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En lo personal creo que los Premios Pritzker ayudan a dar difusión a la arquitectura, así como dan una visión mas amplia de lo que se esta haciendo en todo el mundo.
Sin embargo existen otros propósitos políticos y de imagen por los cuales siguen realizando estos premios la familia Pritzker y el como se benefician los ganadores de este premio.

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Diébédo Francis Kéré | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Francis Kéré (b. Diébédo Francis Kéré, 1965) was born in Burkina Faso - one of the world’s least educated and most impoverished nations, a land void of clean drinking water, electricity and infrastructure, let alone architecture.

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Anne Lacaton y Jean-Philippe Vassal - 2021

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Anne Lacaton y Jean-Philippe Vassal - 2021

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Anne Lacaton (1955, Saint-Pardoux, France) and Jean-Philippe Vassal (1954, Casablanca, Morocco) met in the late 1970s during their formal architecture training at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux. Lacaton went on to pursue a Masters in Urban Planning from Bordeaux Montaigne University (1984), while Vassal relocated to Niger, West Africa to practice urban planning. Lacaton often visited Vassal, and it was there that the genesis of their architectural doctrine began, as they were profoundly influenced by the beauty and humility of sparing resources within the country's desert landscapes.

"Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the people are so incredible, so generous, doing nearly everything with nothing, finding resources all the time, but with optimism, full of poetry and inventiveness. It was really a second school of architecture," recalls Vassal.

In Niamey, Niger, Lacaton and Vassal built their first joint project, a straw hut, constructed with locally sourced bush branches, which yielded surprising impermanence, relenting to the wind within two years of completion. They vowed to never demolish what could be redeemed and instead, make sustainable what already exists, thereby extending through addition, respecting the luxury of simplicity, and proposing new possibilities.

They established Lacaton & Vassal in Paris (1987), and have since demonstrated boldness through their design of new buildings and transformative projects. For over three decades, they have designed private and social housing, cultural and academic institutions, public space, and urban strategies. The duo's architecture reflects their advocacy of social justice and sustainability, by prioritizing a generosity of space and freedom of use through economical and ecological materials.

Providing physical and emotional wellbeing has also been intentional in their work. Their application of greenhouse technologies to create bioclimatic conditions began with Latapie House in Floirac, France (1993). Using the sun, in harmony with natural ventilation, solar shading and insulation, they created adjustable and desirable microclimates. "From very early on, we studied the greenhouses of botanic gardens with their impressive fragile plants, the beautiful light and transparency, and ability to simply transform the outdoor climate. It's an atmosphere and a feeling, and we were interested in bringing that delicacy to architecture," shares Lacaton.

Through both new construction and the transformation of buildings, honoring the pre-existing is authentic to their work. A private residence in Cap Ferret, France (1998) was built on an undeveloped plot along Arcachon Bay, with the goal of minimal disruption to the natural environment. Rather than fell the 46 trees on the site, the architects nurtured the native vegetation, elevating the home and constructing around the trunks that intersected it, allowing occupants to live among the plant life.

Lacaton explains, "the pre-existing has value if you take the time and effort to look at it carefully. In fact, it's a question of observation, of approaching a place with fresh eyes, attention and precision...to understand the values and the lacks, and to see how we can change the situation while keeping all the values of what is already there."

Their skillful selection of modest materials enables the architects to build larger living spaces affordably, as demonstrated by the construction of 14 single-family residences for a social housing development (2005), and 59 units within low-rise apartment buildings at Neppert Gardens (2015), both in Mulhouse, France; and in adjoining mid-rise buildings consisting of 96 units in Chalon-sur-Saône, France (2016); among others.

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal Receive the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Chicago, IL (March 16, 2021) - Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, of France, have been selected as the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

"Good architecture is open-open to life, open to enhance the freedom of anyone, where anyone can do what they need to do," says Lacaton. "It should not be demonstrative or imposing, but it must be something familiar, useful and beautiful, with the ability to quietly support the life that will take place within it."

Through their design of private and social housing, cultural and academic institutions, public spaces, and urban developments, Lacaton and Vassal reexamine sustainability in their reverence for pre-existing structures, conceiving projects by first taking inventory of what already exists. By prioritizing the enrichment of human life through a lens of generosity and freedom of use, they are able to benefit the individual socially, ecologically and economically, aiding the evolution of a city.

"Not only have they defined an architectural approach that renews the legacy of modernism, but they have also proposed an adjusted definition of the very profession of architecture. The modernist hopes and dreams to improve the lives of many are reinvigorated through their work that responds to the climatic and ecological emergencies of our time, as well as social urgencies, particularly in the realm of urban housing. They accomplish this through a powerful sense of space and materials that creates architecture as strong in its forms as in its convictions, as transparent in its aesthetic as in its ethics," states the 2021 Jury Citation, in part.

The architects increase living space exponentially and inexpensively, through winter gardens and balconies that enable inhabitants to conserve energy and access nature during all seasons. Latapie House (Floirac, France 1993) was their initial application of greenhouse technologies to install a winter garden that allowed a larger residence for a modest budget. The east-facing retractable and transparent polycarbonate panels on the back side of the home allow natural light to illuminate the entire dwelling, enlarging its indoor communal spaces from the living room to the kitchen, and enabling ease of climate control.

"This year, more than ever, we have felt that we are part of humankind as a whole. Be it for health, political or social reasons, there is a need to build a sense of collectiveness. Like in any interconnected system, being fair to the environment, being fair to humanity, is being fair to the next generation," comments Alejandro Aravena, Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury. "Lacaton and Vassal are radical in their delicacy and bold through their subtleness, balancing a respectful yet straightforward approach to the built environment."

On a grander scale, Lacaton and Vassal, alongside Frédéric Druot, transformed La Tour Bois le Prêtre (Paris, France 2011), a 17-story, 96-unit city housing project originally built in the early 1960s. The architects increased the interior square footage of every unit through the removal of the original concrete façade, and extended the footprint of the building to form bioclimatic balconies. Once-constrained living rooms now extend into new terraces as flexible space, featuring large windows for unrestricted views of the city, thus reimagining not only the aesthetic of social housing, but also the intention and possibilities of such communities within the urban geography. This framework was similarly applied to the transformation of three buildings (G, H and I), consisting of 530 apartments, at Grand Parc (Bordeaux, France 2017), with Druot and Christophe Hutin. The transformation resulted in a dramatic visual reinvention of the social housing complex, the modernization of elevators and plumbing, and the generous expansion of all units, some nearly doubling in size, without the displacement of any residents and for one third of the cost of demolishing and building new.

"Our work is about solving constraints and problems, and finding spaces that can create uses, emotions and feelings. At the end of this process and all of this effort, there must be lightness and simplicity, when all that has been before was so complex," explains Vassal.

The work of Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal reflects architecture's democratic spirit. Through their ideas, approach to the profession, and the resulting buildings, they have proven that a commitment to a restorative architecture that is at once technological, innovative, and ecologically responsive can be pursued without nostalgia. This is the mantra of the team of Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal since founding their Paris-based firm in 1987. Not only have they defined an architectural approach that renews the legacy of modernism, but they have also proposed an adjusted definition of the very profession of architecture. The modernist hopes and dreams to improve the lives of many are reinvigorated through their work that responds to the climatic and ecological emergencies of our time, as well as social urgencies, particularly in the realm of urban housing. They accomplish this through a powerful sense of space and materials that creates architecture as strong in its forms as in its convictions, as transparent in its aesthetic as in its ethics. At once beautiful and pragmatic, they refuse any opposition between architectural quality, environmental responsibility, and the quest for an ethical society.

For more than 30 years, their critical approach to architecture has embodied generosity of space, ideas, uses and economy of means, materials, and also of shape and form. This approach has resulted in innovative projects for residential, cultural, educational, and commercial buildings. Since their early projects, including Latapie House, the private house in Bordeaux, and civic works such as the proposal for the Human Science Center in Saint-Denis or the School of Architecture in Nantes, they have shown sensitivity and warmth of experience to their buildings' users. The architects have expressed that buildings are beautiful when people feel well in them, when the light inside is beautiful and the air is pleasant, and when there is an easy flow between the interior and exterior.

The notion of belonging and being accountable to a larger whole involves not only fellow humans but the planet in general. From very early on, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have consistently expanded the notion of sustainability to be understood as a real balance between its economic, environmental and social pillars. Their work has delivered through a variety of projects that actively address responsibility in these three dimensions.

The practice begins every project with a process of discovery which includes intensely observing and finding value in what already exists. In the case of the 1996 commission, Léon Aucoc Plaza, their approach was simply to undertake the minimal work of replacing the gravel, treating the lime trees, and slightly modifying the traffic, all to grant renewed potential to what already existed.

The following are images of the architecture of Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal.

These images may be downloaded and distributed only in relation to the announcement of Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal being named the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.
The photographer/photo libraries/artists must be credited if noted.
All images are copyright of the respective photographers and artists cited, and courtesy of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Click on each image to download a high-resolution file.
Captions for these images are in the 2021 Image Book, available here.
Download the 2021 Media Kithere.

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Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Anne Lacaton (1955, Saint-Pardoux, France) and Jean-Philippe Vassal (1954, Casablanca, Morocco) met in the late 1970s during their formal architecture training at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux. Lacaton went on to pursue a Masters in Urban Planning from Bordeaux Montaigne University (1984), while Vassal relocated to Niger, West Africa to practice urban planning.

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Yvonne Farrell y Shelley McNamara - 2020

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Yvonne Farrell y Shelley McNamara - 2020

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Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) met during their collegiate studies at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD). They studied under rationalist architects who had newly arrived to challenge the preexisting thought and culture of the institution. Upon graduating in 1976, they were each offered the unique opportunity to teach at UCD, where they continued to educate until 2006, and were appointed as adjunct professors in 2015. "Teaching for us has always been a parallel reality," comments Farrell. "And it's a way of trying to distill our experience and gift it to other generations coming along so that they actually play a role in the growing of that culture. So it's a two way thing, we learn from students and hopefully students learn from us."

Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell while students at UCD, 1974

In 1978, Farrell and McNamara, along with three others, established Grafton Architects, named after the street of their original office to prioritize the existence of place, rather than individuals. Significant projects have included North King Street Housing (Dublin, Ireland 2000); Urban Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland 2002); Solstice Arts Centre (Navan, Ireland 2007); Loreto Community School (Milford, Ireland 2006); Offices for the Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009); and Medical School, University of Limerick (Limerick, Ireland 2012).

Reflecting on their childhoods, McNamara recalls, "My awakening to the experience of architecture was a visit as a child to an enormous 18th-century house on the beautiful main street of the city of Limerick where my aunt lived. Her husband had a beautiful mahogany lined pharmacy shop on the ground floor, and she ran a little Montessori school in a room over the entrance hall. This aroused a sense of wonder as to what a house could be and I remember vividly the sensation of space and light, which was an absolute revelation to me."

Medical School, University of Limerick, photo courtesy of Dennis Gilbert

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara Receive the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Chicago, IL (March 3, 2020) - Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Dublin, Ireland, have been selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

"Architecture could be described as one of the most complex and important cultural activities on the planet," remarks Farrell. "To be an architect is an enormous privilege. To win this prize is a wonderful endorsement of our belief in architecture. Thank you for this great honor."

Urban Institute of Ireland, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

As architects and educators since the 1970s, Farrell and McNamara create spaces that are at once respectful and new, honoring history while demonstrating a mastery of the urban environment and craft of construction. Balancing strength and delicacy, and upholding a reverence of site-specific contexts, their academic, civic and cultural institutions, as well as housing developments, result in modern and impactful works that never repeat or imitate, but are decidedly of their own architectural voice.

"For their integrity in their approach to both their buildings, as well as the way they conduct their practice, their belief in collaboration, their generosity towards their colleagues, especially as evidenced in such events as the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unceasing commitment to excellence in architecture, their responsible attitude toward the environment, their ability to be cosmopolitan while embracing the uniqueness of each place in which they work, for all these reasons and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize," states the 2020 Jury Citation, in part.

"Within the ethos of a practice such as ours, we have so often struggled to find space for the implementation of such values as humanism, craft, generosity, and cultural connection with each place and context within which we work. It is therefore extremely gratifying that this recognition is bestowed upon us and our practice and upon the body of work we have managed to produce over a long number of years," says McNamara. "It is also a wonderful recognition of the ambition and vision of the clients who commissioned us and enabled us to bring our buildings to fruition."

Their native Ireland, an island replete with mountains and cliffs, informs their acute sensitivities to geography, changing climates and nature in each of their sites. Their buildings consistently remain purposefully rich, yet modest, enhancing cities and lending to sustainability while responding to local needs. University Campus UTEC Lima (Lima, Peru 2015) is located on a challenging site with a highway sunk in a ravine on one side and a residential neighborhood on the other. The result is a vertical and cascading building responding to both site and climatic needs. Its open spaces were designed to deliberately welcome cooling breezes of the ocean and minimize the need for air-conditioning. At the Offices for the Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009), the selection of local limestone used in thick panels grants strength to the building. Windows recessed or flush with the façade have grills below them to circulate fresh air throughout the building. Exposures on all sides of the building, atypical of the architecture in this city, offer panoramic views.

University Campus UTEC Lima, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have practiced architecture together for forty years in a way that clearly reflects the objectives of the Pritzker Prize: to recognize the art of architecture and consistent service to humanity as evidenced through a body of built work.

Co-founding their professional practice, called Grafton Architects, in Dublin, Ireland in 1978, they have consistently and unhesitatingly pursued the highest quality of architecture for the specific location in which it was to be built, the functions it would house and especially for the people who would inhabit and use their buildings and spaces. They have an oeuvre that includes numerous educational buildings, housing and cultural and civic institutions. Pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession, they are also beacons to others as they forge their exemplary professional path.

Loreto Community School, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

Many of their buildings are located in their home country of Ireland, but through competitions, they have won major commissions for other places around the world, such as Italy, France and Peru. With a profound understanding of place gained through their research, keen powers of observation, open and ever curious explorations and deep respect for culture and context, Farrell and McNamara are able to make their buildings respond to a setting and city most appropriately, while still being fresh and modern. This deep understanding of "spirit of place" means that their works enhance and improve the local community. Their buildings are "good neighbors" that seek to make a contribution beyond the boundaries of the building and to make a city work better. Their North King Street Housing in Dublin (2000) is one example of this: it creates an inner courtyard and a welcome respite from the adjacent busy streets.

Their approach to architecture is always honest, revealing an understanding of the processes of design and construction from large scale structures to the smallest details. It is often in these details, especially in buildings with modest budgets, where a big impact can be felt. For example, the Urban Institute of Ireland (Dublin, 2002) employs what the architects call a "crafted skin" to create a visually interesting building through changes in materials responding to openings, folds, needs for shade and other concerns. At the same time, it employs common sense, good-practice environmental control methodologies for an efficient, sustainable building. On a particularly sensitive site in Dublin, the masterful Offices for the Department of Finance (2009) attests to their knowledge and care in the selection of materials and construction techniques with a carefully handcrafted bronze railing and gate and sanded limestone on the facades.

Offices for the Department of Finance, photo courtesy of Grafton Architects

The architects are skilled and successful working at many scales-from large institutional buildings to a house of only a little more than 100 square meters. Without grand or frivolous gestures, they have managed to create buildings that are monumental institutional presences when appropriate, but even so they are zoned and detailed in such a way as to produce more intimate spaces that create community within. In their large buildings such as the University Campus UTEC (2015) in Lima, Peru or the School of Economics Building (2008) at Universita Luigi Bocconi, they have achieved a human scale through the composition of spaces and volumes of different sizes. The dialogues they create between buildings and surroundings demonstrate a new appreciation of both their works and place.

The following are images of the architecture of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.

These images may be downloaded and distributed only in relation to the announcement of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara being named the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.
The photographer/photo libraries/artists must be credited if noted.
All images are copyright of the respective photographers and artists cited, and courtesy of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Click on each image to download a high-resolution file.
Captions for these images are in the 2020 Image Book, available here.

Download the 2020 Media Kithere.

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Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) met during their collegiate studies at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD). They studied under rationalist architects who had newly arrived to challenge the preexisting thought and culture of the institution.

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2019 Laureate Arata Isozaki (1931-2022) was born in Ōita, Island of Kyushu, Japan prior to the onset of World War II. He was 14 years old when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, and builds with the theory that while buildings are transitory, they should please the senses of the users presently passing through and around them. "When I was old enough to begin an understanding of the world, my hometown was burned down. Across the shore, the Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, so I grew up near ground zero. It was in complete ruins, and there was no architecture, no buildings and not even a city. Only barracks and shelters surrounded me. So, my first experience of architecture was the void of architecture, and I began to consider how people might rebuild their homes and cities."

Isozaki graduated from the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1954, and began his career with an apprenticeship under the guidance of 1987 Pritzker Prize Laureate Kenzo Tange. He established Arata Isozaki & Associates in 1963, after the Allied occupation when Japan had regained its sovereignty and was seeking physical rebuilding amidst political, economic and cultural uncertainty from the decimation of WWII. "In order to find the most appropriate way to solve these problems, I could not dwell upon a single style. Change became constant. Paradoxically, this came to be my own style." His work began locally, with many buildings in his hometown and Fukuoka, and quickly expanded to Gunma, Osaka and Tokyo. Significant works in his early career include the Ōita Prefectural Library (1962-1966 Ōita, Japan), Expo '70 Festival Plaza (1966-1970 Osaka, Japan), The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (1971-1974 Gunma, Japan), and Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka (1972-1974 Fukuoka, Japan).

Isozaki and Jasper Johns (photo courtesy of Shigeo Anzai)

Isozaki demonstrated a worldwide vision that was ahead of his time and facilitated a dialogue between East and West. He emerged as an international leader in architecture in the 1980s, with his first overseas commission, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1981-1986 California, USA). Other prominent international works, of his more than one hundred total built projects include: Palau Sant Jordi (1983-1990 Barcelona, Spain), designed for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games; Team Disney Building (1987-1990, Florida, USA); Shenzhen Cultural Center (1998-2007 Shenzhen, China); Pala Alpitour (2002-2005 Turin, Italy), ice hockey stadium for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Art Museum (2003-2008 Beijing, China); Allianz Tower (2003-2014 Milan, Italy); Qatar National Convention Center, (2004-2011 Doha, Qatar); Shanghai Symphony Hall (2008-2014 Shanghai, China); and Hunan Provincial Museum (2011-2017 Changsha, China).

Arata Isozaki Receives the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Prize He surpasses the framework of architecture to raise questions that transcend eras and borders.
Chicago, IL (March 5, 2019) - Arata Isozaki, distinguished Japanese architect, city planner and theorist, has been selected as the 2019 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

Ōita Prefectural Library, photo courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimoto

Lauded as a visionary amongst his international contemporaries, Isozaki's forward-thinking approach, deep commitment to the "art of space," and transnational methodology have been evidenced since the 1960s. The prolific architect has been credited with facilitating dialogue between East and West, reinterpreting global influences within architecture, and supporting the development of younger generations in the field. His precision and dexterity are demonstrated through his mastery of an intercontinental range of building techniques, interpretation of site and context, and intentionality of details.

The 2019 Jury Citation states, in part, "Possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and embracing the avant-garde, he never merely replicated the status quo, but his search for meaningful architecture was reflected in his buildings that to this day, defy stylistic categorizations, are constantly evolving, and always fresh in their approach."

Isozaki's early successes in architecture transpired during the era following the Allied occupation of Japan, when the country sought to rebuild itself after the ruins of the Second World War. "I wanted to see the world through my own eyes, so I traveled around the globe at least ten times before I turned thirty. I wanted to feel the life of people in different places and visited extensively inside Japan, but also to the Islamic world, villages in the deep mountains of China, South East Asia, and metropolitan cities in the U.S. I was trying to find any opportunities to do so, and through this, I kept questioning, 'what is architecture?'," recalls the Laureate.

Not only did he extend efforts to physically reconstruct his native hometown with buildings including Ōita Medical Hall (1959-60) and Annex (1970-1972 Ōita, Japan), and the Ōita Prefectural Library (1962-1966 Ōita, Japan, renamed Ōita Art Plaza in 1996), but also redefined mutual exchange between eastern and western societies, allowing Japanese vision to inform European and American design, particularly in the 1980s.

Palau Sant Jordi, photo courtesy of Hisao Suzuki

Arata Isozaki, born in Ōita, Island of Kyushu, Japan is known as a versatile, influential, and truly international architect. Setting up his own practice in the 1960s Isozaki became the first Japanese architect to forge a deep and long-lasting relationship between East and West. Possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and embracing the avant-garde, he never merely replicated the status quo but challenged it. And in his search for meaningful architecture, he created buildings of great quality that to this day defy categorizations, reflect his constant evolution, and are always fresh in their approach.

Over the more than 50 years Arata Isozaki has been practicing, he has had an impact on world architecture, through his works, writings, exhibitions, the organization of important conferences and participation on competition juries. He has supported many young architects from across the globe to have a chance to realize their potential. In such endeavors as the Fukuoka Nexus World Housing project (1988-1991) or Toyama Prefecture's Machi-no-Kao ("face of the city") program (1991-1999) he invited young international architects to develop catalytic projects in Japan.

