and the practice became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007. He set up the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, which established the RIBA StephenLawrence Prize in 1998 and rewards the best architecture projects with a construction budget of less than £1 million. Marco was President of the RIBA in 1999 to 2001, during which time he initiated the rebranding of the institute.
The Stephen Lawrence Prize
By highlighting schemes up to a contract value of £1 million, The Stephen Lawrence Prize brings recognition to smaller projects and emerging architectural practices. Speaking at the RIBA Awards evening in 2017, Marco said, "This is exactly what the Prize was intended to do and in twenty years a collection of projects carrying awards in Stephen’s memory, is, I hope a dignified and significant memorial to him. Whilst the Stirling Prize celebrates the big and the bold, the capacity of The Stephen Lawrence Prize to celebrate the craft, skill and invention of smaller schemes continues to inspire. I am tremendously proud to look back on the projects that have been given special recognition by the Prize. In its own way, it keeps the memory of Stephen present and reminds us of all the work that Doreen and the Stephen Lawrence Trust have achieved since its foundation."
