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 and artist and the author of several books on architecture, art, mythology and religion. Monographs have been published on his work by Charles Knevitt, Edwin Heathcote, Chris Abel, Dennis Sharp and Maurizio Vitta, and writers on his work include Renzo Piano, Daniel Libeskind, Juhani Pallasmaa, Paolo Portoghesi and Mario Botta.
England holds professorships at various universities in the U.S.A, U.K. and Europe and is an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Vice-President of the International Academy of Architecture, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Officer of The Order of Merit of the Government of Malta. England is also the recipient of a number of Honoris Causa doctorates from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of New York, U.S.A., two Sofia Universities in Bulgaria, the Spiru Haret University in Romania, the University of the Republic of Georgia and in 2016 from the University of Malta.
In 1980 he was one of the architects together with Robert Venturi, Arup Associates, Arthur Erickson, Sheppard Robson, Riccardo Bofill and others, as architectural consultant to the Mayoralty of Baghdad, Iraq to work on the rehabilitation of the city. 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 Life Time Achievement Galizia prize, and the Commonwealth Association of Architects Robert Matthew Award. In 2020 he was appointed Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia and in 2023 he was granted the Freedom of the City of London and elected Hon. Liveryman of the UK Company of architects.