MOMA Gunma, photo courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimoto

Isozaki's oeuvre has been described as heterogeneous and encompasses descriptions from vernacular to high tech. What is patently clear is that he has not been following trends but forging his own path. An early exploration of a new vision for the city is seen in the project City in the Air, from the early 1960s, for a multilayered city which hovers over the traditional city. His first works in his home country of Japan include a masterpiece of Japanese Brutalism, the Ōita Prefectural Library (1966). Such projects as the Kitakyushu Central Library (1974) and the Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, opened in 1974, reveal an exploration of a more personal architecture. In the museum, the clear geometry of the cube reflects his fascination with void and grid as it seeks to attain an equilibrium in which to display changing works of art.

Qatar National Convention Center, photo courtesy of Hisao Suzuki

Château de Versailles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, served as the capital of France for over 100 years and was the site of the signing of the 1919 treaty which ended the First World War.

Originally a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII in 1624, the Château de Versailles expanded with new buildings added by Louis XIV who declared it as the official royal residence in 1682, and it remained so until the start of the French Revolution in 1789. Two of the first architects who expanded the plan were Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the latter of whom added the north and south wings, chapel, court residence and the Hall of Mirrors throughout the 17th century. Charles Le Brun supervised the decoration, and the landscaping was planned by Le Notre, who also designed the Tuileries Gardens. Louis XV later commissioned Jacques Gabriel to design the opera house.

Presently, the Chateau de Versailles spans over 800 hectares, and includes the Places of Trianon, a museum created by Louise-Philippe that houses over 60,000 works to illustrate five centuries of French History, the Royal Opera of Versailles and the expansive garden.

In 1995, architect Tadao Ando was honored with the Pritzker Architecture Prize in the Petit Trianon, a small chateau on the grounds of the Palace.
Read President Emmanuel Macron's pre-ceremony speech, held in honor of the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Prize, at the Élysée Palace in Paris, France.

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Arata Isozaki | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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2019 Laureate Arata Isozaki (1931-2022) was born in Ōita, Island of Kyushu, Japan prior to the onset of World War II. He was 14 years old when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, and builds with the theory that while buildings are transitory, they should please the senses of the users presently passing through and around them.

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Balkrishna Doshi was born in Pune, India on August 26, 1927, into an extended Hindu family that had been involved in the furniture industry for two generations. Displaying an aptitude for art and an understanding of proportion at a young age, he was exposed to architecture by a school teacher. He began his architecture studies in 1947, the year India gained independence, at the Sir J.J. School of Architecture Bombay (Mumbai), the oldest and one of the foremost institutions for architecture in India.

Doshi's ambition and initiative guided many pivotal moments in his life-from boarding a ship from India to London, where he dreamed of joining the Royal Institute of British Architects; and moving to Paris-despite his inability to speak French-to work under Le Corbusier; to responding to the responsibility and opportunity of rebuilding his native country.

He returned to India in 1954 to oversee Le Corbusier's projects in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, which include the Mill Owner's Association Building (Ahmedabad, 1954) and Shodhan House (Ahmedabad, 1956), among others. Beginning in 1962, Doshi also worked with Louis Kahn as an associate to build the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and they continued to collaborate for over a decade.

In 1956, Doshi hired two architects and founded his own practice, Vastushilpa, which has since been renamed Vastushilpa Consultants and grown to employ five partners and sixty employees and has completed more than 100 projects since its inception. Infused with lessons from Western architects before him, he forged his artistic vision with a deep reverence for life, Eastern culture, and forces of nature to create an architecture that was personal, laced with sights, sounds, and memories from his past. Alongside a deep respect for Indian history and culture, elements of his youth-memories of shrines, temples and bustling streets; scents of lacquer and wood from his grandfather's furniture workshop-all find a way into his architecture.

Of the tremendous range of completed buildings, which include institutions, mixed-use complexes, housing projects, public spaces, galleries, and private residences, Doshi recalls one of his most personal endeavors, Sangath (Ahmedabad, 1980), his architecture studio. "Sangath fuses images and associations of Indian lifestyles. The campus integrates, and memories of places visited collide, evoking and connecting forgotten episodes. Sangath is an ongoing school where one learns, unlearns and relearns. It has become a sanctuary of culture, art and sustainability where research, institutional facilities and maximum sustainability are emphasized."

Balkrishna Doshi Receives the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize
His work in architecture to affect humanity is deeply personal, responsive, and meaningful.
Chicago, IL (March 7, 2018)-Professor Balkrishna Doshi, of India, has been selected as the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

Architect, urban planner, and educator for the past 70 years, Doshi has been instrumental in shaping the discourse of architecture throughout India and internationally. Influenced by masters of 20th-century architecture, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, and Louis Kahn, Doshi has been able to interpret architecture and transform it into built works that respect eastern culture while enhancing the quality of living in India. His ethical and personal approach to architecture has touched lives of every socio-economic class across a broad spectrum of genres since the 1950s.

"My works are an extension of my life, philosophy and dreams trying to create treasury of the architectural spirit. I owe this prestigious prize to my guru, Le Corbusier. His teachings led me to question identity and compelled me to discover new regionally adopted contemporary expression for a sustainable holistic habitat," comments Doshi. He continues, "with all my humility and gratefulness I want to thank the Pritzker Jury for this deeply touching and rewarding recognition of my work. This reaffirms my belief that, 'life celebrates when lifestyle and architecture fuse.'"

Doshi's architecture explores the relationships between fundamental needs of human life, connectivity to self and culture, and understanding of social traditions, within the context of a place and its environment, and through a response to Modernism. Childhood recollections, from the rhythms of the weather to the ringing of temple bells, inform his designs. He describes architecture as an extension of the body, and his ability to attentively address function while regarding climate, landscape, and urbanization is demonstrated through his choice of materials, overlapping spaces, and utilization of natural and harmonizing elements.

"Professor Doshi has said that 'Design converts shelters into homes, housing into communities, and cities into magnets of opportunities," comments Mr. Pritzker. "The life's work of Balkrishna Doshi truly underscores the mission of the Prize-demonstrating the art of architecture and an invaluable service to humanity. I am honored to present the 40th anniversary of this award to an architect who has contributed more than 60 years of service to us all."

The architect designed Aranya Low Cost Housing (Indore, 1989), which presently accommodates over 80,000 individuals through a system of houses, courtyards and a labyrinth of internal pathways. Over 6,500 residences range from modest one-room units to spacious homes, accommodating low and middle-income residents. Overlapping layers and transitional areas encourage fluid and adaptable living conditions, customary in Indian society.

Doshi´s architecture is both poetic and functional. The Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore, 1977-1992), inspired by traditional maze-like Indian cities and temples, is organized as interlocking buildings, courts and galleries. It also provides a variety of spaces protected from the hot climate. The scale of masonry and vast corridors infused with a campus of greenery allow visitors to be simultaneously indoors and outdoors. As people pass through the buildings and spaces, Doshi invites them to experience their surroundings and also suggests the possibility of transformation.

Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has continually exhibited the objectives of the Pritzker Architecture Prize to the highest degree. He has been practicing the art of architecture, demonstrating substantial contributions to humanity, for over 60 years. By granting him the award this year, the Pritzker Prize jury recognizes his exceptional architecture as reflected in over a hundred buildings he has realized, his commitment and his dedication to his country and the communities he has served, his influence as a teacher, and the outstanding example he has set for professionals and students around the world throughout his long career.

Doshi, as he is fondly called by all who know him, worked with two masters of the 20th century-Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Without a doubt, Doshi's early works were influenced by these architects as can be seen in the robust forms of concrete which he employed. However, Doshi took the language of his buildings beyond these early models. With an understanding and appreciation of the deep traditions of India's architecture, he united prefabrication and local craft and developed a vocabulary in harmony with the history, culture, local traditions and the changing times of his home country India.

Over the years, Balkrishna Doshi has always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends. With a deep sense of responsibility and a desire to contribute to his country and its people through high quality, authentic architecture, he has created projects for public administrations and utilities, educational and cultural institutions, and residences for private clients, among others.

He undertook his first project for low-income housing in the 1950s. Doshi stated in 1954, "It seems I should take an oath and remember it for my lifetime: to provide the lowest class with the proper dwelling." He fulfilled this personal oath in projects such as Aranya Low-cost Housing at Indore, 1989, in central-west India and the Co-Operative Middle Income Housing, Ahmedabad, India of 1982, and many others. Housing as shelter is but one aspect of these projects. The entire planning of the community, the scale, the creation of public, semi-public and private spaces are a testament to his understanding of how cities work and the importance of the urban design.

Doshi is acutely aware of the context in which his buildings are located. His solutions take into account the social, environmental and economic dimensions, and therefore his architecture is totally engaged with sustainability. Using patios, courtyards, and covered walkways, as in the case of the School of Architecture (1966, now part of CEPT) or the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board in Jabalpur (1979) or the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (1992), Doshi has created spaces to protect from the sun, catch the breezes and provide comfort and enjoyment in and around the buildings.

Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
The Aga Khan Museum offers visitors a window into the artistic, intellectual, and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations to world heritage. It contains artwork and artifacts from the private collection of His Highness the Aga Khan.

Designed by Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki, the Museum, clad in white granite, opened in 2014. Maki imagined the building as a composition of a series of folded white surfaces that are in dialogue with the nearby Ismaili Centre, Toronto, designed by the late Indian architect Charles Correa who was a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury from 1993 to1998. The two buildings are united by the Aga Khan Park, designed by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic and includes a series of reflecting pools as well as landscaped gardens.

Past Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremonies have been held at France's Palace of Versailles and Grand Trianon; Tōdai-ji Buddist Temple in Nara, Japan; Prague Castle in the Czech Republic; Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan; the White House in Washington, D.C.; Beijing's Great Hall of the People; as well as at distinguished art institutions including The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Altes Museum in Berlin, Germany; and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Read Balkrishna Doshi's Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

2018 Announcement Video

Architectural Philosophy

Life In India

Ceremony Highlights

© The Hyatt Foundation / The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Balkrishna Doshi | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Balkrishna Doshi was born in Pune, India on August 26, 1927, into an extended Hindu family that had been involved in the furniture industry for two generations. Displaying an aptitude for art and an understanding of proportion at a young age, he was exposed to architecture by a school teacher.

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Refael Aranda, Carme Pigem y Ramón Vilalta - 2017

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Refael Aranda, Carme Pigem y Ramón Vilalta - 2017

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Rafael Aranda (1961), Carme Pigem (1962) and Ramon Vilalta (1960) completed their studies in architecture at the School of Architecture in Valles (Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura del Vallès, or ETSAV) in 1987, and founded their studio, RCR Arquitectes, in their native city of Olot, in the Spanish province of Girona, the following year.

They attribute their early success to a first prize victory in a 1988 competition sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism, in which they designed a lighthouse in Punta Aldea by pondering the essence of the typology, a fundamental approach that would resonate throughout all of their future works.

This achievement allowed them to explore their distinctive ideas of architecture, informed by place and their own sensitivities, resulting in winning commissions, many of which were undertaken in Catalonia. It is more recently that they have received international accolades and ventured beyond the Spanish borders with projects in other European countries.

Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta have participated in important exhibitions including the III Salon International de l'Architecture in Paris in 1990; the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016; MoMA's On-Site: New Architecture in Spain, New York, 2006; Global Ends at Toto Gallery MA in Tokyo, 2010; and RCR Arquitectes. Shared Creativity in Barcelona, 2015 and Madrid, 2016.

They are recipients of the National Award for Culture in Architecture 2005 granted by the Catalonian government; the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 2008 and 2014; Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architecture, 2010; International Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 2012; and awardees of the Gold Medal by the French Académie d'Architecture, 2015.

Since 1989, Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta have served as consultant architects to the Natural Park in the Volcanic Zone of La Garrotxa. They have taught urbanism, landscape architecture and design studio at ETSAV from 1989-2001, and individually served as critics for diploma project juries at ETSAV and Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona throughout the past two decades. In 2012, they established an international summer workshop at their studio based in the Barberí Laboratory.

They have been invited to give more than 200 lectures throughout Spain and in foreign cities, and their work has been published at great length in books including "RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes. Entre la abstracción y la naturaleza" by William J.R. Curtis, published by Gustavo Gili, Barcelona (2004); and journals, El Croquis, a+u, Casabella, Detail, Bauwelt, and Arquitectura Viva, among others.

In 2013 they established RCR BUNKA Foundation to support architecture, landscape, arts and culture throughout society.

Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta Receive the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize Landscape and architecture are united to create buildings that are intimately connected to place and time.
Chicago, IL (March 1, 2017)-Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta have been selected as the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

The three architects, originating from Olot, in the Catalonian region of Spain, have worked together collaboratively since founding their firm RCR Arquitectes, in their hometown in 1988. Their work demonstrates an unyielding commitment to place and its narrative, to create spaces that are in discourse with their respective contexts. Harmonizing materiality with transparency, Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta seek connections between the exterior and interior, resulting in emotional and experiential architecture.

Mr. Pritzker remarks: "The jury has selected three architects who have been working collaboratively for nearly three decades. Mr. Aranda, Ms. Pigem and Mr. Vilalta have had an impact on the discipline far beyond their immediate area. Their works range from public and private spaces to cultural venues and educational institutions, and their ability to intensely relate the environment specific to each site is a testament to their process and deep integrity."

Mr. Aranda, Ms. Pigem and Mr. Vilalta represent the first time that three architects together are honored with the prize. Their intensely collaborative way of working together, where the creative process, commitment to vision and all responsibilities are shared equally, led to the selection of the three individuals for this year's award. As the winners of the 39th edition of the Prize, it is the second time that laureates hail from Spain, following Rafael Moneo who received the award in 1996. In response to being named the 2017 Laureates of the Pritzker Prize, Ms. Pigem states: "It is a great joy and a great responsibility. We are thrilled that this year three professionals, who work closely together in everything we do, are recognized."

The locally-based architects evoke universal identity through their creative and extensive use of modern materials including recycled steel and plastic. "They've demonstrated that unity of a material can lend such incredible strength and simplicity to a building," says Glenn Murcutt, Jury Chair. "The collaboration of these three architects produces uncompromising architecture of a poetic level, representing timeless work that reflects great respect for the past, while projecting clarity that is of the present and the future." As such, an early 20th century foundry has become their office, Barberí Laboratory (2007), and many remnants of the original building have remained, blended with highly contrasting, new elements, which were added only where essential.

Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta, three architects who have worked closely together for almost 30 years in a deliberate and thoughtful approach to architecture, are recognized with the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Their works admirably and poetically fulfill the traditional requirements of architecture for physical and spatial beauty along with function and craftsmanship, but what sets them apart is their approach that creates buildings and places that are both local and universal at the same time. They established their office, called RCR for their three first names, in Olot, their hometown in the Catalonian region in the northeast of Spain, resisting the call of the metropolis in favor of remaining closely connected to their roots. The process they have developed is a true collaboration in which neither a part nor whole of a project can be attributed to one partner. Their creative approach is a constant intermingling of ideas and continuous dialogue.

All their works have a strong sense of place and are powerfully connected to the surrounding landscape. This connection comes from understanding-history, the natural topography, customs and cultures, among other things-and observing and experiencing light, shade, colors and the seasons. The siting of buildings, the choice of materials and the geometries used are always intended to highlight the natural conditions and pull them into the building. The Bell-Lloc Winery (2007), in the town of Palamós, near Girona, Spain, for example, a building embedded in the ground, is about the soil that produces the grapes, the cool dark cellars needed for the aging of wine and the color and weight of the earth. The extensive use of recycled steel fuses the building with the earth and the openings between the steel slats allow in hints of light.

The marquee (2011) creating an outdoor dining and event space at Les Cols Restaurant in Olot is another example of the fusion of landscape and minimal modern materials to create a useful and popular venue. Some have said that they are reminded of places for countryside meals with family and friends. The space fits into a valley carved out in the landscape by the architects. Strong walls of volcanic stone support a lightweight and transparent polymer roof to protect against rain and sun. The furniture and vertical hanging blinds that can sub-divide the space are also of clear plastic, which puts the emphasis on food, festivities and the natural setting.

In other works, such as their own office (2007), a former foundry built at the beginning of the 20th century, the juxtaposition of past and present is undertaken in a most thoughtful, clear and respectful way. Just as exterior and interior are closely intertwined in their works, so are new and old. All of the original industrial building that could remain, was left "as is." By adding new elements only where needed and in contrasting materials, the architects demonstrate their love for both tradition and innovation. The resulting building, which they call Barberí Laboratory, is comprised of varied, flexible and highly functional spaces. While Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta have a deep sense and knowledge of history, they use materials and modern construction to create spaces that could not have been created before.

Community is another word that comes to mind when speaking of the work of Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta. Both in the bright and colorful nursery school in Besalú, Girona, El Petit Comte Kindergarten (2010) and the Sant Antoni-Joan Oliver Library, Senior Citizens Center and Cándida Pérez Gardens in Barcelona (2007), those who will inhabit the buildings are at the forefront of their concerns. It is obvious when seeing the rainbow colors of the tubes that define the exterior of the school that this is for children's enjoyment, creativity and fantasy. The library, a commission won through a competition, as are many of RCR's projects, is situated within the fabric of an existing city block, is a needed amenity in this busy part of Barcelona. Visitors are welcomed into the library. The richness and variety of spaces invite exploration and are casual enough to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The library also acts as a gateway to an interior courtyard. The senior citizens center looks onto this space where children, library goers, neighbors and seniors can mingle.

State Guest House, Akasaka Palace, Tokyo, Japan
The State Guest House, also referred to as Geihinkan and formerly known as Akasaka Palace, was originally built as the palace for the Crown Prince in 1909.
Designed during the Japanese Meiji period and influenced by Western Neo-Baroque design, the palace features classic ornate French interiors with traditional Japanese motifs and craftwork. It was designated as a national treasure in 2009 and presently serves as an official accommodation and meeting venue for visiting Heads of State and international dignitaries.

Akasaka Palace is available to the public for limited view throughout the year.

Past Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremonies have been held at France's Palace of Versailles and Grand Trianon, Todai- ji Bhuddist Temple in Japan, Prague Castle in The Czech Republic, the White House in Washington, D.C., and Beijing's Great Hall of the People; as well as at distinguished art institutions including The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Altes Museum in Berlin, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Read Rafal Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Glenn Murcutt's Ceremony Speech Read Martha Thorne's Ceremony Speech

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Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem & Ramon Vilalta | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Rafael Aranda (1961), Carme Pigem (1962) and Ramon Vilalta (1960) completed their studies in architecture at the School of Architecture in Valles (Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura del Vallès, or ETSAV) in 1987, and founded their studio, RCR Arquitectes, in their native city of Olot, in the Spanish province of Girona, the following year.

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Alejandro Aravena was born on June 22, 1967, in Santiago, Chile. He graduated as an architect from the Universidad Católica de Chile in 1992. In 1994, he established his own practice, Alejandro Aravena Architects. Since 2001 he has been leading ELEMENTAL, a "Do Tank" focusing on projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure and transportation.

ELEMENTAL has built work in Chile, the United States, Mexico, China and Switzerland. After the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile, ELEMENTAL was called to work on the reconstruction of the city of Constitucion, Chile. Aravena's partners in ELEMENTAL are Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó and Diego Torres.

Alejandro Aravena is the Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016. He was a speaker at TEDGlobal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2014. He was a member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury from 2009 to 2015.

In 2010 he was named International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and identified as one of the 20 new heroes of the world by Monocle magazine. He is a Board Member of the Cities Program of the London School of Economics since 2011; Regional Advisory Board Member of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; Board Member of the Swiss Holcim Foundation since 2013; Foundational Member of the Chilean Public Policies Society; and Leader of the Helsinki Design Lab for SITRA, the Finnish Government Innovation Fund. He was one of the 100 personalities contributing to the Rio +20 Global Summit in 2012.

Aravena was a Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (2000 and 2005); and also taught at Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (2005), Architectural Association in London (1999), and London School of Economics. He has held the ELEMENTAL Copec Chair at Universidad Católica de Chile since 2006.

Author of Los Hechos de la Arquitectura ( Architectural Facts, 1999), El Lugar de la Arquitectura ( The Place in/of Architecture, 2002) and Material de Arquitectura ( Architecture Matters, 2003). His work has been published in more than 50 countries, Electa published the monograph Alejandro Aravena; progettare e costruire (Milan, 2007) and Toto published Alejandro Aravena; the Forces in Architecture (Tokyo, 2011). Hatje-Cantz published the first monograph dedicated to the social housing projects of ELEMENTAL: Incremental Housing and Participatory Design Manual (Berlin, 2012) launched at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia.

Alejandro Aravena of Chile receives the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize He practices architecture as an artful endeavor in private commissions and in designs for the public realm and epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect.
Chicago, IL (January 13, 2016) - Alejandro Aravena of Chile has been selected as the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Tom Pritzker announced today. Mr. Pritzker is Chairman and President of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize. The formal award ceremony for what has come to be known internationally as architecture's highest honor will be at United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 4, 2016.

The 48-year-old Aravena is an architect based in Santiago, Chile. He becomes the 41st laureate of the Pritzker Prize, the first Pritzker Laureate from Chile, and the fourth from Latin America, after Luis Barragán (1980), Oscar Niemeyer (1988), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

Mr. Pritzker said, "The jury has selected an architect who deepens our understanding of what is truly great design. Alejandro Aravena has pioneered a collaborative practice that produces powerful works of architecture and also addresses key challenges of the 21st century. His built work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space. Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people's lives."

