The International Union of Architects (Union internationale des Architectes, or UIA) is an international non-governmental organization

Non-governmental organization

A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

 that represents over a million architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s in 124 countries. The UIA was founded in Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, in 1948. The General Secretariat is located in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. It is recognized by most United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 agencies as the only association in its field, including UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

, UNCHS, ESOSOC, UNIDO

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization , French/Spanish acronym ONUDI, is a specialized agency in the United Nations system, headquartered in Vienna, Austria...

, and the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

, as well as the WTO

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...

. The current president is Louise Cox from Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Congresses

The UIA helds a triennal Congress of Architecture during which the Council members are elected. The next congress will be held in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 2011 on the topic: "Design 2050".
Former congresses were:

Nr.	Year	Location	Theme
1st	1948	Lausanne Lausanne Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...	Architecture Faced with its New Tasks
2nd	1951	Rabat Rabat Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...	How Architecture is Dealing with its New Tasks
3rd	1953	Lisbon Lisbon Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...	Architecture at the Crossroads
4th	1955	The Hague The Hague The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...	Architecture and the Evolutions of Building
5th	1958	Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...	Construction and Reconstruction
6th	1961	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...	New Techniques and New Materials
7th	1963	Havana Havana Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...	Architecture in Underdeveloped Countries
8th	1965	Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...	The Training of Architects
9th	1967	Prague Prague Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...	Architecture and the Human Milieu
10th	1967	Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...	Architecture as a Social Factor
11th	1969	Varna Varna Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...	Architecture and Leisure
12th	1972	Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...	Creativity and Technology
13th	1975	Mexico City Mexico City Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...	Architecture and National Development
14th	1978	Warsaw Warsaw Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...	Architecture, Man, Environment
15th	1985	Cairo Cairo Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...	Present and Future Missions of the Architect
16th	1987	Brighton Brighton Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...	Shelter and Cities - Building Tomorrow's World
17th	1990	Montreal Montreal Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...	Cultures and Technologies
18th	1993	Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...	Architecture at the Crossroads - Designing for a Sustainable Future
19th	1996	Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...	Present and Futures. Architecture in Cities
20th	1999	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...	Architecture of the 21st Century
21st	2002	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...	Resource Architecture
22nd	2005	Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...	Grand Bazaar of Architectures
23rd	2008	Turin Turin Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...	Transmitting Architecture
24rd	2011	Tokyo Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...	DESIGN 2050 Beyond disasters, through Solidarity, towards Sustainability

Prizes

Since 1961 the UIA awards four prizes trienally:

• Auguste Perret Prize, for technology applied to architecture
• Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize, for town-planning or territorial development
• Jean Tschumi Prize, for architectural criticism or architectural education
• Sir Robert Matthew Prize, for improvement in the quality of human settlements.

UIA Gold Medal

Since 1984 the organisation also awards the UIA Gold Medal to honour an architect (or group of architects) having distinguished themselves through their work and professional practice by the quality of services rendered to man and society. Past recipients of the award were:

Year	Architect	Country
1984 1984 in architecture The year 1984 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:* Lloyd's Building in London, designed by Richard Rogers is completed.* Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, designed by James Stirling opens to the public.* The Swisscom-Sendeturm St...	Hassan Fathy Hassan Fathy Hassan Fathy was a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt, especially by working to re-establish the use of mud brick and traditional as opposed to western building designs and lay-outs...	Egypt
1987 1987 in architecture The year 1987 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:* The Menil Collection, in Houston, Texas, United States, designed by architect Renzo Piano, is opened to the public.* The Riga Radio & TV Tower in Riga, Latvia is completed....	Reima Pietila	Finland
1990 1990 in architecture The year 1990 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:*Atatürk Dam in Turkey is completed*Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, designed by I. M. Pei, is completed.*U.S...	Charles Correa Charles Correa Charles Correa is an Indian architect, planner and activist.-Early life:Charles Correa was born in Hyderabad, India...	India
1993 1993 in architecture The year 1993 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:* The Landmark Tower in Yokohama, Japan is completed.* The Umeda Sky Building in Osaka City, Japan is completed....	Fumihiko Maki Fumihiko Maki is a Japanese architect and currently teaching at Keio University SFC.- Biography :After studying at the University of Tokyo he moved to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and then to Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1956, he took a post as assistant professor of...	Japan
1996 1996 in architecture The year 1996 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:*Eden Project, Cornwall near St Austell designed by Nicholas Grimshaw.*Oscar Niemeyer completes the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil....	Rafael Moneo Rafael Moneo José Rafael Moneo Vallés is a Spanish architect. He was born in Tudela, Spain, and won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996. He studied at the ETSAM, Technical University of Madrid from which he received his architectural degree in 1961. From 1958 to 1961 he worked in the office in Madrid...	Spain
1999 1999 in architecture The year 1999 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:* Jewish Museum Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind is completed.* Great Court of the British Museum is redesigned by Norman Foster....	Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis Ricardo Legorreta Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis is a Mexican architect. He was born in Mexico City on May 7, 1931. He was awarded the prestigious UIA Gold Medal in 1999 and the Praemium Imperiale in 2011.He studied architecture at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México....	Mexico
2002 2002 in architecture The year 2002 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings and structures:* May 24 - Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, near Falkirk, Scotland, is opened by Queen Elizabeth II as part of her Golden Jubilee.*July - London...	Renzo Piano Renzo Piano Renzo Piano is an Italian architect. He is the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize and the Sonning Prize...	Italy
2005 2005 in architecture The year 2005 in architecture involved some significant events.-Buildings:*March 5 - The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart designed by Hascher et Jehle opens.*April 6 - New facility for the Milan Trade Fair in Milan, Italy, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, opens....	Tadao Ando Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was once categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field...	Japan
2008 2008 in architecture The year 2008 in architecture involves some significant events.-Buildings:*January 1 - China Central Television Headquarters building, by Rem Koolhaas and OMA, officially opens in Beijing...	Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon Teodoro González de León Teodoro González de León is a Mexican architect.- Biography :Gonzales de León studied at the Escuela Nacional de Arquitectura of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México from 1942 to 1947. Thanks to a scholarship by the French government, he worked in France for 18 months with Le Corbusier,...	Mexico
2011 2011 in architecture The year 2011 in architecture involves some significant events.-Buildings:* January 21 - Museum of Old and New Art, designed by Nonda Katsalidis, opens on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia....	Álvaro Siza Vieira Álvaro Siza Vieira Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira, GOSE, GCIH, is a Portuguese architect, born 25 June 1933 in Matosinhos a small coastal town by Porto. He is internationally known as Álvaro Siza .-Life and career:...	Portugal

International competitions

The organization also manages international competitions

Architectural design competition

An architectural design competition is a special type of competition in which an organization or government body that plans to build a new building asks for architects to submit a proposed design for a building. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals...

 for some of the most important spaces of our age, as well as attempts to improve human habitats through architecture and technology. The UIA managed international competitions resulting in the construction of:

• Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  
• Indira Gandhi Centre, New Delhi
  New Delhi
  New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
  
  
• Bibliothèque Nationale de France
  Bibliothèque nationale de France
  The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
  
  , Paris
• National Museum of Seoul
• Prado National Museum, Madrid
  Madrid
  Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
  
   (rehabilitation and extension)
• Opera House
  Sydney Opera House
  The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
  
  , Sydney
  Sydney
  Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
  
  

External links

• UIA website Official website
• About the UIA American Institute of Architects website