SANAA, the Japanese practice helmed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, is this years RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner. RIBA recognized SANAA for pioneering sustainable, user-centered design and the offices ability to shape a universal language of architecture that resonates with people everywhere. Last years RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner was Lesley Lokko. This time around, the 2025 RIBA Honors Committee commended SANAA for its ability to shape a universal language of architecture that resonates with people everywhere. The firm has completed a number of prominent cultural projects across the globe. In New York, it delievered a boxy structure faced with aluminum mesh for the New Museum. No two buildings by the firm are strikingly alike, for another museum project in Sydney, the firm again played with the layering and stacking of structures with an expansion built on an inclined site.The firm designed the New Museum in New York City. (Dean Kaufman)After hearing the news, Sejima and Nishizawa said in a statement: We are delighted and very honored to receive the Royal Gold Medal. We have always believed that architecture can transform and repair environments, helping us to relate to our surroundings, nature and each other.SANAA completed a modernization project at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney. (Iwan Baan)SANAA continued: Throughout our careers we have tried to make spaces that bring people together, inviting them to imagine new ways of living and learning collectively. Architecture is always teamwork and we are very grateful to everyone that has given us opportunities to develop these ideas over the years, and to all those people that have worked tirelessly with us to realize them. This is a very happy moment for us, thank you. Other notable projects by the firm include a building and landscape for Grace Farms, an 80-acre property in Connecticut where nature, art, and acts of justice coalescea sentiment prevalent in the firms work there, and elsewhere.In Connecticut, facilities designed by SANAA for Grace Farms blend with the idyllic landscape. (Iwan Baan)RIBA president Muyiwa Oki noted SANAA exemplifies an unassuming yet impactful leadership in the evolving practice and theory of architecture, SANAAs designs demonstrate that architecture can balance functionality with profound elegance. True pioneers in the field, their unwavering commitment to sustainable, user-centered design has quietly blazed a trail for others, setting an inspiring standard for the future of our built environment.The Japanese practice has completed a number of projects in its home country, including the Kagawa Sports Arena. (SANAA)Showing remarkable clarity and consistency over the decades, Oki elaborated, their work serves as a lasting testament to the transformative power of architectureto inspire joy, to create a sense of belonging, and to connect us to the environments we inhabit. Rooted in a shared vision where architecture priorities the human experience and interaction alongside form and function, SANAAs legacy will continue to resonate across cultures and generations to come.The 2025 RIBA Royal Gold Medal will be handed to SANAA by His Majesty the King, Charles III.