Aravena has completed remarkable buildings at the esteemed Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, including the UC Innovation Center - Anacleto Angelini (2014), the Siamese Towers (2005), Medical School (2004), School of Architecture (2004), and the Mathematics School (1999). These energy-efficient buildings respond to the local climate with innovative, efficient facades and floor plans and offer the users natural light and convivial meeting places. Currently under construction in Shanghai, China, is an office building for healthcare company Novartis, with office spaces designed to accommodate different modes of work - individual, collective, formal and informal. In the United States, Aravena has built St. Edward's University Dorms (2008) in Austin, Texas.

Since 2001, Aravena has been executive director of the Santiago-based ELEMENTAL, a "Do Tank," as opposed to a think tank, whose partners are Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó, and Diego Torres. ELEMENTAL focuses on projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure, and transportation. ELEMENTAL has designed more than 2,500 units of low-cost social housing. A hallmark of the firm is a participatory design process in which the architects work closely with the public and end users. ELEMENTAL is also known for designing social housing that they call "half of a good house," in which the design leaves space for the residents to complete their houses themselves and thus raise themselves up to a middle-class standard of living. This innovative approach, called "incremental housing," allows for social housing to be built on more expensive land closer to economic opportunity and gives residents a sense of accomplishment and personal investment.

Alejandro Aravena is leading a new generation of architects that has a holistic understanding of the built environment and has clearly demonstrated the ability to connect social responsibility, economic demands, design of human habitat and the city. Few have risen to the demands of practicing architecture as an artful endeavor, as well as meeting today's social and economic challenges. Aravena, from his native Chile, has achieved both, and in doing so has meaningfully expanded the role of the architect.

Born in 1967, and practicing since 1994, Aravena has consistently pursued architecture with a clarity of vision and great skill. Undertaking several buildings for his alma mater, the Universidad Católica de Chile, including the Mathematics School (1998), Medical School (2001), the renovation of the School of Architecture (2004), Siamese Towers (2005) and more recently the UC Innovation Center-Anacleto Angelini (2014). Each building shows an understanding of how people will use the facility, the thoughtful and appropriate use of materials, and a commitment to creating public spaces to benefit the larger community. In the Angelini Innovation Center, the maturity of this architect is apparent. A powerful structure from a distance, it is remarkably humane and inviting. Through a reversal of convention, the building is an opaque concrete structure on the exterior and has a light filled glass atrium inside. With the mass of the building at the perimeter, the energy consumption is minimal. The interior has many places for spontaneous encounters and transparency that enables viewing activity throughout. Aravena has created a rich environment of lively, interesting and welcoming spaces.

Alejandro Aravena has delivered works of architectural excellence in private, public and educational commissions both in his home country and abroad, including the United States-a residence and dining hall at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas-and as far away as Shanghai, China for the pharmaceutical company Novartis. He has undertaken projects of different scales from single-family houses to large institutional buildings. In all his works, he approaches the task with a freshness and ability to start without any predetermined idea or form. He understands materials and construction, but also the importance of poetry and the power of architecture to communicate on many levels.

What really sets Aravena apart is his commitment to social housing. Since 2000 and the founding of ELEMENTAL, he and his collaborators have consistently realized works with clear social goals. Calling the company a "Do Tank," as opposed to a think tank, they have built more than 2,500 units using imaginative, flexible and direct architectural solutions for low cost social housing. The ELEMENTAL team participates in every phase of the complex process of providing dwellings for the underserved: engaging with politicians, lawyers, researchers, residents, local authorities, and builders, in order to obtain the best possible results for the benefit of the residents and society. An understanding of the importance of the aspirations of the inhabitants and their active participation and investment in a project, as well as good design, have contributed to the creation of new opportunities for those from underprivileged backgrounds. This inventive approach enlarges the traditional scope of the architect and transforms the professional into a universal figure with the aim of finding a truly collective solution for the built environment.

United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York, USA
The United Nations Headquarters complex in New York, overlooking the East River, has been the official headquarters of the United Nations (UN) since its completion in 1952. The principal organs of the UN have their seats there, including the General Assembly and Security Council. While located in New York City, the complex is technically extraterritorial and is under the sole administration of the UN. United Nations Headquarters is notable for its history, architecture, gardens, outdoor sculptures, and artworks from around the world.

From the UN-commissioned film " A Workshop for Peace ": In the years after World War II, the founders of the UN sought to build a headquarters "as a symbol of hope that a union of nations can come together in one place to make peace." Their goal was to design a headquarters that would express the vision of a future without war. Wallace K. Harrison (USA) was appointed chief architect with the title of Director of Planning. Assisting him was a Board of Design Consultants: Nikolai G. Bassov (Soviet Union); Gaston Brunfaut (Belgium); Ernest Cormier (Canada); Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier (France); Liang Seu-Cheng (China); Sven Markelius (Sweden); Oscar Niemeyer (Brazil); Sir Howard Robertson (United Kingdom); G. A. Soilleux (Australia); and Julio Vilamajo (Uruguay).

2016 Announcement Video

© 2016 The Hyatt Foundation / The Pritzker Architecture Prize

Thanks to ArchDaily, Spirit of Space, Cristobal Palma, and Gary Hustwit

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Ale­jan­dro Ara­ve­na | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Alejandro Aravena was born on June 22, 1967, in Santiago, Chile. He graduated as an architect from the Universidad Católica de Chile in 1992. In 1994, he established his own practice, Alejandro Aravena Architects. Since 2001 he has been leading ELEMENTAL, a "Do Tank" focusing on projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure and transportation.

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Shigeru Ban, 2014 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Louis Kahn asked the brick, "What do you want to become, brick?"

The brick answered, "I want to become an arch."

I think that Frei Otto was an architect who kept asking the "air" what it wanted to become.

He kept thinking about how to envelop "air" or "space" with the minimum of material and power.

He was still touching materials and drawing sketches until his last breath. His achievements, rather than just being his "works," have become the ''grammar'' of structural design, unnoticed, and we architects are only now realizing that we unconsciously base our designs on his grammar.

I am truly indebted to Frei Otto, for sharing his deep understanding and inventions in the field of architecture.

Zaha Hadid, 2004 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
The fluidity of Frei Otto's work is as uplifting as it was profoundly inventive - a persuasive manifesto of nature's logic and unity, demonstrating how architectural design and engineering can emulate nature's morphogenesis. The more our own design research evolves, the more we learn to appreciate his pioneering works. He will continue to influence architects and engineers for generations to come.

We first met in Germany early in my career and he became a dear friend. His research and exploration of tensile structures was inspirational and enlightening, and his Pritzker Prize is very well deserved. Our joy of this news is some consolation for the loss of a great friend, architect, inventor, educator and gentleman. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.

Frank Gehry, 1989 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Frei Otto forever changed the way we think about structure and building. Through his experiments in form-finding, Otto simultaneously affirmed and questioned the conventions of engineering as we knew it, and in the process showed us unprecedented solutions to age old problems - where others saw mass as the solution, he offered lightness. Like the ancients and others that came before him, he questioned the origins of our assumptions by going back to nature and figuring it out for himself. There he found systems, networks, and surfaces that exceeded all our imaginations. He found logic in complexity, and proceeded to translate the lessons he learned into efficiently realized constructions.

Otto was far ahead of his time in anticipating the issues that would confront the built landscape today: population density, transience, impermanence, energy demands, the growing scale of structures, etc. It is everyone's loss that we will not have his visionary contributions to the conversations of the day.

Thom Mayne, 2005 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
I was both very happy to hear yesterday of Frei Otto's Pritzker Prize recognition and profoundly saddened to learn of his passing.

For my generation of architects, Frei Otto was an altruistic revolutionary who produced works of immense intellect and beauty. His pioneering message of technology for the sake of society has become increasingly relevant as we move into this digital age.

His explorations into light, strong tensile systems were not merely technological pursuits; they were didactic of a larger social discourse of inclusion and egalitarianism.

Ultimately, under his visionary innovations, he initiated a new age of possibilities for architecture to offer intelligence, performance, hope, and optimism.

Renzo Piano, 1998 Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Frei Otto has been one of the most seminal people on my route to architecture.

By the clear determination to work on basic shelters for human communities.

And exploring the movement of forces within the structure to make it visible.

Celebrating lightness.

And fighting against gravity.

He succeeded in this and he will always be in my thoughts.

Wang Shu, 2012 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
As a pioneer of lightweight structures, Frei Otto was the architect that our generation researched when we were in college.

In fact, there are three kinds of architects today. The first kind are those who have been exploring in the areas of art and culture and trying to express this in architectural languages. The second and most common kind are those who have been focusing on urban problems and environment; architects in the past were rarely involved in urban planning, but now the number is steadily increasing. The third kind are like Frei Otto - they have been exploring and developing new technology. There are fewer and fewer architects of the third kind now.

Lightweight structure doesn't need a thick foundation; it uses less material and has an obvious advantage in environmental protection. Therefore, in modern times, many architects are interested in the research, including me.

In the modern architecture context in which commercial buildings get an increasingly dominant position, awarding the Pritzker Prize to Frei Otto may imply that architecture should return to its origin.

Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron, 2001 Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
We thought Frei Otto had been given the Pritzker Prize long ago! His work was very new and different in his time, a kind of optimistic modernism which is so dearly missing in today's eclectic earnestness! Frei Otto's work looks still fresh and inspiring!

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, 2010 Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
We are deeply saddened by the news of Frei Otto's passing.

He was an outstanding architect and a great visionary whose influence will last for many generations to come.

We are grateful for his generosity in educating, inspiring, and encouraging the rest of us.

Norman Foster, 1999 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
I was deeply saddened to hear that Frei Otto had passed away on Monday. On the occasion of his 80th birthday ten years ago I wrote the following tribute:

Frei Otto showed us that architecture need not be burdened by the weight of its own traditions, but could instead be free to express itself through simple but innovative sculptural forms - his was an architecture inspired by lightness. This sense of weightlessness, and of an architecture unbound by convention, was carried over into Frei's working relationships. Rather than working in isolation, he consistently advocated a freer role for the architect - whether this was as an educator, sharing his ideas with generations of students, or in practice, through valued joint projects with, or providing research support for, other architects and engineers. For me, he reinforced the point that architecture is a fundamentally collaborative exercise. His extraordinary structures altered the nature of architectural form in the twentieth century, and his environmentalism, intelligence and foresight have established the defining architectural mentality for the twenty-first. He was an inspiration.

Richard Meier, 1984 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Frei Otto was an architect of enormous talent and his creativity was all encompassing. In addition to his inventive work as an individual practitioner, he was an important associate to many in the field of architecture and engineering. His tremendous contributions will be appreciated and valued for a long, long time.

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Frei Otto | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Shigeru Ban, 2014 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Louis Kahn asked the brick, "What do you want to become, brick?" The brick answered, "I want to become an arch." I think that Frei Otto was an architect who kept asking the "air" what it wanted to become.

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Shigeru Ban was born in Tokyo on August 5, 1957. His father was a businessman at Toyota, and his mother is a women's clothing "haute couture" designer. Ban's father was very fond of classical music and made Ban learn the violin at a young age. His mother traveled to Europe every year for the fashion weeks in Paris and Milan, which roused Ban's longing to travel overseas. When Ban was young, carpenters were often hired to renovate the family home, a wooden house. Ban was fascinated by the traditional work of the carpenters, and he liked to pick pieces of wood to build things. Ban decided he wanted to become a carpenter.

Ban excelled at arts and crafts in primary school and junior high school. The model of a house he designed for an assignment during his 9th-grade summer holiday was displayed in his school as the best. He then decided that he wanted to become an architect. In parallel with this dream was his love of rugby. He had played rugby since the age of ten, and while in junior high school, was selected as a member of the junior Tokyo regional team that competed against the Korean national team. Ban hoped to attend Waseda University in order to pursuit both rugby and architecture. After learning of a drawing examination to enter that university, he spent every Sunday, starting in 10th grade, learning how to draw at a painter's atelier, and from the 11th grade, he went to a drawing school every day after his rugby training at school. Ban was selected as a regular member of his rugby team when he was in 11th grade and played on the national tournament; however, his team was defeated on the first round. He then decided to give up his plans to enter Waseda University, known for its strength in rugby, and go to Tokyo University of the Arts to focus on studying architecture. From the 12th grade, Ban joined the evening classes of a preparation school to enter the university. He learned structural modeling using paper, wood, and bamboo for the first time, and his exceptional ability quickly proved him to be peerless in this area. His teacher at the evening school was Tomoharu Makabe, a graduate from the architecture department of the Tokyo University of the Arts. One day, at Makabe's house, Ban came across an article on John Hejduk, the "paper architect" and then-dean of Cooper Union's School of Architecture in New York. Ban's encounter with the models and plans of these unbuilt buildings was revolutionary for him, and he decided to go to the United States and study architecture at Cooper Union.

In 1977, Ban traveled to California to study English. At that time, he discovered that Cooper Union did not accept students from abroad and only accepted students who transferred from other schools within the United States. Ban searched for a school from which he could transfer and decided to attend the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), which had just been founded and used an old renovated warehouse as the school building. Ban was fascinated by the exciting studio and the school environment. The famous architect and founder of the SCI-Arc, Raymond Kappe, interviewed him, and although Ban could not speak English well at the time, Kappe, impressed by Ban's portfolio, allowed him to enter the institute as a sophomore. Ban was very inspired by the series of Case Study Houses, which were influenced by traditional Japanese architecture. In 1980, after finishing the 4th year at SCI-Arc, Ban transferred to Cooper Union. All students transferring from other schools started at the sophomore level, and among Ban's classmates were his current partner in the New York office, Dean Maltz, and other notable architects such as Nanako Umemoto (Reiser + Umemoto), and Laurie Hawkinson (Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects). His teachers were Ricardo Scofidio, Tod Williams, Diana Agrest, Bernard Tschumi, Peter Eisenman and John Hejduk, among others. At the end of the fourth year, Ban took a year of absence from Cooper Union and worked at Arata Isozaki's office in Tokyo. Ban went back to Cooper Union and received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1984. After graduating, Ban accompanied the photographer Yukio Fukagawa on a trip to Europe, where he visited Alvar Aalto's architecture in Finland for the first time. Ban was stunned by how Aalto's architecture emphasized regional context and material.

Shigeru Ban, a Tokyo-born, 56-year-old architect with offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York, is rare in the field of architecture. He designs elegant, innovative work for private clients, and uses the same inventive and resourceful design approach for his extensive humanitarian efforts. For twenty years Ban has traveled to sites of natural and man-made disasters around the world, to work with local citizens, volunteers and students, to design and construct simple, dignified, low-cost, recyclable shelters and community buildings for the disaster victims.

Reached at his Paris office, Shigeru Ban said, "Receiving this prize is a great honor, and with it, I must be careful. I must continue to listen to the people I work for, in my private residential commissions and in my disaster relief work. I see this prize as encouragement for me to keep doing what I am doing - not to change what I am doing, but to grow."In all parts of his practice, Ban finds a wide variety of design solutions, often based around structure, materials, view, natural ventilation and light, and a drive to make comfortable places for the people who use them. From private residences and corporate headquarters, to museums, concert halls and other civic buildings, Ban is known for the originality, economy, and ingeniousness of his works, which do not rely on today's common high-tech solutions.

The Swiss media company Tamedia asked Ban to create pleasant spaces for their employees. He responded by designing a seven-story headquarters with the main structural system entirely in timber. The wooden beams interlock, requiring no metal joints.

For the Centre Pompidou-Metz, in France, Ban designed an airy, undulating latticework of wooden strips to form the roof, which covers the complex museum program underneath and creates an open and accessible public plaza.

To construct his disaster relief shelters, Ban often employs recyclable cardboard paper tubes for columns, walls and beams, as they are locally available; inexpensive; easy to transport, mount and dismantle; and they can be water- and fire-proofed, and recycled. He says that his Japanese upbringing helps account for his wish to waste no materials.

As a boy, Shigeru Ban observed traditional Japanese carpenters working at his parents' house and to him their tools, the construction, and the smells of wood were magic. He would save cast aside pieces of wood and build small models with them. He wanted to become a carpenter. But at age eleven, his teacher asked the class to design a simple house and Ban's was displayed in the school as the best. Since then, to be an architect was his dream.

Ban's humanitarian work began in response to the 1994 conflict in Rwanda, which threw millions of people into tragic living conditions. Ban proposed paper-tube shelters to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and they hired him as a consultant. After the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, he again donated his time and talent. There, Ban developed the "Paper Log House," for Vietnamese refugees in the area, with donated beer crates filled with sandbags for the foundation, he lined up the paper cardboard tubes vertically, to create the walls of the houses. Ban also designed "Paper Church," as a community center of paper tubes for the victims of Kobe. It was later disassembled and sent to Taiwan, and reconstructed there, in 2008.

Ban works with local victims, students, and other volunteers to get these disaster relief projects built. In 1995, he founded a non-governmental organization (NGO) called VAN: Voluntary Architects' Network. With VAN, following earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, and war, he has conducted this work in Japan, Turkey, India, Sri Lanka, China, Haiti, Italy, New Zealand, and currently, the Philippines.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo, said, "Shigeru Ban is a force of nature, which is entirely appropriate in the light of his voluntary work for the homeless and dispossessed in areas that have been devastated by natural disasters. But he also ticks the several boxes for qualification to the Architectural Pantheon - a profound knowledge of his subject with a particular emphasis on cutting-edge materials and technology; total curiosity and commitment; endless innovation; an infallible eye; an acute sensibility - to name but a few."

The citation from the Pritzker Prize jury underscores Ban's experimental approach to common materials such as paper tubes and shipping containers, his structural innovations, and creative use of unconventional materials such as bamboo, fabric, paper, and composites of recycled paper fiber and plastics.

The jury cites Naked House (2000) in Saitama, Japan, in which Ban clad the external walls in clear corrugated plastic and sections of white acrylic stretched internally across a timber frame. The layering of translucent panels evokes the glowing light of shoji screens. The client asked for no family member to be secluded, so the house consists of one unique large space, two-stories high, in which four personal rooms on casters can be moved about freely.

In Curtain Wall House (1995) in Tokyo, two-story-high white curtains along the perimeter of the house can be opened to let the outside flow in or closed to provide a cocoon-like setting. The 14-story Nicolas G. Hayek Center (2007) in Tokyo features tall glass shutters on the front and back facades that can be fully opened.

Since its establishment thirty-five years ago, the goal of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to recognize living architects for excellence in built work and who make a significant and consistent contribution to humanity.

Shigeru Ban, the 2014 laureate, reflects this spirit of the prize to the fullest. He is an outstanding architect who, for twenty years, has been responding with creativity and high quality design to extreme situations caused by devastating natural disasters. His buildings provide shelter, community centers, and spiritual places for those who have suffered tremendous loss and destruction. When tragedy strikes, he is often there from the beginning, as in Rwanda, Turkey, India, China, Italy, and Haiti, and his home country of Japan, among others.

His creative approach and innovation, especially related to building materials and structures, not merely good intentions, are present in all his works. Through excellent design, in response to pressing challenges, Shigeru Ban has expanded the role of the profession; he has made a place at the table for architects to participate in the dialogue with governments and public agencies, philanthropists, and the affected communities. His sense of responsibility and positive action to create architecture of quality to serve society´s needs, combined with his original approach to these humanitarian challenges, make this year´s winner an exemplary professional.

The recipient has an exceptionally wide-ranging career. Since founding his first office in Tokyo in 1985 and later expanding to New York and Paris, he has undertaken projects that range from minimal dwellings, experimental houses and housing, to museums, exhibition pavilions, conference and concert venues, and office buildings.

An underpinning uniting much of his built work is his experimental approach. He has expanded the architectural field regarding not only the problems and challenges he tackles, but also regarding the tools and techniques to deal with them. He is able to see in standard components and common materials, such as paper tubes, packing materials or shipping containers, opportunities to use them in new ways. He is especially known for his structural innovations and the creative use of unconventional materials like bamboo, fabric, paper, and composites of recycled paper fiber and plastics.

In Naked House, he was able to question the traditional notion of rooms and consequently domestic life, and simultaneously create a translucent, almost magical atmosphere. This was done with modest means: walls externally clad in clear corrugated plastic and sections of white acrylic stretched internally across a timber frame. This sophisticated layered composition of ordinary materials used in a natural and efficient way, provides comfort, efficient environmental performance and simultaneously a sensual quality of light.

His own studio, atop a terrace at the Pompidou Center in Paris for the six years he was working on the museum project for Metz, was built using cardboard tubes and a membrane covering the arched roof. He has also used transportation containers as ready-made elements in museum construction. His body of work is proof of his ability to add value through design. Further new conceptual and structural ideas were developed and can be seen in PC Pile House, House of Double Roof, Furniture House, Wall-less House, and Nine-Square Grid House.

Another theme that runs through his work is the spatial continuity between interior and exterior spaces. In Curtain Wall House, he uses tent-like movable curtains to easily link interior and exterior, yet provide privacy when needed. The fourteen-story Nicolas G. Hayek Center in Tokyo is covered with glass shutters on front and back facades that can be fully opened.

