Architect Cecil Balmond awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Wednesday, 18 February 2015 00:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shehana Dain Cecil Balmond, a Lankan-born world-renowned designer architect, was recognised in the UK’s 2015 New Years’ Honours List and awarded ‘Officer of the Order of the British Empire’. The OBE is by far the most prestigious award in the British culture. The unlikely star of the London Olympic Games, the revolutionary ‘Eyeful Tower,’ is now one of the most iconic architectural masterpieces in the world; the orbit once used to be an easy target for jokes.

Balmond, being a true visionary, stood behind his masterpiece amid criticism, and his patience has finally paid off as he received the most honourable award in British culture for his contribution to architecture. Balmond has also been the creative force behind London’s Serpentine Gallery and the sculpture that marks the Scottish and English border crossing, which will be completed in 2015. He has won many prestigious awards such as the Gengo Matsui Prize in Japan and the RIBA Charles Jencks Award for Theory in Practice are just a few in his career; even after winning all these awards he strives to raise the bar much further. In an exclusive interview with the Daily FT, Balmond said: “It’s much harder in the commercial profession to get this honour, the Beatles were world famous for 30 years when they got this recognition, so it was a satisfying feeling when I got this honour.” He added: “I don’t get excited when I get awards; it’s just your job. My main excitement is to make projects like Waterfront look great.” Currently Balmond is undertaking a $ 650 million project in Sri Lanka, ‘The Waterfront,’ which is an investment of JKH. It’s by far the largest private sector investment in the country. The mere investment capacity signals something iconic and special. In Sri Lanka we haven’t really had the opportunity to witness masterpieces of modern architecture and the curving double roof of the retail centre of the Waterfront will definitely be a breakthrough design which will put Sri Lanka on the world map. The time set for the project is six years, of which two years is for designing and four years for construction. Balmond noted: “There is one Italian architect and the rest is all Sri Lankan resources, starting from administration to engineering.” The project is said to include an 850-bed hotel, a retail centre, conference facilities, 400 apartment units and many more components. Balmond stated Sri Lanka has a lot of potential; the country has just come out of a war and it will take time but with a bit of finetuning the country will get there, he asserted. The iconic Waterfront design will be the starting point, and many architects in Sri Lanka will follow suit to explore wider depths of architectural dimensions.