Born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1965, Moussavi studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, University College London, and Dundee University. Throughout her career, she has consistently combined professional practice with teaching and research. She served as Director of the Institute of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and has taught at the Architectural Association in London, the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, the Hoger Architectuur Instituut Sint-Lucas in Ghent, and—in the United States—at Harvard, UCLA, Princeton, and Columbia University. She is currently Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
In 2011, she founded Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA), with offices in London and Paris. Projects completed by the firm include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, the La Folie Divine apartments in Montpellier, the Îlot 19 residential complex in La Défense-Nanterre, and the toy department at Harrods in London. Her largest-scale project to date is the Ismaili Center Houston, won through an international competition and completed in November 2025. Moussavi is also the author of four books; the most recent, *Architecture and Micropolitics*, was published by Park Books in 2022.
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, USA, by Farshid Moussavi. Photography by Stephen Gill, Dean Kaufman.
In the words of the award recipient:
«To be recognised by an institution whose founder understood so clearly that architecture is never only about architecture is, for me, the most meaningful kind of acknowledgement, and one I receive with both delight and a sense of genuine connection to this place. The Soane Museum has always felt to me like one of the most precise arguments in architecture: that a building can be simultaneously a home, a practice, and a way of thinking about the world, and that architecture is inseparable from the objects, histories, and ideas that surround it.
What strikes me most is this refusal of separation: between the personal and the professional, between the aesthetic and the intellectual, between the building and its contents. These are questions that have preoccupied my own practice, teaching, and writing for a long time.»
Farshid Moussavi.
Yokohama International Port Terminal designed by Foreign Office Architects. Photograph by Satoru Mishima.
The jury for the 2026 edition was composed of architects, critics, and curators, and was chaired by architect Amin Taha. The jury particularly highlighted the continuity with which Moussavi has pursued architectural research over nearly four decades across three parallel realms—practice, teaching, and writing—as well as her focus on how architectural decisions shape the everyday experience of those who use the buildings.
The Soane Medal, established in 2017 and first awarded to Rafael Moneo, annually recognizes architects, educators, and critics who have made a significant contribution to architecture through practice, history, or theory, while simultaneously promoting and enriching public understanding of the discipline.