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
The Rijksmuseum, or "State Museum," is one of the most popular and highly regarded art museums of the world. It holds an outstanding collection of art, including masterpieces of Dutch art by Rembrandt and Vermeer. The collections are housed in an impressive building from 1885, designed by Dutch architect Pierre J.H. Cuypers, in the then-fashionable Dutch neo-Renaissance style, with elements of neo-Gothic.

The Rijksmuseum reopened in 2013 after ten years of renovation and restoration, to bring the building back to its former glory and take it into the 21st century. Spanish architects Cruz and Ortiz designed the restoration. After removing the many decades of additions and changes within each courtyard and the various galleries, the architects created a continuous plaza below ground for the museum, and kept a public passageway above so pedestrians and cyclists can easily pass through the building. The new design combines the grandeur that defines the Rijksmuseum, plus facilities such as an auditorium, museum café, a shop and, to preserve the art, climate-control and security features necessary for today's requirements.

Past Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremonies have been held at France's Palace of Versailles and Grand Trianon, Todai- ji Buddhist Temple in Japan, Prague Castle in The Czech Republic, the White House in Washington, D.C., and Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Some of the most beautiful museums in the United States have hosted the event, from Chicago's Art Institute to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum.
Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Lord Peter Palumbo's Ceremony Speech

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Shigeru Ban | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Shigeru Ban was born in Tokyo on August 5, 1957. His father was a businessman at Toyota, and his mother is a women's clothing "haute couture" designer. Ban's father was very fond of classical music and made Ban learn the violin at a young age.

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Toyo Ito was born on June 1, 1941 in Keijo (Seoul), Korea (Japanese). His father was a business man with a special interest in the early ceramic ware of the Yi Dynasty of Korea and Japanese style paintings. He also was a sports fan of baseball and golf. In 1943, Ito, his mother, and his two elder sisters moved back to Japan. Two years later, his father returned to Japan as well, and they all lived in his father's hometown of Shimosuwa-machi in Nagano Prefecture. His father died in 1953, when he was 12. After that the rest of family operated a miso (bean paste) making factory. At present, all but one sister who is three years older than Ito, have died.

Ito established his own architecture office in 1971, and the following year he married. His wife died in 2010. They had one daughter who is now 40 and is editing Vogue Nippon.

In his youth, Ito admits to not having a great interest in architecture. There were several early influences however. His grandfather was a lumber dealer, and his father liked to draw plans for his friends' houses. When Ito was a freshman in high school, his mother asked the early Modernist architect, Yoshinobu Ashihara, who had just returned to Japan from the U.S. where he worked at Marcel Breuer's office, to design their home in Tokyo.

He was in the third grade of junior high school when he moved to Tokyo and went to Hibiya High School. At the time, he never dreamed he would become an architect-his passion was baseball. It was while attending the University of Tokyo that architecture became his main interest. For his undergraduate diploma design, he submitted a proposal for the reconstruction of Ueno Park, which won the top prize of the University of Tokyo.

Toyo Ito began working in the firm of Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University's Department of Architecture in 1965. By 1971, he was ready to start his own studio in Tokyo, and named it Urban Robot (Urbot). In 1979, he changed the name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

He has received numerous international awards, including in 2010, the 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu; in 2006, The Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal; and in 2002, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for the 8th Venice Biennale International Exhibition. All of his honors are listed in the fact summary of this media kit. He has been a guest professor at the University of Tokyo, Columbia University, the University of California, Los Angeles, Kyoto University, Tama Art University, and in the spring semester of 2012, he hosted an overseas studio for Harvard's Graduate School of Design, the first in Asia.

His works have been the subject of museum exhibitions in England, Denmark, the United States, France, Italy, Chile, Taiwan, Belgium, and numerous cities in Japan. Publications by and about him have appeared in all of those countries and more. He holds Honorary Fellowships in the American Institute of Architects, Royal Institute of British Architects, the Architecture Institute of Japan, the Tokyo Society of Architects and Building Engineers, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

One of his first projects in 1971 was a home in a suburb of Tokyo. Called "Aluminum House," the structure consisted of wooden frame completely covered in aluminum. Most of his early works were residences. In 1976, he produced a home for his sister, who had recently lost her husband. The house was called "White U" and generated a great deal of interest in Ito's works. It was demolished in 1997. Of most of his work in the 1980's, Ito explains that he was seeking to erase conventional meaning from his works through minimalist tactics, developing lightness in architecture that resembles air and wind.

He calls the Sendai Mediatheque, completed in 2001 in Sendai City, Miyagi, Japan, one of the high points of his career. In the Phaidon book, Toyo Ito, he explains, "The Mediatheque differs from conventional public buildings in many ways. While the building principally functions as a library and art gallery, the administration has actively worked to relax divisions between diverse programs, removing fixed barriers between various media to progressively evoke an image of how cultural facilities should be from now on. This openness is the direct result of its simple structure, consisting of flat concrete slabs (which are honey-comb steel plates with concrete) penetrated by 13 tubes. Walls on each floor are kept to an absolute minimum, allowing the various functions to be freely distributed throughout the open areas between the tubes."

In delivering the Kenneth Kassler lecture at Princeton University in 2009, Ito explained his general thoughts on architecture:

"The natural world is extremely complicated and variable, and its systems are fluid - it is built on a fluid world. In contrast to this, architecture has always tried to establish a more stable system. To be very simplistic, one could say that the system of the grid was established in the twentieth century. This system became popular throughout the world, as it allowed a huge amount of architecture to be built in a short period of time.

Toyo Ito of Japan is the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Toyo Ito, a 71 year old architect whose architectural practice is based in Tokyo, Japan, will be the recipient of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize. It was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize. Ito is the sixth Japanese architect to become a Pritzker Laureate - the first five being the late Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, and the team of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010.

The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday, May 29. This marks the first time the ceremony has been held in Boston, and the location has particular significance because it was designed by another Pritzker Laureate, Ieoh Ming Pei who received the prize in 1983.

In making the announcement, Pritzker elaborated, "We are particularly pleased to be holding our ceremony at the Kennedy Library, and it is even more significant because the date is John F. Kennedy's birthday."

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which was founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. The laureates receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo, spoke from his home in the United Kingdom, quoting from the jury citation that focuses on the reasons for this year's choice: "Throughout his career, Toyo Ito has been able to produce a body of work that combines conceptual innovation with superbly executed buildings. Creating outstanding architecture for more than 40 years, he has successfully undertaken libraries, houses, parks, theaters, shops, office buildings and pavilions, each time seeking to extend the possibilities of architecture. A professional of unique talent, he is dedicated to the process of discovery that comes from seeing the opportunities that lie in each commission and each site."

Toyo Ito began working in the firm of Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University's Department of Architecture in 1965. In 1971, he founded his own studio in Tokyo, and named it Urban Robot (Urbot). In 1979, he changed the name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

He has received numerous international awards, including in 2010, the 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu; and in 2006, The Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal; and in 2002, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for 8th Venice Biennale International Exhibition. Calling him a "creator of timeless buildings," the Pritzker Jury cites Ito for "infusing his designs with a spiritual dimension and for the poetics that transcend all his works."

Toyo Ito made this comment in reaction to winning the prize: "Architecture is bound by various social constraints. I have been designing architecture bearing in mind that it would be possible to realize more comfortable spaces if we are freed from all the restrictions even for a little bit. However, when one building is completed, I become painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future.

"Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works," he concluded.

One of his first projects in 1971 was a home in a suburb of Tokyo. Called "Aluminum House," the structure consisted of wooden frame completely covered in aluminum. Most of his early works were residences. In 1976, he produced a home for his sister, who had recently lost her husband. The house was called "White U" and generated a great deal of interest in Ito's works. Of most of his work in the 1980's, Ito explains that he was seeking to erase conventional meaning from his works through minimalist tactics, developing lightness in architecture that resembles air and wind.

Throughout his career, Toyo Ito has been able to produce a body of work that combines conceptual innovation with superbly executed buildings. Creating outstanding architecture for more than 40 years, he has successfully undertaken libraries, houses, parks, theaters, shops, office buildings and pavilions, each time seeking to extend the possibilities of architecture. A professional of unique talent, he is dedicated to the process of discovery that comes from seeing the opportunities that lie in each commission and each site.

Whoever reviews Ito's works notices not only a variety of functional programs, but also a spectrum of architectural languages. He has gradually developed and perfected a personal architectural syntax, which combines structural and technical ingenuity with formal clarity. His forms do not comply with either a minimalist or a parametric approach. Different circumstances lead to different answers. From the outset, he developed works that were modern, using standard industrial materials and components for his lightweight structures, such as tubes, expanded meshes, perforated aluminum sheeting and permeable fabrics. His later expressive works have been formed using mostly reinforced concrete. In a truly extraordinary way, he is able to keep structure, space, setting, technology, and place on equal footing. Although the resulting buildings seem effortlessly in balance, they are the result of his deep knowledge of his craft and his ability to deal with all the aspects of architecture simultaneously. In spite of the complexity of his works, their high degree of synthesis means that his works attain a level of calmness that ultimately allows the inhabitants to freely develop their activities within them.

Innovative is a word often used to describe Toyo Ito's works. This is apparent in the temporary pavilion created in Bruges in 2002 and the TOD'S building in Tokyo in 2004 where the building skin also serves as structure. Innovation can also be demonstrated through his use of traditional materials in nonconventional ways, such as using concrete to create flowing organic forms as he did in the commercial development of VivoCity in Singapore. In addition, his buildings abound with new technological inventions, as can be seen in the Dome in Odate or the Tower of Winds of Yokohama. This innovation is only possible through Ito's process of carefully and objectively analyzing each situation before proposing a solution.

Ito has said that he strives for architecture that is fluid and not confined by what he considers to be the limitations of modern architecture. In the Sendai Mediatheque, 2000, he achieved this by structural tubes, which permitted new interior spatial qualities. In the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, the horizontal and vertical network of spaces creates opportunities for communication and connection. Seeking freedom from the rigidity of a grid, Ito is interested in relationships - between rooms, exterior and interior, and building and surroundings. Toyo Ito's work has drawn on inspiration from the principles of nature, as evidenced by the unity achieved between organic-like structures, surface and skin.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Boston, Massachusetts
The 115,000 square foot presidential library and museum sits in a 10-acre park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean to one side and the city of Boston the other. It consists of a nine-story, stark white, precast concrete tower, 125 feet high, which is contiguous to a glass-and-steel contemplation pavilion. The upper floors of the tower contain office, research, and document storage facilities. The lower floors house two elliptical-shaped 230-seat theaters, and an 18,000 square foot exhibition area. Designed by the fifth Pritzker Prize laureate I.M.Pei, the original building was completed in 1979. A waterfront addition for educational and cultural programming was completed in 1991 also by the firm.

Visitors descend into the exhibitions to learn of JFK's life and administrations. From this darkened area, they are guided into the light filled space-framed glass pavilion. The space contains only a giant American flag. All the focus is on the impressive panoramic views to the sky, sea and distant horizons.

The simple yet bold form of the library's stately structure rising at the end of the peninsula is characteristic of Pei's buildings in dialogue with their settings. The JFK Presidential Library is a strong architectural presence representing both memorial and monument.
Read Toyo Ito's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Lord Peter Palumbo's Ceremony Speech

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Toyo Ito | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Toyo Ito was born on June 1, 1941 in Keijo (Seoul), Korea (Japanese). His father was a business man with a special interest in the early ceramic ware of the Yi Dynasty of Korea and Japanese style paintings. He also was a sports fan of baseball and golf.

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Wang Shu, a 48 year old architect whose architectural practice is based in Hangzhou, The People's Republic of China, will be the recipient of the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be in Beijing on May 25.

In announcing the jury's choice, Pritzker elaborated, "The fact that an architect from China has been selected by the jury, represents a significant step in acknowledging the role that China will play in the development of architectural ideals. In addition, over the coming decades China's success at urbanization will be important to China and to the world. This urbanization, like urbanization around the world, needs to be in harmony with local needs and culture. China's unprecedented opportunities for urban planning and design will want to be in harmony with both its long and unique traditions of the past and with its future needs for sustainable development."

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which was founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. The laureates receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo, spoke from his home in the United Kingdom, quoting from the jury citation that focuses on the reasons for this year's choice: "The question of the proper relation of present to past is particularly timely, for the recent process of urbanization in China invites debate as to whether architecture should be anchored in tradition or should look only toward the future. As with any great architecture, Wang Shu´s work is able to transcend that debate, producing an architecture that is timeless, deeply rooted in its context and yet universal."

Wang earned his first degree in architecture at the Nanjing Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture in 1985. Three years later, he received his Masters Degree at the same institute. When he first graduated from school, he went to work for the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou undertaking research on the environment and architecture in relation to the renovation of old buildings. Nearly a year later, he was at work on his first architectural project-the design of a 3600 square meter Youth Center for the small town of Haining (near Hangzhou). It was completed in 1990.

For nearly all of the next ten years, he worked with craftsmen to gain experience at actual building and without the responsibility of design. In 1997, Wang Shu and his wife, Lu Wenyu, founded their professional practice in Hangzhou, naming it "Amateur Architecture Studio." He explains the name, "For myself, being an artisan or a craftsman, is an amateur or almost the same thing." His interpretation of the word is relatively close to one of the unabridged dictionary's definitions: "a person who engages in a study, sport or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons." In Wang Shu's interpretation, the word "pleasure" might well be replaced by "love of the work."

By the year 2000, he had completed his first major project, the Library of Wenzheng College at Suzhou University. In keeping with his philosophy of paying scrupulous attention to the environment, and with careful consideration of traditions of Suzhou gardening which suggests that buildings located between water and mountains should not be prominent, he designed the library with nearly half of the building underground. Also, four additional buildings are much smaller than the main body. In 2004, the library received the Architecture Arts Award of China.

His other major projects completed, all in China, include in 2005, the Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum and five scattered houses in Ningbo which received acknowledgment from the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction in the Asia Pacific. In that same city, he completed the Ningbo History Museum in 2008. In his native city of Hangzhou, he did the first phase of the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art in 2004, and then completed phase two of the same campus in 2007.

True to his methods of economy of materials, he salvaged over two million tiles from demolished traditional houses to cover the roofs of the campus buildings. That same year in Hangzhou, he built the Vertical Courtyard Apartments, consisting of six 26-story towers, which was nominated in 2008 for the German-based International High-Rise Award. Also finished in 2009 in Hangzhou, was the Exhibition Hall of the Imperial Street of Southern Song Dynasty. In 2006, he completed the Ceramic House in Jinhua.

Other international recognition includes the French Gold Medal from the Academy of Architecture in 2011. The year before, both he and his wife, Lu Wenyu, were awarded the German Schelling Architecture Prize.

Since 2000, Wang Shu has been the head of the Architecture Department of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, the institution where he did research on the environment and architecture when he first graduated from school. Last year, he became the first Chinese architect to hold the position of "Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor" at Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also a frequent visiting lecturer at many universities around the world, including in the United States: UCLA, Harvard, University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania. He has participated in a number of major international exhibitions in Venice, Hong Kong, Brussels, Berlin and Paris.

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Wang Shu | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Wang Shu, a 48 year old architect whose architectural practice is based in Hangzhou, The People's Republic of China, will be the recipient of the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize.

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Portuguese Architect Will Be Presented the 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize in Washington, D.C.

Eduardo Souto de Moura, a 58 year old architect from Portugal, is the jury's choice for the 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be in one of Washington, D.C.'s finest classical buildings, the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on June 2.

In announcing the jury's choice, Pritzker elaborated, "This marks the second time in the history of the prize that a Portuguese architect has been chosen. The first was in 1992 when Alvaro Siza was so honored."

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which was founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. The laureates receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo, spoke from his home in the United Kingdom, quoting from the jury citation that focuses on the reasons for this year's choice: "During the past three decades, Eduardo Souto de Moura has produced a body of work that is of our time but also carries echoes of architectural traditions." And further, "His buildings have a unique ability to convey seemingly conflicting characteristics-power and modesty, bravado and subtlety, bold public authority and a sense of intimacy-at the same time."

As a student, Souto de Moura worked for Alvaro Siza for five years. Since forming his own office in 1980, Souto de Moura has completed well over sixty projects, most in his native Portugal, but he has designs in Spain, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom and Switzerland. The projects include single family homes, a cinema, shopping centers, hotels, apartments, offices, art galleries and museums, schools, sports facilities and subways.

His stadium in Braga, Portugal was the site of European soccer championships when it was completed in 2004, and gained high praise. Nearly a million and a half cubic yards of granite were blasted from the site and crushed to make concrete for the stadium. Precise explosions of a mountain side created a hundred foot high granite face that terminates one end of the stadium. Souto de Moura describes this coexistence of the natural with the man made construction as good architecture. In his own words, "It was a drama to break down the mountain and make concrete from the stone." The jury citation calls this work, "...muscular, monumental and very much at home within its powerful landscape."

Another of his projects, the Burgo Tower, completed in 2007, constructed in the city where he lives and works, Porto, Portugal, is described by the jury as, "...two buildings side by side, one vertical and one horizontal with different scales, in dialogue with each other and the urban landscape." Souto de Moura commented that "a twenty story office tower is an unusual project for me. I began my career building single family houses."

Souto de Moura has designed numerous residences, one of which, House Number Two built in the town of Bom Jesus, was singled out by the jury for its "uncommon richness throughout the subtle banding in the concrete of its exterior walls." Souto de Moura's comments on the project: "Because the site was a fairly steep hill overlooking the city of Braga, we decided not to produce a large volume resting on a hilltop. Instead, we made the construction on five terraces with retainer walls, with a different function defined for each terrace-- fruit trees on the lowest level, a swimming pool on the next, the main parts of the house on the next, bedrooms on the fourth, and on the top, we planted a forest."

Another project in his native city, Porto, is the Cultural Center completed in 1991, which the jury describes as "a testament to his ability to combine materials expressively." He used copper, stone, concrete and wood.

A convent and monastery in a mountainous terrain near Amares, Portugal, called Santa Maria do Bouro was a project for Souto de Moura from 1989 to 1997, in which he converted the centuries old structure into a state inn. He recalls the walls were over four feet thick. Originally built in the 12th century, the jury declares in their citation that Souto de Moura "has created spaces that are both consistent with their history and modern in conception."

Souto de Moura, in describing another of his projects, has said, "After the painter Paula Rego chose me as her architect, I was lucky to be able to choose the site. It was a fenced off forest with some open space in the middle. On the basis of the elevation of the trees, I proposed a set of volumes of varying heights. Developing this play between the artificial and nature helped define the exterior color, red concrete, a color in opposition to the green forest. Two large pyramids along the entrance axis prevent the project from being a neutral sum of boxes." The Paula Rego Museum completed in 2008, is cited by the jury as "both civic and intimate, and so appropriate for the display of art."

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Eduardo Souto de Moura | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Portuguese Architect Will Be Presented the 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize in Washington, D.C. Eduardo Souto de Moura, a 58 year old architect from Portugal, is the jury's choice for the 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize.

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In 1995, Kazuyo Sejima (born in 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (born in 1966) founded SANAA, the Tokyo architecture studio that has designed innovative buildings in Japan and around the world. Examples of their, groundbreaking work include, among others, the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland; the Toledo Museum of Art's Glass Pavilion in Toledo, Ohio; the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, NY: the Serpentine Pavilion in London; the Christian Dior Building in Omotesando in Tokyo; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa. The latter won the Golden Lion in 2004 for the most significant work in the Ninth International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

Born in Japan's prefecture of Ibaraki (northeast of Tokyo), Kazuyo Sejima received a degree in architecture at the Japan Women's University. Upon completion of her studies, she began working in the office of architect Toyo Ito. In 1987, she opened her own studio in Tokyo, and in 1992, she was named the Japan Institute of Architects' Young Architect of the Year in Japan. Kazuyo Sejima has taught at Princeton University, the Polytechnique de Lausanne, Tama Art University, and Keio University.

Architectural Partners in Japan Become the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, partners in the architectural firm, SANAA, have been chosen as the 2010 Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be held on May 17 on historic Ellis Island in New York. At that time, a $100,000 grant and bronze medallions will be bestowed on the two architects.

In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, elaborated, "This marks the third time in the history of the prize that two architects have been named in the same year. The first was in 1988 when Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil and the late Gordon Bunshaft were so honored, and the second was in 2001, when Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, partners in a Swiss firm, were selected."

He continued, "Japanese architects have been chosen three times in the thirty year history of the Pritzker Architecture Prize-the first was the late Kenzo Tange in 1987, then in 1993, Fumihiko Maki was selected, and in 1995, Tadao Ando was the honoree."

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo quoted from the jury citation to focus on this year's selection: "For architecture that is simultaneously delicate and powerful, precise and fluid, ingenious but not overly or overtly clever; for the creation of buildings that successfully interact with their contexts and the activities they contain, creating a sense of fullness and experiential richness; for a singular architectural language that springs from a collaborative process that is both unique and inspirational; for their notable completed buildings and the promise of new projects together, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa are the recipients of the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize."

While most of their work is in Japan, Sejima and Nishizawa have designed projects in Germany, England, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, under their combined name SANAA. The first SANAA project in the United States began construction in 2004 in Ohio-a Glass Pavilion for the Toledo Museum of Art. Completed in 2006, it houses the museum's vast collection of glass artworks, reflecting the city's history when it was a major center of glass production.

While that building was still under construction, the New Museum of New York City broke ground in 2005 at 235 Bowery. Completed in 2007, the building has been described as "a sculptural stack of rectilinear boxes dynamically shifted off-axis around a central steel core."

The jury citation specifically mentions these projects as well as two projects in Japan: "the O-Museum in Nagano and the 21st Century Muscum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa." The Ogasawara Museum was one of their first projects together.

The De Kunstline Theater and Cultural Center in Almere, the Netherlands, and a more recent Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland are also major projects of SANAA. Other works in Japan include the Naoshima Ferry Terminal and the Christian Dior Building in Tokyo.

In Essen, Germany, in 2006, the Zollverein School of Management and Design was inaugurated in a new building designed by SANAA on an historical coal mining site. The building is described as an oversized cube (approximately 114 feet in each dimension) with an unusual arrangement of openings and windows of four different sizes.

The Serpentine Pavilion in London, their first built project in the United Kingdom, was in place for three months on the gallery's lawn-the ninth such commission in the Serpentine's series of pavilions. In France, a branch of the Louvre Museum in Lens will comprise some 300,000 square feet of construction.

For more than 15 years, architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have worked together in their collaborative partnership, SANAA, where it is virtually impossible to untangle which individual is responsible for what aspect of a particular project. Each building is ultimately a work that comes from the union of their two minds. Together they have produced major commissions, such as the O-Museum in Nagano and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (both in Japan), the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum (Ohio), De Kunstline Theater and Cultural Center (Almere, the Netherlands), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York, NY), and the recent Rolex Learning Center (Lausanne, Switzerland).

The buildings by Sejima and Nishizawa seem deceptively simple. The architects hold a vision of a building as a seamless whole, where the physical presence retreats and forms a sensuous background for people, objects, activities, and landscapes. They explore like few others the phenomenal properties of continuous space, lightness, transparency, and materiality to create a subtle synthesis. Sejima and Nishizawa's architecture stands in direct contrast with the bombastic and rhetorical. Instead, they seek the essential qualities of architecture that result in a much-appreciated straightforwardness, economy of means, and restraint in their work.

This economy of means, however, does not become a simple reductive operation in the architects' hands. Instead, it is an intense and rigorous investigation anchored in hard work and steely determination. It is a constant process of refinement, where each client's program is fully investigated and multiple design possibilities are explored through numerous drawings and models that check every alternative. Ideas are considered and discarded, reconsidered and reworked until only the essential qualities of a design remain. The result is a deft union of structure and organization, of logical purpose and precise beauty.

It may be tempting to view Sejima and Nishizawa's refined compositions of lightness and transparency as elitist or rarefied. Their aesthetic, however, is one of inclusion. Their approach is fresh, always offering new possibilities within the normal constraints of an architectural project as it systematically takes the next step. They use common, everyday materials while remaining attuned to the possibilities of contemporary technology; their understanding of space does not reproduce conventional models. They often opt for non-hierarchical spaces, or in their own words, the "equivalence of spaces," creating unpretentious, democratic buildings according to the task and budget at hand. One example is the Almere project in the Netherlands, with its many simple classrooms and workshops, all presenting privileged views of the sea. Another example is the Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne, a space to be used by students day and night. Sejima and Nishizawa originally conceived it as a multi-story building, but, in the course of their deliberation, it became a single yet vast, flowing space. The building's many spaces (library, restaurant, exhibition areas, offices, etc.) are differentiated not by walls but by undulations of a continuous floor, which rises and falls to accommodate the different uses, while allowing vistas across this internal "landscape for people."

Ellis Island
The recorded history of Ellis Island dates back to the 1600s when it was called Gull Island and only about 2½ acres in size. At various times, it has served as a fort, munitions deport, and detention center, but it is most famous for its role as a port of entry for 12 million U.S. immigrants. The 27-acre landmass we see today, with its main reception building and other support facilities, has its roots in the early 20th century.

In 1897 after the first immigration facilities burned down, an architectural competition was held between five firms, including McKim Mead and White, to create a new and more complete immigration center. New York firm Boring and Tilton designed the winning entry. The architects, who trained in the U.S. and Paris, proposed a main reception building in a French Renaissance style, along with other buildings for a kitchen, laundry, and hospital. They also took into account the landscape plan, calling for the creation of a new island to the south, a ferry slip, and extensive ornamental plantings laid out in a Beaux Arts style.

A year later, The New York Times magazine announced the ideas for the new building: "The immigration station on Ellis Island ... will be a palace 386 feet in length and 162 feet in width, with towers rising to the height of 120 feet at their apexes of gilded copper, and entrance arches 40 feet to the keystone. Owing to the tides, the first floor will be eight feet above the present level of the island, so that on calm days the structure will mirror itself on the smooth waters of the bay. The main body of the building will be of red brick, the corners of the towers and buildings and the framework of the windows will be a broad ashlar of gray limestone, while the roofs will be of green copper." The most impressive room in the building was the registry room, which went into service in 1900. It measured 200 feet by 100 feet and had a grand, 56-foot vaulted ceiling. In 1905-06 a third island, measuring five acres in size, was created.

In 1954, Immigration Services closed Ellis Island. In 1965, the Island was declared part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and was opened to the public on a limited basis until 1984. During the past 30 years, Ellis Island has undergone major architectural and engineering efforts funded by both public and private entities, and today the main reception building is the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. This May, the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony and dinner will take place at this significant and historic site.
Read Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Lord Peter Palumbo's Ceremony Speech Read Martha Thorne's Ceremony Speech

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Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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In 1995, Kazuyo Sejima (born in 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (born in 1966) founded SANAA, the Tokyo architecture studio that has designed innovative buildings in Japan and around the world.

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Peter Zumthor | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Peter Zumthor was born on April 26, 1943, the son of a cabinet maker, Oscar Zumthor, in Basel, Switzerland. He trained as a cabinet maker from 1958 to 1962. From 1963-67, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vorkurs and Fachklasse with further studies in design at Pratt Institute in New York.

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"Since the beginning of his architectural career in the 1970s, Frenchman Jean Nouvel has broken the aesthetic of modernism and post-modernism to create a stylistic language all his own. He places enormous importance on designing a building harmonious with its surroundings," said Bill Lacy in his book, One Hundred Contemporary Architects. Lacy, who was executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize from 1988 until 2005 when he retired, continued, "In the end that building's design may borrow from traditional and non-traditional forms, but its presentation is entirely unique."

Jean Nouvel's projects transform the landscapes in which they are built, often becoming major urban events in their own right. His unique approach, driven by the specificities of context, program, and site has proven effective in numerous successes around the world.

One such success, a building that first brought Nouvel international recognition is the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris where one of its facades is made entirely of mechanical oculi operated by photoelectric cells that automatically open and close in response to light levels. The French critic, Alain de Gourcuff, said of it, "The overall effect is at once highly decorative in a Middle Eastern way and projects state-of-the-art electronics."

Commissioned in 1981 as one of the first Grand Projects initiated by President Francois Mitterand, IMA was completed in 1987 and consists of a museum, a library, temporary exhibit spaces, children's workshops, a documentation center, an auditorium and a rooftop restaurant. A+U described the building as "a modern western building that pays tribute to Arabic culture."

The Arab World Institute is just one of more than two hundred projects by Jean Nouvel that the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury has singled out in its formal citation.

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota is another of the projects mentioned in the citation. The Pritzker Jury says of the Guthrie, "The iconic Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota both merges and contrasts with its surroundings. It is responsive to the city and the nearby Mississippi River, and yet, it is also an expression of theatricality and the magical world of performance."

That "theatricality" is no accident. Nouvel has often compared his role as architect to that of the film director. In an interview published in El Croquis in 2002, he said, "Everything is theatrical. I have worked for a long time as a scenographer, even on social housing ... scenography is the relationship between objects and matter that we want to display to somebody who is watching. In effect, in every building there is a way of proving a three-hundred-and-sixty degree view over the landscape, as in Lucerne. The use of the word scenography doesn't bother me as long as it is used in the right sense." In other interviews, he has often said that architecture and the cinema are very close.

"Architecture exists, like cinema, in a dimension of time and movement. One thinks, conceives and reads a building in terms of sequences. To erect a building is to predict and seek effects of contrast and linkage bound up with the succession of spaces through which one passes," Nouvel explains.

The reference to Lucerne is to his Cultural and Conference Center completed in 2000 in that Swiss city. Nouvel has described it as "an example of the principle of framing the landscape. It is a building on an exceptional site, by the lake, facing the town. The entire town can be seen from the foyer."

The Lucerne Cultural and Conference Center along with the Cartier Foundation in Paris are two more of Nouvel's completed projects that the Pritzker Jury mentions in their citation as making "dematerialization palpable." The citation calls attention to Nouvel's Endless Tower, a 400-meter-high structure for Paris intended to be the tallest building in Europe. For the jury, that project's importance was "the building's skin, which changed materials as it progressed upward-from granite to aluminum to stainless steel to glass-becoming increasingly diaphanous before disappearing into the sky."

Although that tower has never been realized, Nouvel has a project underway in New York City, a mixed use tower next door to the Museum of Modern Art, called Tour de Verre. It was also recently announced that he has designed a high-rise condominium, Suncal Tower, for the Century City area of Los Angeles.

Jean Nouvel of France Becomes the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Jean Nouvel of Paris, France has been chosen as the 2008 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be held on June 2 in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion will be bestowed on the 62-year old architect.

Nouvel who came to international attention with the completion of his Institut du Monde Arabe (usually referred to as IMA) in 1987 as one of President Francois Mitterand's Grands Travaux in Paris, now has several projects in the United States, including the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis completed in 2006, a 75-story tower ( Tour Verre) next door to MOMA in New York, and recently announced plans for a high rise condominium (Suncal Tower) in the Century City district of Los Angeles. In Europe, some of his other important works are the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art (Paris 1994), the Branly Museum (Paris 2006), the Agbar Tower (Barcelona 2005), a Courthouse (Nantes 2000), a Cultural and Conference Center (Lucerne 2000), an Opera House (Lyon 1993), and Expo 2002 (Switzerland). Also currently under construction is a concert hall in Copenhagen.

Although the bulk of his work is in France, he has designed projects all over the world, including Japan, Spain, England, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Korea, Mexico, Israel, Brazil, Qatar, Lebanon, Cyprus, Iceland, UAE, Taiwan, Malaysia, Portugal, Kuwait, Morocco, Russia and the U.S.-well over two hundred in all.

In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, quoted from the jury citation, "Of the many phrases that might be used to describe the career of architect Jean Nouvel, foremost are those that emphasize his courageous pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field." And further, Pritzker added, "The jury acknowledged the 'persistence, imagination, exuberance, and, above all, an insatiable urge for creative experimentation' as qualities abundant in Nouvel's work."

Of the many phrases that might be used to describe the career of architect Jean Nouvel, foremost are those that emphasize his courageous pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field. For over 30 years, Jean Nouvel has pushed architecture's discourse and praxis to new limits. His inquisitive and agile mind propels him to take risks in each of his projects, which, regardless of varying degrees of success, have greatly expanded the vocabulary of contemporary architecture.

Since establishing his Paris-based practice in the 1970s, Nouvel has pushed himself, as well as those around him, to consider new approaches to conventional architectural problems. He is not interested in a unified approach or accepted typologies. He likes ruptures of scale and form that move the viewer from one aesthetic sensibility to another. "I am glad if a project can be ten thousand projects simultaneously," Nouvel has said.

The manipulation of light and of layers of transparency and opacity are recurring themes in Nouvel's work. His Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute), built in Paris 1987, was designed with adjustable metal lenses embedded in its south-facing glass façade to control light to the interior, a modern twist on traditional Arab latticework. His Tour Sans Fins (Endless Tower) was selected as the winning entry of a 1989 competition to construct a skyscraper in the La Defense area near Paris. More important than the height of the proposed 400-meter high structure, intended, at the time, to be the tallest tower in Europe, was the building's skin, which changed materials as it progressed upward-from granite to aluminum to stainless steel to glass-becoming increasingly diaphanous before disappearing into the sky. Here, as with the KKL Luzern (Cultural and Conference Center) of 2000 in Lucerne and the Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain (Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art) of 1994 in Paris, dematerialization is made palpable.

For Nouvel, in architecture there is no "style" a priori. Rather, context, interpreted in the broadest sense to include culture, location, program, and client, provokes him to develop a different strategy for each project. The iconic Guthrie Theater (2006) in Minneapolis, Minnesota both merges and contrasts with its surroundings. It is responsive to the city and the nearby Mississippi River, and yet, it is also an expression of theatricality and the magical world of performance.

The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
The Library of Congress building, today known as the Thomas Jefferson Building, was opened in 1897 and touted as "the largest, the costliest, and the safest" library building in the world and a national temple to the arts.

In response to the rapid and substantial growth of the holdings and mission of the Library, a competition for the design of a new Library building was held in 1873. After many proposals and much controversy, construction of a new Library building was authorized in 1886, using designs inspired by the Italian Renaiassance prepared by Washington architects John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz. Others later involved in the design and construction included General Thomas Lincoln Casey, chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, his chief assistant Bernard R. Green, and beginning in 1892, his son, Edward Pearce Casey, who supervised the interior work and its elaborate decoration.

Striking architectural features of this Beaux-Arts building include the double staircase rising to the arcaded entrance, the pairs of giant columns supporting the portico, and the dome of copper crowning the building. The scale of the Library matched that of the largest libraries in Europe of its time.

The 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize used the Great Hall for much of the celebration. This space, constructed of white Italian marble, rises 75 feet high. Two grand staircases flank the hall and lead to the upper level where the dinner was held. The colorful interior decoration, undertaken by numerous American painters and sculptors, is akin to the ornate and classically inspired decoration used at the "Great White City"-the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago.
Read Jean Nouvel's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Lord Peter Palumbo's Ceremony Speech Read Martha Thorne's Ceremony Speech

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Jean Nouvel | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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"Since the beginning of his architectural career in the 1970s, Frenchman Jean Nouvel has broken the aesthetic of modernism and post-modernism to create a stylistic language all his own. He places enormous importance on designing a building harmonious with its surroundings," said Bill Lacy in his book, One Hundred Contemporary Architects.

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Richard Rogers (1933-2021) is best known for such pioneering buildings as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the headquarters for Lloyd's of London, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Millennium Dome in London. His practice-Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP)-was founded in 1977, and has offices in London, Barcelona, Madrid and Tokyo. RSHP has designed two major airport projects -Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport and the New Area Terminal at Madrid Barajas Airport, as well as high-rise office projects in London, a new law court complex in Antwerp, the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff, and a hotel and conference centre in Barcelona. The practice also has a wealth of experience in urban masterplanning with major schemes in London, Lisbon, Berlin, New York and Seoul.

Richard Rogers led an extraordinary life, from the time of his birth in Florence, Italy on July 23, 1933 to being named The Lord Rogers of Riverside in 1996, to being chosen as the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

At the time of Richard Rogers' birth, his father, William Nino Rogers, was a medical student. The latter was the grandson of an English dentist who had settled in Italy. Richard's mother was from Trieste. Her father had studied architecture and engineering, but had given up his practice in favor of an executive position with an insurance company. A cousin of Richard's father, Ernesto Rogers, was one of Italy's prominent architects, and a contributing editor to Domus and Casabella, that country's leading architectural magazines. Richard's mother had great interest in modern design and encouraged her son's interest in the visual arts. That interest was fulfilled when Rogers served as Chairman of the Tate Gallery and as Deputy Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He is also a Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

With war in Europe looming, in 1938, the Rogers family moved back to England where Richard soon entered the public school system, but never did very well, the reason being that he was dyslexic, not diagnosed until many years later. By the time he finished his secondary education in 1951, his family was pointing him in the direction of a possible dentistry career, but a lack of qualifications ended that possibility. In that same year, the Festival of Britain took place and brought the first officially sanctioned modern architecture to the country. Some of the fantastic temporary buildings along the South Bank sparked an interest in Richard Rogers, but National Service was the only thing in his future for the next two years. But before that, he would make a hitchhiking trip to Venice with one of his school friends. His friend precipitated a minor riot which resulted in their arrest. Fortunately, his family connections in Italy brought about release and eventually a full pardon. But that was just one of many adventures in Italy in his student days.

By the time he finished his military service, with some of that time spent in Trieste and getting to know Ernesto and his work, he had definitely decided on attending the Architectural Association, or AA as it is more popularly known. In 1959, he won the Fifth Year Prize for a school project.

In 1960, he married Susan (Su) Brumwell, daughter of Marcus and Rene Brumwell. Her father was head of the Design Research Unit (DRU), which had been formed in 1943. DRU had been a moving force in the Festival of Britain.

In 1961, the young married couple went to the United States where Richard would pursue a master's degree in architecture at Yale on a Fulbright Scholarship, and his wife, Su, would study urban planning.

Their first home in the U.S. was with some friends of Su's parents, sculptor Naum Gabo and his wife. The head of the Yale school of architecture was Paul Rudolph, and one of Richard's fellow students was Norman Foster. The late James Stirling was also one of his teachers.

It was at Yale that Rogers developed an interest in the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, Rogers has said, "Wright was my first god." While in America, Rogers, Su, Foster and another American student made a number of trips across the continent seeing as many of Wright's buildings as possible, and a number of other works as well, including Mies van der Rohe and Louis Kahn. When they finished at Yale, a trip to California resulted in a job at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and visits to works by Rudolph Schindler, Pierre Koenig, Craig Ellwood, Raphael Soriano and Charles and Ray Eames.

Richard Rogers of the UK Becomes the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Richard Rogers, whose firm Richard Rogers Partnership is headquartered in London, has been chosen as the 2007 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be held on June 4 in London. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion will be bestowed on the 73-year old architect at The Banqueting House, designed in 1619 by Inigo Jones.

In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, quoted from the jury citation, "Born in Florence, Italy, and trained as an architect in London, at the Architectural Association, and later, in the United States at Yale University, Rogers has an outlook as urbane and expansive as his upbringing. In his writings, through his role as advisor to policy making groups, as well as his large-scale planning work, Rogers is a champion of urban life and believes in the potential of the city to be a catalyst for social change."

In Rogers' own words, his vision is that cities of the future "will no longer be zoned as today in isolated one-activity ghettos; rather they will resemble the more richly layered cities of the past. Living, work, shopping, learning, and leisure will overlap and be housed in continuous, varied and changing structures."

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, Lord Palumbo elaborated with more of the citation: "Throughout his distinguished career of more than forty years, Richard Rogers has consistently pursued the highest goals for architecture. Key Rogers projects already represent defining moments in the history of contemporary architecture. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1971-1977), designed in partnership with Renzo Piano, revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city. Lloyd's of London in the City of London (1978-1986), another landmark of late twentieth century design, established Richard Rogers' reputation as a master not only of the large urban building, but also of his own brand of architectural expressionism. As these buildings and other subsequent projects, such as the recently completed and acclaimed Terminal 4, Barajas Airport in Madrid (1997- 2005) demonstrate, a unique interpretation of the Modern Movement's fascination with the building as machine, an interest in architectural clarity and transparency, the integration of public and private spaces, and a commitment to flexible floor plans that respond to the ever-changing demands of users, are recurring themes in his work." Terminal 4, Barajas Airport won the 2006 Stirling Prize.

Throughout his distinguished career of more than forty years, Richard Rogers, The Lord Rogers of Riverside, has consistently pursued the highest goals for architecture.

Key Rogers projects already represent defining moments in the history of contemporary architecture. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1971-1977), designed in partnership with Renzo Piano, revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city. Lloyd's of London in the City of London (1978-1986), another landmark of late twentieth century design, established Richard Rogers' reputation as a master not only of the large urban building, but also of his own brand of architectural expressionism. As these buildings and other subsequent projects, such as the recently completed and acclaimed Terminal 4, Barajas Airport in Madrid (1997-2005) demonstrate, a unique interpretation of the Modern Movement's fascination with the building as machine, an interest in architectural clarity and transparency, the integration of public and private spaces, and a commitment to flexible floor plans that respond to the ever-changing demands of users, are recurring themes in his work. Rogers' buildings span numerous types, scales, and continents. All of his projects, however, are united by a formal rigor as well as a commitment to the user. Over the years, he has collaborated with a range of associates on projects large and small, though his steady hand remains evident in each.

Rogers combines his love of architecture with a profound knowledge of building materials and techniques. His fascination with technology is not merely for artistic effect, but more importantly, it is a clear echo of a building's program and a means to make architecture more productive for those it serves. His championing of energy efficiency and sustainability has had a lasting effect on the profession.

Born in Florence, Italy, and trained as an architect in London, at the Architectural Association and, later, in the United States at Yale University, Rogers has an outlook as urbane and expansive as his upbringing. In his writings, through his role as advisor to policy-making groups, as well as his large-scale planning work, Rogers is a champion of urban life and believes in the potential of the city to be a catalyst for social change.

The Banqueting House, London, England
Originally part of the expansive Palace of Whitehall, the Banqueting Hall was designed by Inigo Jones in 1619 and completed in 1622. It was to replace a previous one destroyed by fire. For the overall building design, Architect Jones followed the principles of classical architecture of Rome and the Renaissance ideas of Palladio. The somber, stone Banqueting House formed a startling contrast to brightly painted Tudor buildings that surrounded it. Perhaps because of this or its association with masques (a popular form of court entertainment combining elements of a costume ball and theater), its architecture failed to attract much admiration in its day.

The fine proportions of the building are evident on the exterior and interior. The exterior elevation has three levels: a rusticated base; a first story with a series of windows crowned by alternating segmental and triangular pediments separated by Ionic columns, and pilasters that; and a second story with Corinthian columns and pilasters that correspond to those below, as do the windows and with a garland swag tying the capitals together beneath the flat balustraded roof. The Banqueting Hall underwent its most complete restoration in 1829 under Sir John Soane, and the uniform Portland stone on the exterior is due to his hand.

Inside at street level is the Undercroft which was originally designed as a drinking den for James I. Upon ascending the staircase, the magnificence of the Banqueting Hall is revealed. The hall measures 55 feet wide by 110 feet long and 55 feet high. For the elaborately decorated architrave, cornice, and frieze, Inigo Jones followed Venetian models.

However, the outstanding aspect of the Banqueting Hall is the ceiling, painted by Peter Paul Rubens. Commissioned by Charles I, the canvasses were painted by Rubens and his studio in Antwerp 1630 to 1634 and installed in the Banqueting Hall in 1636. Using a vocabulary of allegory and symbol, he created dramatic scenes that celebrate the monarchy.

The 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony took place in the Banqueting Hall with the participation of the Mayor of London, Martha Thorne, Executive Director, Lord Palumbo, Chair of the Jury ,Thomas J. Pritzker, President of The Hyatt Foundation, and of course, Sir Richard Rogers, the 2007 laureate.
Read Richard Rogers' Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Lord Peter Palumbo's Ceremony Speech Read Martha Thorne's Ceremony Speech

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Richard Rogers | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Richard Rogers (1933-2021) is best known for such pioneering buildings as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the headquarters for Lloyd's of London, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Millennium Dome in London. His practice-Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP)-was founded in 1977, and has offices in London, Barcelona, Madrid and Tokyo.

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Paulo Mendes da Rocha has been chosen as the 2006 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The 77-year old architect becomes the second laureate from Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer being the first, chosen in 1988.

In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, said, "Mendes da Rocha has shown a deep understanding of space and scale through the great variety of buildings he has designed, from private residences, housing complexes, a church, museums and sports stadia to urban plans for public space. While few of his buildings were realized outside of Brazil, the lessons to be learned from his work, both as a practicing architect and a teacher, are universal."

The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be held on May 30, 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion are bestowed.

The new laureate began his career in the 1950s and was part of what was then considered the avant-garde in São Paulo, known loosely as creators of the Paulist brutalist architecture -practicioners whose work, often using simple materials and forms, emphasized an ethical dimension of architecture. He is widely considered the most outstanding architect of Brazil. He has steadfastly devoted his career to the creation of buildings and spaces guided by a sense of responsibility toward the residents of his buildings and the broader society.

During a career that spans six decades, he has maintained his own practice, taught for many years at the University of São Paulo, and contributed to the professional community through his work as president of the Brazilian Institute for Architects. He has lectured extensively throughout South America and Europe. He has received many awards, but it was the Mies van der Rohe Prize for Latin American Architecture in 2000 that brought international recognition.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, Lord Palumbo, commented, "Mendes da Rocha brings the joyful lilt of Brazil to his work...never afraid of innovation or of taking risks...indeed, a worthy choice."

Among his most widely known built works is the Brazilian Sculpture Museum, a non-traditional concept of a museum, nestled partly underground in a garden in São Paulo. He made bold use of a giant concrete beam on the exterior that traverses the site. His Forma Furniture Showroom in the same city is considered an icon of his approach to architecture. The front has a window that spans the length of the building, opening the building to the cityscape, a recurring theme of his work.

His renovation of São Paulo's oldest Fine Arts Museum, the Pinacoteca do Estado, affirmed his understanding and respect for Brazil's legacy-the basic structure of the nineteenth century building was simply restored with some striking new functional additions.

Mendes da Rocha revitalized a square in the heart of São Paulo, called Patriarch Plaza, adding an enormous steel canopy that appears to float over the square. Internationally, he was a finalist in the competition for the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1972, and was the architect of Brazil's Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan in 1970. Currently, in Galicia in the northwest part of Spain, he is developing a master plan for the Technological City, part of the University of Vigo. His task is to integrate new buildings-library, engineering departments, student residences, administration offices-designed by several different Spanish architects into an overall landscape scheme that also fosters connections between buildings.

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Paulo Mendes da Rocha | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Paulo Mendes da Rocha has been chosen as the 2006 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The 77-year old architect becomes the second laureate from Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer being the first, chosen in 1988. In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J.

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Thom Mayne | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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“We will hold to that which is difficult, because it is difficult … and by its difficulty is worthwhile.” That’s a quote from architect Thom Mayne in a monograph about his firm, Morphosis, which he founded in 1972 in Los Angeles. The thought expressed is rather typical of a man who has achieved distinction throughout the world as a theorist, author, teacher, and last, but by no means least, as an architect. His stature is even more enhanced as the recipient of the 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

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Zaha Hadid (1950-2016) was born in Baghdad Iraq and commenced her college studies at the American University in Beirut in the field of mathematics. She moved to London in 1972 to study architecture at the Architectural Association and upon graduation in 1977, she joined the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). She also taught at the Architectural Association (AA) with OMA collaborators Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis.

She began her own practice in London in 1980 and won the prestigious competition for the Hong Kong Peak Club, a leisure and recreational center in 1983. Painting and drawing, especially in her early period, are important techniques of investigation for her design work. Ever since her 1983 retrospective exhibition at the AA in London, her architecture has been shown in exhibitions worldwide and many of her works are held in important museum collections.

Zaha Hadid Becomes the First Woman to Receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi born British citizen has been chosen as the 2004 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize marking the first time a woman has been named for this 26 year old award. Hadid, who is 53, has completed one project in the United States, the Richard and Lois Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio; and is currently developing another to co-exist with a Frank Lloyd Wright structure, the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Her other completed projects in Europe include a fire station for the Vitra Furniture Company in Weil am Rhein, Germany; LFone/ Landesgartenschau, an exhibition building to mark the 1999 garden festival in that same city; a car park and terminus Hoenheim North, a "park and ride" and tramway on the outskirts of Strasbourg, France; and a ski jump situated on the Bergisel Mountain overlooking Innsbruck, Austria.

She has numerous other projects in various stages of development, including a building for BMW in Leipzig, and a Science Center in Wolfsburg, both in Germany; a National Center of Contemporary Arts in Rome; a Master Plan for Bilbao, Spain; a Guggenheim Museum for Taichung, Taiwan; and a high speed train station outside Naples; and a new public archive, library and sport center in Montpellier, France.

In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, said, "It is gratifying to us as sponsors of the prize to see our very independent jury honor a woman for the first time. Although her body of work is relatively small, she has achieved great acclaim and her energy and ideas show even greater promise for the future."

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, Lord Rothschild, commented, "At the same time as her theoretical and academic work, as a practicing architect, Zaha Hadid has been unswerving in her commitment to modernism. Always inventive, she's moved away from existing typology, from high tech, and has shifted the geometry of buildings."

Continuing, Lord Rothschild said, "In her fourth year at the Architectural Association in London, as a student of Rem Koolhaas (himself a recent recipient of the Pritzker Prize) her graduation project was called Malevich's Tectonik. She placed a hotel on the Hungerford Bridge on the Rivers Thames, drawing from suprematist forms to meet the demands of the program and the site. It's a happy coincidence therefore that this year's prize ceremony should be taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia, where Malevich lived and worked, a city of extraordinary beauty and originality."

The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be held on May 31, 2004. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion will be bestowed in the State Hermitage Museum followed by a reception and dinner in the Grand Peterhof Palace. The prize presentation ceremony moves to different locations around the world each year, paying homage to historic and contemporary architecture.

Juror Frank Gehry, who is also the 1989 Pritzker Laureate, said, "The 2004 laureate is probably one of the youngest laureates and has one of the clearest architectural trajectories we've seen in many years. Each project unfolds with new excitement and innovation." A new juror this year, journalist Karen Stein who is editorial director of Phaidon Press, commented, "Over the past 25 years, Zaha Hadid has built a career on defying convention-conventional ideas of architectural space, of practice, of representation and of construction."

The architectural career of Zaha Hadid has not been traditional or easy. She entered the field with illustrious credentials. Born in Baghdad, she studied at the highly regarded Architectural Association in London, was a partner in the avant-garde Office of Metropolitan Architecture with Rem Koolhaas, and has held prestigious posts at one time or another at the world's finest universities including Harvard, Yale, and many others. Much admired by the younger generation of architects, her appearance on campuses is always a cause for excitement and overflowing audiences.

Her path to worldwide recognition has been a heroic struggle as she inexorably rose to the highest ranks of the profession. Clients, journalists, fellow professionals are mesmerized by her dynamic forms and strategies for achieving a truly distinctive approach to architecture and its settings. Each new project is more audacious than the last and the sources of her originality seem endless.

Ms. Hadid has become more and more recognized as she continues to win competition after competition, always struggling to get her very original winning entries built. Discouraged, but undaunted, she has used the competition experiences as a "laboratory" for continuing to hone her exceptional talent in creating an architectural idiom like no other.

It is not surprising that one of the architects whose work Ms. Hadid admires is another Pritzker Prize winner, the preeminent South American author of Brasilia, and other major works-Oscar Niemeyer. They share a certain fearlessness in their work and both are unafraid of risk that comes inevitably with their respective vocabularies of bold visionary forms.

The competition winning phase of Ms. Hadid's career gradually began to result in built works such as the Vitra Fire Station, the LFone in Weil am Rhein, the Mind Zone in the Millennium Dome and reached a recent high point with the opening of the critically acclaimed Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The full dimensions of Ms. Hadid's prodigious artistic outpouring of work is apparent not only in architecture, but in exhibition designs, stage sets, furniture, paintings, and drawings.

The jury is pleased to acknowledge one of the great architects at the dawning of the twenty-first century by awarding the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize to Zaha Hadid, to commend her extraordinary achievements, and to wish her continued success.

The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
The unique architectural ensemble of the State Hermitage Museum is formed by several magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, in the heart of St. Petersburg. The Winter Palace, the centerpiece of the complex, which served as residence of the Russian tsars, was designed and built by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62. More buildings were added to the ensemble in the eighteenth and nineteeth centuries, such as the Great Hermitage, the Small Hermitage, the eastern wing of the General Staff building, and the Menshikov Palace.

The museum was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great purchased a collection of 225 Flemish and Dutch paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernest Gotzkowski. It is estimated that by 1800 the collections contained 4000 works. The imperial Hermitage was proclaimed property of the Soviet state after the Revolution of 1917. Today, the Hermitage holdings, which have grown continuously, number over 3,000,000 works. Together form an encyclopedic collection of the development of culture and art from the Stone Age to the twentieth century. Strengths of the Hermitage collection of Western art include Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Watteau, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Canova, Rodin, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, and Matisse. Also noteworthy are the collections of Russian imperial regalia, Fabergé jewelry, and the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

The 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony honoring Zaha Hadid, with the participation of the Director of the Hermitage Museum, the Governor of St. Petersburg, the Minister of Culture and Mass Communication of the Russian Federation, Lord Rothschild, Chair of the Jury, Thomas J. Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation, and Zaha Hadid.
Read Zaha Hadid's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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Zaha Hadid | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Zaha Hadid (1950-2016) was born in Baghdad Iraq and commenced her college studies at the American University in Beirut in the field of mathematics. She moved to London in 1972 to study architecture at the Architectural Association and upon graduation in 1977, she joined the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).

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Jørn Utzon | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Danish architect Jørn Utzon was born in 1918. While in secondary school, he began helping his father, director of a shipyard in Alborg, Denmark, and brilliant naval architect, by studying new designs, drawing up plans and making models. This activity opened another possibility—that of training to be a naval architect like his father.

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Glenn Murcutt, the son of Australian parents, was born in London in 1936. He grew up in the Morobe district of New Guinea, where he developed an appreciation for simple, primitive architecture. His father introduced him to the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the philosophies of Henry David Thoreau, both of which influenced his architectural style.

Murcutt studied at the University of New South Wales, graduating in 1961 with a degree in architecture. After completing his university studies, Murcutt traveled for two years, returning to Sydney in 1964 to work in the office of Ancher, Mortlock, Murray and Woolley. He remained with this firm for five years before he established his own practice in 1970. His small, but exemplary practice is well known for its environmentally sensitive designs with a distinctive Australian character. His architecture has remained consistent over time. His buildings, which are principally residential, are a harmonious blend of modernist sensibility, local craftsmanship, indigenous structures, and respect for nature. They are both unusual in character, and yet curiously familiar. He has been a visiting professor at many schools of architecture, most recently at Yale and Washington universities in the United States. His work is internationally acclaimed and he is a highly regarded as a teacher, critic, and lecturer around the world ...

Australian Architect Becomes the 2002 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
An Australian architect, Glenn Murcutt, who works as a sole practitioner, primarily designing environmentally sensitive modernist houses that respond to their surroundings and climate, as well as being scrupulously energy conscious, has been named to receive the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The 66 year-old Murcutt lives and has his office in Sydney, but travels the world teaching and lecturing to university students.

In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, said, "Glenn Murcutt is a stark contrast to most of the highly visible architects of the day-his works are not large scale, the materials he works with, such as corrugated iron, are quite ordinary, certainly not luxurious; and he works alone. He acknowledges that his modernist inspiration has its roots in the work of Mies van der Rohe, but the Nordic tradition of Aalto, the Australian wool shed, and many other architects and designers such as Chareau, have been important to him as well. Add in the fact that all his designs are tempered by the land and climate of his native Australia, and you have the uniqueness that the jury has chosen to celebrate. While his primary focus is on houses, one of his public buildings completed in 1999, the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre, has achieved acclaim as well, critics calling it 'a masterwork'."

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented, "Glenn Murcutt occupies a unique place in today's architectural firmament. In an age obsessed with celebrity, the glitz of our 'starchitects,' backed by large staffs and copious public relations support, dominates the headlines. As a total contrast, our laureate works in a one-person office on the other side of the world from much of the architectural attention, yet has a waiting list of clients, so intent is he to give each project his personal best. He is an innovative architectural technician who is capable of turning his sensitivity to the environment and to locality into forthright, totally honest, non-showy works of art. Bravo!"

The formal presentation of what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be made at a ceremony on May 29, 2002 at Michelangelo's Campidoglio in the heart of Rome. At that time, Murcutt will be presented with a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion. Murcutt is the first Australian to become a Pritzker Laureate, and the 26th honoree since the prize was established in 1979. His selection continues what has become a ten-year trend of laureates from the international community. In fact, architects from other countries chosen for the prize now far outnumber the U.S. recipients, nineteen to seven.

Bill Lacy, who is an architect, spoke as the executive director of the Pritzker Prize, quoting from the jury citation that states, "His is an architecture of place, architecture that responds to the landscape and the climate. His houses are fine tuned to the land and the weather. He uses a variety of materials, from metal to wood to glass, stone, brick and concrete-always selected with a consciousness of the amount of energy it took to produce the materials in the first place."

Lacy elaborated, "Murcutt's thoughtful approach to the design of such houses as the Marika-Alderton House in Eastern Arnhem Land; the Marie Short House in New South Wales; and the Magney House at Bingie Bingie, South Coast, New South Wales, are testament that aesthetics and ecology can work together to bring harmony to man's intrusion in the environment."

Glenn Murcutt is a modernist, a naturalist, an environmentalist, a humanist, an economist and ecologist encompassing all of these distinguished qualities in his practice as a dedicated architect who works alone from concept to realization of his projects in his native Australia. Although his works have sometimes been described as a synthesis of Mies van der Rohe and the native Australian wool shed, his many satisfied clients and the scores more who are waiting in line for his services are endorsement enough that his houses are unique, satisfying solutions. Generally, he eschews large projects which would require him to expand his practice, and give up the personal attention to detail that he can now give to each and every project. His is an architecture of place, architecture that responds to the landscape and to the climate.

His houses are fine tuned to the land and the weather. He uses a variety of materials, from metal to wood to glass, stone, brick and concrete-always selected with a consciousness of the amount of energy it took to produce the materials in the first place. He uses light, water, wind, the sun, the moon in working out the details of how a house will work-how it will respond to its environment. His structures are said to float above the landscape, or in the words of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia that he is fond of quoting, they "touch the earth lightly." Glenn Murcutt's structures augment their significance at each stage of inquiry. One of Murcutt's favorite quotations from Henry David Thoreau, who was also a favorite of his father, "Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well." With the awarding of the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the jury finds that Glenn Murcutt is more than living up to that adage.

Michelangelo's Campidoglio, Rome, Italy
The Capitoline Hill or Campidoglio is the smallest of Rome's seven hills, but it was the religious and political center of the city since its foundation more than 2500 years ago.

A few years after he arrived in Rome, Pope Paul III (born Alessandro Farnese) decided to reshape the Capitoline Hill into a monumental civic piazza; Michelangelo designed the project and his Piazza del Campidoglio is one of the most significant contributions ever made in the history of urban planning. The hill's importance as a sacred site in antiquity had been largely forgotten due to its medieval transformation into the seat of the secular government and headquarters for the Roman guilds. Michelangelo took charge of reorganizing the area as a dynamic new center of Roman political life. His design included not only the piazza or open square, but also redesign of the Palazzo Senatori, a new façade for the Palazzo dei Conservatori and opposite it, the new Palazzo Nuovo. The project went forward slowly and in stages with many interruptions. It was begun in 1538, little was completed before Michaelangelo's death in 1564, and the entire project was not completed until the seventeenth century.

The 2002 ceremony counted with the participation of the Mayor of Rome, the Undersecretary of the Minister of Fine Arts and Cultural Affairs, Bill Lacy, executive Director of the Pritzker Prize, Thomas J. Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation and Glenn Murcutt, Pritzker Prize Laureate.
Read Glenn Murcutt's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Bill Lacy's Ceremony Speech Read Vittorio Sgarbi's Ceremony Speech Read Walter Veltroni's Ceremony Speech

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Glenn Murcutt | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Glenn Murcutt, the son of Australian parents, was born in London in 1936. He grew up in the Morobe district of New Guinea, where he developed an appreciation for simple, primitive architecture. His father introduced him to the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the philosophies of Henry David Thoreau, both of which influenced his architectural style.

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Jacques Herzog y Pierre de Meuron - 2001

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Jacques Herzog y Pierre de Meuron - 2001

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Two architects were chosen to share the 2001 Pritzker Architecture Prize, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland. The two men, both born in Basel in 1950, have nearly parallel careers, attending the same schools and forming a partnership architectural firm, Herzog & de Meuron in 1978. Perhaps their highest profile project was attained with the completion last year of the conversion of the giant Bankside power plant on the Thames River in London to a new Gallery of Modern Art for the Tate Museum. It has been widely praised by their peers and the media.

In the United States, they have completed a winery in the Napa Valley of California that utilizes a mortarless wall of stones encased in wire mesh, and are currently building the Kramlich Residence and Media Collection in that same region. They have three other projects in work in the United States-the headquarters of Prada in New York, the New de Young Museum in San Francisco which is scheduled for completion in 2004, and the Extension for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, scheduled for completion in 2005.

They have projects in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan, and of course, in their native Switzerland. There they have built residences, several apartment buildings, libraries, schools, a sports complex, a photographic studio, museums, hotels, railway utility buildings as well as office and factory buildings.

Among their completed buildings, the Ricola cough lozenge factory and storage building in Mulhouse, France stands out for its unique printed translucent walls that provide the work areas with a pleasant filtered light. A railway utility building in Basel, Switzerland called Signal Box has an exterior cladding of copper strips that are twisted at certain places to admit daylight. A library for the Technical University in Eberswalde, Germany has 17 horizontal bands of iconographic images silk screen printed on glass and on concrete. An apartment building on Schützenmattstrasse in Basel has a fully glazed street facade that is covered by a moveable curtain of perforated latticework. It is impossible to list here all of their noteworthy building projects.

While these unusual construction solutions are certainly not the only reason for Herzog and de Meuron being selected as the 2001 Laureates, Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented, "One is hard put to think of any architects in history that have addressed the integument of architecture with greater imagination and virtuosity"

In announcing the laureates for 2001, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, spoke of the jury's choice, saying, "Only once before in the history of the prize has the jury seen fit to select two architects in the same year to share the award. That was in 1988. The decision was made then that since it was the tenth anniversary of the prize, we would celebrate two laureates. In this case, the jury felt that these two architects work so closely together that each one complements the abilities and talents of the other. Their work is the result of a long term true collaboration making it impossible to honor one without the other."

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Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Two architects were chosen to share the 2001 Pritzker Architecture Prize, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland. The two men, both born in Basel in 1950, have nearly parallel careers, attending the same schools and forming a partnership architectural firm, Herzog & de Meuron in 1978.

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Rem Koolhaas, a 56 year-old architect from the Netherlands, has been named the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate for the year 2000.

In Europe, he has a number of completed projects that have won high praise from critics, including a residence in Bordeaux, France; the Educatorium, a multifunction building for Utrecht University in the Netherlands; the master plan and Grand Palais for Lille, France which is his largest realized urban planning project; and the Kunsthal, providing exhibition space, a restaurant and auditoriums in Rotterdam.

In a development in Fukuoka, Japan, his Nexus Housing is a project consisting of 24 individual houses, each three stories high. Koolhaas also has projects in Portugal, Korea and Germany, the latter being a new embassy for the Netherlands in Berlin, which is currently under construction.

He has a number of major commissions in the United States that will come to fruition within the next two years: a student center for the predominantly Mies van der Rohe campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and a new central public library for Seattle, as well as buildings in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Koolhaas has also been working for Universal Studios, owned by the Seagram Company, on a master plan and headquarters buildings.

Koolhaas' work and ideas often spark critical debate in areas in which he has been working. While his radical design for the Seattle Public Library has won praise there, initial reports described Seattle as "bracing for a wild ride with a man famous for straying outside the bounds of convention."

"It seems fitting that as we begin a new millennium, the jury should choose an architect that seems so in tune with the future," says Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, "In fact, Koolhaas has been called a prophet of a new modern architecture. It's not surprising that the Museum of Modern Art has had not one, but two exhibitions devoted to his ideas."

The Bordeaux house, named as Best Design of 1998 by Time magazine, is one of his most important works, designed to fill the needs of a couple whose old house had become a prison to the husband who has been confined to a wheel chair following an automobile accident. Koolhaas proposed a home in three sections, actually what he prefers to describe as three houses, one on top of the other. The lowest part he calls "cave-like, a series of caverns carved out from the hill for the most intimate life of the family." The "top house" is divided into spaces for the couple, and spaces for their children. Sandwiched in between is an almost invisible glass room, half inside, half outside, meeting the grade on one side, where the client has his own room for living. This room is actually a vertically moving platform, 3 X 3.5 meters (10 X 10.75 feet ), functioning as an elevator, which allows the man access to all levels. One wall of the elevator is a continuous surface of shelves providing access to books for his work.

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Rem Koolhaas | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Rem Koolhaas, a 56 year-old architect from the Netherlands, has been named the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate for the year 2000.

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Norman Foster was born in Manchester in 1935. After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he gained a Master's Degree in Architecture.

He is the founder and chairman of Foster and Partners. Founded in London in 1967, it is now a worldwide practice, with project offices in more than twenty countries. Over the past four decades the company has been responsible for a strikingly wide range of work, from urban master plans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design.

Foster has established an international reputation with projects as diverse as the New German Parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin, Chek Lap Kok International Airport and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, Willis Faber & Dumas Head Office in Ipswich, and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich. Since its inception, the practice has received more than 400 awards and citations for excellence and has won numerous international and national competitions.

Sir Norman Foster of Great Britain Is the 1999 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Sir Norman Foster, a 63 year-old architect from Great Britain, has been named the 1999 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Among the many Foster and Partners on-going projects throughout the world, some of the highest profile are the world's largest airport in Hong Kong, which opened this past year; the new Great Court for the British Museum; and the creation within Berlin's historic Reichstag of a new German Parliament.

Other major projects in various phases of design or construction include a headquarters tower for Daewoo Electronics in Seoul, Korea; a museum of prehistory in the Gorges du Verdon, France; a new regional Music Center, planned for a dramatic riverside site in Gateshead, North-east England; a great glass house for the new National Botanic Gardens of Wales; a service station concept for the petroleum company Repsol in Spain and Latin America; and a new university campus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In London, the practice has many projects either newly-completed or under development. These include a Bio-Medical Sciences Building for Imperial College; headquarters towers for Citibank and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank at Canary Wharf; the Millennium Pedestrian Bridge across the River Thames forming a new route between St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tate Gallery of Modern Art and the Globe Theatre on Bankside; the World Squares For All Central London master plan, yet another facet of the firm's work in urban planning with the goal to reclaim Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square for pedestrians while respecting the demands of traffic; a new Wembley Stadium; and a parliament building for the Greater London Authority on the banks of the Thames adjacent to Tower Bridge. In the United States, Foster completed a new wing for the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, Nebraska in 1994. Nearing completion in Palo Alto, California is a 214,000 square-foot Center for Clinical Sciences Research at Stanford University's Medical School.

As the Pritzker Architecture Prize begins its third decade of honoring great architecture throughout the world, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, spoke of the jury's choice, saying, "The jury has chosen an architect who cares passionately about the future of this planet, an avowed optimist with a firm belief in technological progress, but who also believes that architecture is about people and the quality of life. He makes buildings that will not only last, but will work for the people that use them, and in the process provide an uplifting experience."

The formal presentation of what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture's highest honor will be made at a ceremony in Berlin on June 7, 1999. At that time, Sir Norman will be presented with a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion. He is the second Englishman to become a Pritzker Laureate, the first being the late Sir James Stirling who was honored in 1981, and who encouraged a young Foster as he began his career in the early sixties.

Foster has designed and built office towers in Tokyo, Japan and Frankfurt, Germany and Hong Kong as well as a communications tower in Barcelona, Spain. The world's largest airport in Hong Kong was presaged by London's Third Airport at Stansted. He designed a rapid transit system for Bilbao, Spain and has recently completed a station for London's underground Jubilee Line, Canary Wharf , as well as the transport interchange at Greenwich. His global output includes furniture, offices, showrooms, warehousing facilities and industrial buildings, single residences and multiple housing units, schools, bridges, art museums and galleries, universities, sports stadia, research laboratories, shops, cultural centers, and libraries. And he designed one project that is capable of moving all around the world, a180-foot private motor yacht.

Sir Norman Foster's pursuit of the art and science of architecture has resulted in one building triumph after another, each one in its own way, unique. He has re-invented the tall building, producing Europe's tallest and arguably the first skyscraper with an ecological conscience, the Commerzbank in Frankfurt. He cares passionately for the environment, designing accordingly. From his very first projects, it was evident that he would embrace the most advanced technology appropriate to the task, producing results sensitive to their sites, always with imaginative solutions to design problems. His design objectives are guided not only toward the overall beauty and function of a project, but for the wellbeing of those people who will be the end-users. This social dimension to his work translates as making every effort to transform and improve the quality of life. In the early seventies, he pioneered the notion that the workplace could be a pleasant environment with one of his first notable projects, the Willis Faber and Dumas offices, that included a swimming pool and grassy rooftop park for employees.

In the three decades since, Sir Norman has produced a collection of buildings and products noted for their clarity, invention, and sheer artistic virtuosity. His work ranges in scale from the modest, but exquisite new addition of the Sackler Galleries to the existing galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and the serenely simple limestone addition to the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, Nebraska-to a pair of grand mega-projects, both in Hong Kong, the world's largest air terminal, and the much-acclaimed Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank.

Proof of his ability to produce remarkable solutions for diverse programs in urban settings is his sensitive placement and design of the Carré d'Art, a cultural center next to a revered Roman temple, dating from 500 BC, in the heart of Nîmes, France. Such a juxtaposition of contemporary and ancient architecture has rarely been achieved so successfully. His transformation of more recent historic icons-the Reichstag in Berlin and the new Great Court of the British Museum-are brilliant redesign-renovations.

Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany
The Pritzker Architecture Prize award ceremony for 1999 was held at the Altes Museum on the Museum Island in Berlin. It was followed by a reception in another significant space, the New National Gallery by Mies van der Rohe. Finally, the formal dinner took place in the Hyatt Hotel, designed by 1996 Pritzker Laureate Rafael Moneo.

The Altes Museum, designed by Freidrich Schinkel (1781-1841) architect, painter, and stage designer, is located on a prominent site in the heart of Berlin. When built, the relationship with surrounding buildings was not only one of position and scale but highly symbolic as it faced the Royal Palace and was flanked by two churches. When opened in 1830, it was one of the most influential buildings of its time. It was also one of the earliest buildings specifically designed for the public display of works. Employing a neoclassical vocabulary, the imposing building uses 18 Ionic columns to line the front façade, creating a colonnade to lend grandeur to the museum. The central rotunda, which Schinkel reverently called a pantheon, is an inspiring space in which the Pritzker Architecture Prize Ceremony took place.

The 1999 award ceremony included the participation of Eberhard Diepgen, Mayor of Berlin, Wolfgang Thierse, President of the German Parliament, J. Carter Brown, Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury, Thomas J. Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation and Sir Norman Foster, 1999 Laureate.
Read Norman Foster's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Tom Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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Norman Foster | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Norman Foster was born in Manchester in 1935. After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he gained a Master's Degree in Architecture. He is the founder and chairman of Foster and Partners.

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Renzo Piano, the 1998 Pritzker Prize winner, is perhaps best known for his controversial design of the Centre Georges Pompidou, located in the heart of Paris and completed in 1978. Conceived in collaboration with English architect, Richard Rogers and described by Piano as "a joyful urban machine ... a creature that might have come from a Jules Verne book," Beaubourg, as it is called, has become a cultural icon, expressive of Piano's love of technology.

Born in Genoa in 1937, Piano comes from a family of builders. Following his graduation from Milan Polytechnic Architecture School in 1964, he worked in his father's construction company and later was associated with the offices of Louis Kahn in Philadelphia and Z.S. Mackowsky in London. He formed Renzo Piano Building Workshop in 1980, which now has offices in Paris, Genoa and Berlin.

Piano is a prolific architect whose wide-ranging repertoire includes a housing complex on the rue de Meaux, Paris (1988-91); the world's largest air terminal, built on a man-made island in Osaka Bay in Japan (1988-94); the conversion of a 1920s Fiat manufacturing plant in Turin into a multifaceted center for technology and trade fairs (1985-93); and the San Nicola Soccer Stadium in Bari, Italy (1987-90), site of the 1990 World Soccer Championships.

Renzo Piano of Italy is the 1998 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Renzo Piano, a 60-year-old Italian architect who builds all over the world, has been named the 1998 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the prize, the formal presentation will be made at a ceremony hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton at The White House on June 17.

In making the announcement, Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979, quoted from the jury's citation which describes Piano's architecture as a "rare melding of art, architecture, and engineering in a truly remarkable synthesis." Piano is the twenty-first architect in the world to be selected for his profession's highest honor which bestows a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion. He is the second Italian to become a Pritzker Laureate, the first being the late Aldo Rossi, who was honored in 1990.

Piano first achieved international fame for the Centre George Pompidou in Paris completed in 1978, a collaborative effort with another young architect from England, Richard Rogers. Since then, Piano has gone on to higher critical acclaim for a much wider range of building types with greater diversity and subtlety that include among many others, the Menil Museum and its Cy Twombly addition in Houston, and the Beyeler Museum in Basel, Switzerland.

On a grand scale, he designed a spectacular soccer stadium for his native Italy in Bari, an eye-popping shopping center called Bercy in Paris that has been likened to a giant space ship that has just landed. Perhaps one of his most remarkable projects is the Kansai Air Terminal, the world's largest, built on a man-made island in Osaka Bay, Japan.

Born and raised in Genoa, Italy, Piano divides his time between a home there and another in Paris when he is not traveling to the many world-wide sites of his projects. He currently is working in Berlin on the Potsdamer Platz redevelopment; in Sydney, Australia on a mixed use tower; in New Caledonia on a Cultural Center; with projects just beginning at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in Foggia, Italy; and other continuing projects in Rome, Paris and Stuttgart.

Renzo Piano's architecture reflects that rare melding of art, architecture, and engineering in a truly remarkable synthesis, making his intellectual curiosity and problem-solving techniques as broad and far ranging as those earlier masters of his native land, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. While his work embraces the most current technology of this era, his roots are clearly in the classic Italian philosophy and tradition. Equally at ease with historical antecedents, as well as the latest technology, he is also intensely concerned with issues of habitability and sustainable architecture in a constantly changing world.

The array of buildings by Renzo Piano is staggering in scope and comprehensive in the diversity of scale, material and form. He is truly an architect whose sensibilities represent the widest range of this and earlier centuries-informed by the modern masters that preceded him, reaching back even to the fifteenth century of Brunelleschi-he has remained true to the concept that the architect must maintain command over the building process from design to built work. Valuing craftsmanship, not just of the hand, but also of the computer, Piano has great sensitivity for his materials, whether using glass, metal, masonry or wood. Such concepts, values and sensitivities are not surprising for someone whose father, uncles and grandfather were all builders.

By choosing a career as an architect rather than contractor, he may have broken with a family tradition in one sense, but in fact, he has enhanced that tradition in ways his forebears could only have imagined.

Always restless and inventive, Piano has, over three decades of his career, relentlessly searched for new dimensions in his structures, both literally and figuratively. His early Pompidou Centre in Paris, which brought the first international recognition of his talent and promise, could have been a stylistic end in itself. Instead Piano persevered with unrelenting experimentation that resulted in subsequent works that included the Houston Menil Museum along with its exquisite Cy Twombly addition, and the more recent Beyeler Museum in Switzerland. These three museums show his unerring sensitivity for site, context and a remarkable mastery of form, shape and space.

The White House, Washington, D.C.
Although grand plans were originally envisioned by artist and engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant for a presidential residence in Washington D.C., Irish-born architect James Hoban's more modest design for a refined Georgian mansion in the Palladian style was ultimately selected. The White House was built between 1792 and 1800 and has served as the residence of every U.S. President since John Adams.

In 1801 under the direction of Thomas Jefferson, the White House was expanded with the addition of two colonnades, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe (who would later design the U.S. Capitol). Damaged during the War of 1812, the residence was reconstructed and later the south and north porticos were added. Throughout the twentieth century, improvements and additions were undertaken; however, the sandstone exterior walls are originally from Hoban's time. Today, the White House is a complex of six floors and over 130 rooms.

Although the White House grounds have had many gardeners through their history, the general design, still largely used as master plan today, was designed in 1935 by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. of the Olmsted Brothers firm, under commission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize events of June 17, 1998 began with a reception inside the White House with all of the state rooms open for viewing by the guests. The ceremony and dinner followed on the south lawn within a tent that had been erected for the occasion. Speakers included President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, architectural historian and Sterling Professor Emeritus, Vincent Scully, J. Carter Brown, Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize jury, Jay Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation, and laureate, Renzo Piano.
Read Renzo Piano's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read J. Carter Brown's Ceremony Speech Read Bill Clinton's Ceremony Speech

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Renzo Piano | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Renzo Piano, the 1998 Pritzker Prize winner, is perhaps best known for his controversial design of the Centre Georges Pompidou, located in the heart of Paris and completed in 1978. Conceived in collaboration with English architect, Richard Rogers and described by Piano as "a joyful urban machine ...

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Sverre Fehn (1924-2009) has long been recognized in Europe as one of Norway's most gifted architects. Categorized as a modernist by most architectural writers, Fehn himself says, "I have never thought of myself as modern, but I did absorb the anti-monumental and the pictorial world of LeCorbusier, as well as the functionalism of the small villages of North Africa. You might say I came of age in the shadow of modernism."

"I always thought I was running away from traditional Norwegian architecture," says Fehn, "but I soon realized that I was operating within its context. How I interpret the site of a project, the light, and the building materials have a strong relationship to my origins."

Born in Kongsberg, Norway in 1924, he attended the Oslo School of Architecture and received his degree in 1949.

Fehn, along with Norberg-Schulz, Grung, Mjelva and Vesterlid, all other Norwegian architects of the same generation, and Jørn Utzon (the Danish architect who later gained fame for the Sydney Opera House, Australia) formed an organization which was the Norwegian branch of CIAM (International Congress of Modern Architecture), called PAGON (Progressive Architects Group Oslo Norway) that had a profound influence, creating architecture which had a firm foundation in the Modern Movement, but was expressed in terms of the materials and language of their own region and time.

Fehn received the French State Scholarship which allowed him to live in Paris in 1953 and 1954. In reminiscing about that period, Fehn recalls that it was his generation that distanced itself from Le Corbusier and his urbanistic world.

He received international attention for his Norwegian Pavilion at the World Exhibition in Brussels, Belgium in 1958, and again in 1962 for his Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

When asked what the most important part of his architecture is, Fehn has replied that it is above all, the construction, be it wood or concrete, and harmony, rhythm, and honesty in the use of those materials. He calls the act of building brutal, and elaborates, "When I build on a site in nature that is totally unspoiled, it is a fight, an attack by our culture on nature. In this confrontation, I strive to make a building that will make people more aware of the beauty of the setting, and when looking at the building in the setting, a hope for a new consciousness to see the beauty there, as well."

Sverre Fehn Is Named the 1997 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Sverre Fehn, a 72 year-old architect who lives and works in Oslo, Norway has been named the 1997 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In making the announcement, Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979, quoted from the jury's citation which describes Fehn's architecture as "... a fascinating and exciting combination of modern forms tempered by the Scandinavian tradition ..." Fehn is the twentieth architect in the world to be selected for his profession's highest honor which bestows a $100,000 grant when the formal presentation is made on May 31 in Bilbao, Spain.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented that Fehn's work "... embodies the Pritzker Prize ideal of architecture as art." And from fellow juror, author Ada Louise Huxtable, "Sverre Fehn represents the best of twentieth-century modernism ... this is a unique life's work of extraordinary richness, perception and quality." From juror Charles Correa, a much honored architect from Bombay, India, comes the praise, "... a wonderfully lyrical and inventive architectonic language which, like all true art, is both rigorous and deeply humane." Juror Toshio Nakamura, editor and architectural writer from Japan called Fehn's work "... remarkably specific in his approach to design in terms of its regional inflection, material, imagination, and implied geometry ..."

Most of Fehn's work is in his native Norway, with Sweden and Denmark taking a close second. In 1958, he gained international attention for his Norwegian Pavilion at the Brussels World Exhibition, and again in 1962 for his Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

In recent years, two of his museum projects have captured widespread attention: one completed in 1991 is the Glacier Museum built on the plain carved out by the Jostedal Glacier at the mouth of the Fjaerland Fjord. The museum is the center of a panorama formed by the steep mountainsides and the fjord with the glacier on top. A second project, the Aukrust Museum, celebrates the work of a famous Norwegian painter/writer, named Kjell Aukrust. Both of these projects were preceded by another project called the Hedmark Cathedral Museum in Hamar, Norway, which was completed in 1979. The latter is the site of an early fourteenth century manor house and bishopric. Fehn built in and around the ruins to preserve this historic site.

He has designed numerous private residences, a home for the elderly, the inspiration for which he credits Mies van der Rohe, and many other types of buildings. One of the more controversial is the enlargement of the National Theatre of Copenhagen, where critics have hailed the design as having "... the magnificent spaciousness of cathedral-like character."

The architecture of Norwegian Sverre Fehn is a fascinating and exciting combination of modern forms tempered by the Scandinavian tradition and culture from which it springs. He gives great primacy in his designs to the relationship between the built and the natural environment.

Eschewing the clever, the novel and the sensational, Fehn has pursued his version of twentieth century modernism steadily and patiently for the past fifty years. With one carefully designed project after another, he has displayed a virtuosity and creativity that now ranks him among the leading architects of the world.

The Norwegian Pavilion at the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels gave early notice of his special talents. The Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale a few years later was a confirmation. Since those early works, Fehn has proven that he is an architect for all seasons with many dimensions, allowing him to be as comfortable with the design of furniture, exhibitions and objects as he is with architecture. His eloquence with materials is easily matched by his poetic command of words.

The geography of place and time, with a range of diversity that includes primitive Morocco and today's New York City, as well as an amalgam of a multitude of influences have played an important role in Fehn's development. Some of the great architects of the century Louis Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright, LeCorbusier, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der Rohe, Jean Prouvé, as well as his fellow countryman and mentor Arne Korsmo have provided inspiration, but Fehn's results have a singular individuality and originality.

He has avoided fads and fashions that have influenced much of contemporary architecture, patiently evolving his own individual style, always seeking improvement.

The construction site of The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
The Guggenheim Museum-Bilbao, in northern Spain, opened in the fall of 1997. On May 31, 1997, prior to the museum's opening, the Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony honoring Sverre Fehn was held there in the great central atrium space. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, it has been hailed as one of the most important museum buildings of the twentieth century. Sited along the Nervion River, the sculptural building was a key element in the architectural and urban regeneration of the city.

The exterior is clad in titanium panels that reflect the varying conditions of natural night. The hues and luminosity of the building's finish appear to change throughout the day and night. While the Guggenheim-Bilbao contains all the necessary elements of a museum-galleries, temporary exhibition space, visitor services and administration, the richness of spaces is unparalleled. The galleries are organized around a vertical atrium that rises more than 150 feet high and bathed in light from its many windows. Three levels of galleries connect to the atrium with catwalks and vertical circulation, further animating the space as visitors flow in and out of the galleries.
Read Sverre Fehn's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read J. Carter Brown's Acceptance Speech
Read Antonio Ardanza Garro's Speech

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Sverre Fehn | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Sverre Fehn (1924-2009) has long been recognized in Europe as one of Norway's most gifted architects. Categorized as a modernist by most architectural writers, Fehn himself says, "I have never thought of myself as modern, but I did absorb the anti-monumental and the pictorial world of LeCorbusier, as well as the functionalism of the small villages of North Africa.

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José Rafael Moneo was born in the small town of Tudela, Navarra, Spain in May of 1937. His mother, Teresa, was the daughter of a magistrate from Aragón. His father, Rafael, whose family roots were in Tudela, worked there all his life as an industrial engineer. He has a sister, Teresa, who studied philosophy and literature. His late brother, Mariano, studied engineering. Moneo confesses that as he grew up, he was first attracted to philosophy and painting; he did not have a clear calling to be an architect, but attributes his inclination toward architecture to his father's interest in the subject. It was with some difficulty that he left his close family ties in 1954 to go to Madrid to study architecture.

He obtained his architectural degree in 1961 from the Madrid University School of Architecture. He credits his professor of the history of architecture, Leopoldo Torres Balbás with influencing him greatly While still a student, he worked with architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, saying "I wanted to become an architect in the same fashion as Oiza with all of the enthusiasm professed by him in his work." When Moneo completed his degree, he went to Hellebaeck, Denmark to work with Jørn Utzon, "whom I saw," says Moneo, "as the legitimate heir of the masters of the heroic period." Utzon was working on the design of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Before returning to Spain in 1962, Moneo says, "I traveled around the Scandinavian countries where I was lucky enough to be received by Alvar Aalto in Helsinki."

Once back in Madrid, Moneo won a contest to cover one of the architect spaces at the Academy of Spain in Rome, Italy. He was able to combine his trip to Rome with a honeymoon with his new bride, Belén Feduchi, daughter of architect Luis Feduchi. "It was wonderful," says Moneo, "to be in Rome with her, a person who shared my enthusiasm for architecture without being an architect." Under a two year fellowship, he stayed on at the Spanish Academy in Rome, a period that he calls "fundamental to my career. It allowed me to study, travel, visit schools, get to know Zevi, Tafuri, Portoghesi, and others, but more than anything, to gain a knowledge of that great city produced a great impact in my education as an architect. Life at the academy allowed us to establish great friendships with musicians, painters and sculptors."

Upon their return to Madrid in 1965, they settled in a house-studio in the Madrid neighborhood of El Viso and were blessed with their first daughter, Belén. That same year, he received his first important commission to design the Diestre Factory in Zaragoza. The following year, he began teaching at the Madrid University School of Architecture, as well as publishing articles on architecture. During those years there, he actively participated in gatherings of architects which they called "Little Congresses" that were attended by the most active Spanish architects. Among them were Carlos de Miguel, Oiza, Molezún, Corrales, Garcia de Paredes, etc. from Madrid, and Oriol Bohigas, Federico Correa, Tusquets, Clotet, Bonet, etc from Barcelona. Foreign architects attended as well, including Alvaro Siza of Portugal, Aldo Rossi of Italy, (both of whom later were Pritzker Laureates), as well as Peter Eisenman of the United States and Gregotti. Of these gatherings, Moneo says, "a new phase of architectural life in Spain was initiated."

Rafael Moneo of Spain Named the 1996 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
José Rafael Moneo, a 58 year-old architect who lives and works in Madrid, Spain, has been named the nineteenth Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In making the announcement, Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979, quoted from the jury's citation which describes Moneo as "an architect with tremendous range, each of whose buildings is unique, but at the same time, uniquely recognizable as being from his palette." Moneo is the first Spanish architect to be selected for his profession's highest honor which bestows a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion when the formal presentation is made on June 12 in the construction site of The Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Pritzker affirmed the jury's choice, saying, "Moneo not only practices architecture in the most real sense of designing buildings, taking into account all aspects of their construction, but also, he teaches his theories utilizing all his experience and knowledge, in effect sustaining these parallel efforts by enriching each with the other." Moneo has taught on the faculties of Spain's finest schools of architecture, the Universities of both Madrid and Barcelona, and for five years was the chairman of the department of architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he remains on the faculty still, in addition to lecturing around the world at major colleges and museums.

Most of Moneo's projects have been in his native country, but a fine example of his work was completed in the United States in 1993: the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Another project in Houston, Texas is on his drawing board for an addition to that city's Fine Arts Museum, an existing Mies van der Rohe structure.

In Spain, his most critically acclaimed work is the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida. Completed in 1986, the museum, which has been praised for its architectural monumentality that enhances the exhibits within, is constructed over the site of archaeological excavations of what was the most important city in Spain during the Roman Empire.

From his first work, which Moneo describes as "a transformer factory whose brick and steel volumes produce a rich and varied profile," to the minimalist monument under construction at San Sebastian, two translucent cubes that will house the Kursaal Auditorium and Congress Center. Between these two examples is an enormous range of designs encompassing residences and apartments, art museums, a railway station, an airport, a factory, a hotel, banks, a city hall and other office buildings.

Bill Lacy, executive director of the prize, quoted further from the formal citation from the jury which states, "Moneo takes on each new commission as a fresh exercise. He draws on an incredible reservoir of concepts and ideas which he filters through the circumstances of the project."

Lacy, who is an architect himself and president of the State University of New York at Purchase, elaborated, "In many of his writings and lectures, Moneo has made it clear that he does not consider architecture as merely the brilliant expression of an idea in the form of a drawing. He considers construction an essential part of the design process; architecture must be perceived as a built work to be reality." In fact, Moneo has said, "Architecture only reaches its true status when it is realized, when it acquires its being as an object, and when it is transformed into material reality as a building."

Of his built works, the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation which provides a study center and exhibition space on the island of Mallorca is described by Moneo as "reacting energetically against the world built around it. (He refers to the encroaching construction of buildings nearby.) The gallery is something of a military fortress." Another project for the housing of art was the rehabilitation of the Villahermosa Palace in Madrid for the collection of nearly 800 paintings of Baron von Thyssen. In this case, Moneo tried to retain as much of the original architecture of the 18th century structure as possible

José Rafael Moneo is above all an architect of tremendous range. As an eclectic, defined here as selecting and using what is best from all sources, which includes his own creativity, his flexibility in varying the appearance of his works based on their differing contexts is reflected in the way he takes on each new commission as a fresh exercise. He draws on an incredible reservoir of concepts and ideas which he filters through the specifics of the site, the purpose, the form, the climate and other circumstances of the project. As a result, each of his buildings is unique, but at the same time, uniquely recognizable as being from his palette.

That palette has encompassed the ancient, the Museum of Roman Art at Merida, which is one of his finest accomplishments, to the minimalist monument planned for San Sebastián-two translucent cubes that will house the Kursall Auditorium and Congress Center. There are infinite variations between these two examples, embodied in everything from residences and apartments, to art museums, a railway station, an airport, a factory, a hotel, banks, a city hall and other office buildings. Each of his designs has a confident and timeless quality indicative of a master architect whose talent is obvious from the first concept to the last detail of the completed building.

And the completed building is of utmost importance to Moneo, even to the point of being self-effacing, he believes in the built work, and that once built, the work must stand on its own, a reality that is far more than a translation of the architect's drawings. He regards the materials and techniques of construction to be just as important as the architect's vision and concept, and therefore an integral part of making architecture lasting-another the key attribute that he strives for in his work.

The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
The Getty Center sits on a hilltop in the Santa Monica Mountains from which visitors see the disparate aspects of Los Angeles's landscape-the Pacific Ocean, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the vast street-grid of the city. Inspired by the relationship between these elements, architect Richard Meier designed the complex to highlight both nature and culture.

The two naturally occurring ridges are used to organize the buildings that make up the complex. The Museum houses the Getty collections of European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, and decorative arts as well as European and American and European. In addition to the five pavilions for art, a circular building houses the Getty Research Institute (GRI), used primarily by Getty scholars, staff, and visiting researchers. Two buildings to the north and east of the Arrival Plaza house the Getty Grant Program, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the J. Paul Getty Trust administration offices.

Views, light and a rich variety of spaces are guiding principles of the architecture of the Getty. The five galleries, offices, and the auditorium lead out to courtyards and terraces. Much of the buildings are clad in a warm beige travertine, a stone chosen for this project because it is often associated with public architecture and expresses qualities the Getty Center celebrates: permanence, solidity, simplicity, warmth, and craftsmanship.

The 134,000-square-foot Central Garden at the Getty Center was designed by artist Robert Irwin. The design of the Central Garden highlights the changing seasons and re-establishes the natural ravine between the Museum and the Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities with a tree-lined walkway.

The Getty Center opened in December 1997, however the Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony of 1996 was held there. An outdoor reception on one of the terraces was followed by the presentation ceremony inside what was to be a future restaurant space. Speakers included Harold Williams, then president and CEO or the Getty Trust, Richard Meier, architect, and for the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Bill Lacy, J. Carter Brown and Jay Pritzker. Rafael Moneo pronounced an acceptance speech. The dinner followed and was held in an outdoor space in a courtyard of the Museum temporarily covered by a transparent tent.
Read Rafael Moneo's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read J. Carter Brown's Ceremony Speech

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Rafael Moneo | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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José Rafael Moneo was born in the small town of Tudela, Navarra, Spain in May of 1937. His mother, Teresa, was the daughter of a magistrate from Aragón. His father, Rafael, whose family roots were in Tudela, worked there all his life as an industrial engineer.

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Tadao Ando of Osaka, Japan is a man who is at the pinnacle of success in his own country. In the last few years, he has emerged as a cultural force in the world as well. In 1995, the Pritzker Architecture Prize was formally presented to him within the walls of the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France. There is little doubt that anyone in the world of architecture will not be aware of his work. That work, primarily in reinforced concrete, defines spaces in unique new ways that allow constantly changing patterns of light and wind in all his structures, from homes and apartment complexes to places of worship, public museums and commercial shopping centers.

"In all my works, light is an important controlling factor," says Ando. "I create enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete walls. The primary reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself within society. When the external factors of a city's environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be especially full and satisfying."

And further on the subject of walls, Ando writes, "At times walls manifest a power that borders on the violent. They have the power to divide space, transfigure place, and create new domains. Walls are the most basic elements of architecture, but they can also be the most enriching."

Ando continues, "Such things as light and wind only have meaning when they are introduced inside a house in a form cut off from the outside world. I create architectural order on the basis of geometry squares, circles, triangles and rectangles. I try to use forces in the area where I am building, to restore the unity between house and nature (light and wind) that was lost in the process of modernizing Japanese houses during the rapid growth of the fifties and sixties."

John Morris Dixon of Progressive Architecture wrote in 1990: "The geometry of Ando's interior plans, typically involving rectangular systems cut through by curved or angled walls, can look at first glance rather arbitrary and abstract. What one finds in the actual buildings are spaces carefully adjusted to human occupancy." Further, he describes Ando's work as reductivist, but "... the effect is not to deprive us of sensory richness. Far from it. All of his restraint seems aimed at focusing our attention on the relationships of his ample volumes, the play of light on his walls, and the processional sequences he develops."

In his childhood, he spent his time mostly in the fields and streets. From ages 10 to 17, he also spent time making wood models of ships, airplanes, and moulds, learning the craft from a carpenter whose shop was across the street from his home. After a brief stint at being a boxer, Ando began his self-education by apprenticing to several relevant persons such as designers and city planners for short periods. "I was never a good student. I always preferred learning things on my own outside of class. When I was about 18, I started to visit temples, shrines, and tea houses in Kyoto and Nara, there's a lot of great traditional architecture in the area. I was studying architecture by going to see actual buildings, and reading books about them. " He made study trips to Europe and the United States in the sixties to view and analyze great buildings of western civilization, keeping a detailed sketch book which he does even to this day when he travels.

Tadao Ando, a 53 year-old architect who lives and works in Osaka, Japan, was named the eighteenth Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In making the announcement, Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979, quoted from the jury's citation which describes Ando's architecture as "an assemblage of artistically composed surprises in space and form ... that both serve and inspire ... with never a predictable moment as one moves throughout his buildings.

"Ando is the third Japanese architect to be selected for his profession's highest honor which carries a $100,000 grant. The formal presentation was made on May 22 in the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France.

Pritzker affirmed the jury's choice, saying, "Ando conceives his projects as places of habitation not as abstract designs in a landscape. It is not surprising that he is often referred to by his professional peers and critics as being as much a builder as an architect. That emphasizes how important he considers craftsmanship in accomplishing his designs. He requires absolute precision in the making and casting of his concrete forms to achieve the smooth, clean and perfect concrete for his structures."

Even though nearly all of his projects make use of cement as the primary building material, he was a carpenter's apprentice for short time where he learned the craftsmanship of traditional Japanese wooden construction. In fact, one of his most widely known structures was built almost entirely of wood, the Japanese Pavilion for Expo '92 in Spain.

Most of Ando's projects have been in Japan, concentrated mainly in the Osaka area where he was born, raised and currently lives and works. In addition to a number of inspiring religious structures, he has designed museums, commercial buildings that include offices, factories and shopping centers. His professional career began, however, with residential projects.

One of his first commissions was for a small row house in 1977 in his native Osaka, called Azuma House, which received the top prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan in 1979. He has designed a number of significant homes-for single and multiple families-sometimes for mixed commercial/residential use, as well as apartment complexes.

Bill Lacy, executive director for the international panel of jurors that elects the Laureate each year, quoted further from the formal citation from the jury which states, "Ando has accomplished an extraordinary body of work. His powerful inner vision ignores whatever movements, schools or styles that might be current, creating buildings with form and composition related to the kind of life that will be lived there.

Lacy, who is an architect himself and president of the State University of New York at Purchase, elaborated, "A key part of Ando's architectural philosophy is the creation of boundaries within which he can create introspective domains, encapsulating space where people can interrelate to light and shadow, wind and water, away from the surrounding urban chaos.

The selection of Ando marks the third Pritzker Laureate from Japan. Kenzo Tange was the first in 1987 and Fumihiko Maki in 1993 confirming that country's indelible mark on twentieth century modernist architecture that was previously almost exclusively American and European mainstream."

As a self-taught architect, with no architectural degree or even training with a master architect, Ando attributes his development to extensive reading and a number of study trips to Europe and the United States to see actual buildings from history. He kept detailed sketch books of all his travels which he still does to this day.

Tadao Ando is that rare architect who combines artistic and intellectual sensitivity in a single individual capable of producing buildings, large and small, that both serve and inspire. His powerful inner vision, ignores whatever movements, schools or styles that might be current, creating buildings with form and composition related to the kind of life that will be lived there.

At an age when most architects are beginning to do their first serious works, Ando has accomplished an extraordinary body of work, primarily in his native Japan, that already sets him apart. Working with smooth-as-silk concrete, Ando creates spaces using walls that he defines as the most basic element of architecture, but also the most enriching. In spite of his consistent use of materials and the elements of pillar, wall, and vault, his different combinations of these elements always prove exciting and dynamic. His design concepts and materials have linked international Modernism to the Japanese tradition of aesthetics. His dedication and understanding of the importance of craftsmanship have earned him the appellation of builder as well as architect.

He is accomplishing his self-imposed mission to restore the unity between house and nature. Using the most basic geometric forms, he creates microcosms for the individual with ever changing patterns of light. But far more than achieving some abstract design concept, his architecture is a reflection of a fundamental process of building something for habitation.

The Grand Trianon and Chateau of Versailles, Versailles, France
Versailles is world famous as France's site of the most lavish palace and gardens, possibly the greatest monument to absolute monarchy and the culmination of French Classicism. In the twentieth century, it was the site of the signing of a treaty in 1919, ending the First World War.

Originally, a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII was on the site in 1624. Over most of the rest of that century, new structures were built and added by Louis XIV, who in 1682 made it not only the court residence but also the seat of government. In fact, Versailles was the capital of France for nearly a century. The architects of the Sun King Louis XIV were Louis Le Vau in the early years, and then Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who added the enormous north and south wings, the Chapel and the famous Hall of Mirrors. Charles Le Brun supervised the decoration, and the landscaping was planned by Le Notre, who also designed the Tuileries Gardens. It was Louis XIV who had the small palace of stone and pink marble, known as the Grand Trianon, built in 1687 as a less formal retreat. Louis XV was still making additions to the Chateau in 1770 when he had Jacques Gabriel design the opera house.

The presentation of the Pritzker Architecture Prize to architect Tadao Ando was made by Jay A. Pritzker, president of the Hyatt Foundation, in the Grand Trianon which was being used for the occasion by special authorization of the President of French Republic. It is usually reserved for official French government functions.

Following the presentation, ceremony guests continued on to the south wing of the Chateau of Versailles for a formal dinner served in the Hall of Battles. This hall, some 390 feet long by 43 feet wide, and two stories tall, was opened by King Louis Philippe in 1837 and contains 33 large paintings of historic scenes depicting French victories, including the earliest by Clovis in 496 C.E. to the 1809 victory of Napoleon at Wagram.
Read Tadao Ando's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read Philippe Douste-Blazy's Ceremony Speech

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Tadao Ando | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Tadao Ando of Osaka, Japan is a man who is at the pinnacle of success in his own country. In the last few years, he has emerged as a cultural force in the world as well. In 1995, the Pritzker Architecture Prize was formally presented to him within the walls of the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France.

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Christian de Portzamparc will be celebrating his fiftieth birthday on May 5 (1994), an anniversary that will be made even more memorable by the fact that he has just been named the 1994 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. He is the seventeenth person and the sixth European to be so honored since The Hyatt Foundation established the award in 1979.

Highly respected by architectural cognoscente throughout the world, this relatively young French architect explains that he was "a designer who painted before he decided to study architecture." While he still paints, he says, "I am not a painter or sculptor, yet." He is however a frequent lecturer and author. Although he has no built works in the United States, he was one of the finalists in the competition for Chicago's new Museum of Contemporary Art and an Art Museum for Omaha. Most recently he has gained recognition in Japan where he designed apartment buildings for the city of Fukuoka.

Most of his completed projects are in France, perhaps the most visible being the City of Music, a group of structures situated on the edge of the La Villette suburban park in Paris. The project actually has two phases. The first part, housing the National Conservatory of Music and Dance was completed in 1990. The second part with public spaces for concerts will open next January. Portzamparc says when he began work on the City of Music in 1984, his thoughts were carried back to a house in Brittany, the first thing he ever built, "In that design, each room was like a separate little house," he says. "I have discovered that each new project is the sum of all my previous works. No new work springs to life without some relationship to past inspiration."

President Mitterrand is credited with stimulating an architectural renaissance in France with his international competitions for new buildings in his country. He has made his position clear with the oft-quoted statement, "I believe that a people are great when their architecture is great." Perhaps one of the most widely publicized of the Grands Projets has been the addition to the Louvre Museum by the 1983 Pritzker Laureate, Ieoh Ming Pei.

City of Music, known throughout Europe as one of the Grands Projets, has been praised in the architectural press around the world. Spain's Interior Architecture and Design (Diseño Interior) magazine said of City of Music: "A building with lyric qualities, full of whiteness and opacity, it is the antithesis of the ethereal transparencies and other technological approaches so typical of the new French academicism." The formal opening is scheduled for early in 1995.

When the City of Music project was just beginning, another of Portzamparc's important projects was being completed and hailed as one of the best examples of contextualism in the city. It was the Erik Satie Conservatory of Music and Elderly Housing. This project, which he began in 1981 after winning a competition, has been described as being Post Modern, but the architect himself prefers not to be categorized, and he calls attention to his subsequent commissions as evidence of a much more personal style.

Parisian Architect Is Named 1994 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Christian de Portzamparc, a 50 year-old French architect who lives and works in Paris, has been named the seventeenth Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The Hyatt Foundation jury described Portzamparc as "a powerful poet of forms and creator of eloquent spaces," in announcing him as the sixth European architect to be selected for his profession's highest honor.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979, will present Portzamparc with a $100,000 grant and a bronze medal at a ceremony to be held June 14 in Columbus, Indiana-a community that boasts more buildings by world-renowned architects than any other small town. In making the announcement, Pritzker praised the choice of the jury, saying, "Portzamparc is the first French architect to be so honored. It is not only a tribute to him as an individual, but an homage as well, to the great architectural traditions of France, and particularly Le Corbusier who has forever influenced architecture everywhere."

Bill Lacy, secretary to the international panel of jurors that elects the Laureate each year, quoted from the formal citation from the jury: "Christian de Portzamparc's new architecture is of our time, bound neither by classicism nor modernism. His expanded perceptions and ideas seek answers beyond mere style. He is a part of a new generation of French architects who have incorporated the lessons of the Beaux Arts into an exuberant collage of contemporary architectural idioms, at once bold, colorful and original." Lacy, who is an architect himself and president of the State University of New York at Purchase, elaborated, "Every architect who aspires to greatness must in some sense reinvent architecture; conceive new solutions; develop a special design character; find a new aesthetic vocabulary. Portzamparc has an unusually clear and consistent vision, devising highly original spaces that serve a variety of functions."

Portzamparc, who was born in Casablanca, Morocco while his father served in the French Army there, completed his architectural degree at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1969. His first commission was for a water tower in a new community, Marne-La-Vallee, located approximately 20 miles east of Paris. The water tower is unique in that it has an outer skin offine mesh open trellis work covered with climbing plants, and is modeled after the Tower of Babel. Its location in the center of town at a crossroads makes it a focal point.

Most of his completed projects are in France, the most widely publicized being the City of Music, a new music academy in the Parisian suburban park, La Villette. It is one of the Grands Projets of President Mitterrand, a program of commissioning new buildings which has stimulated an architectural renaissance in his country. The first phase of the project was completed in 1991, and the final phase is scheduled to open in January.

Christian de Portzamparc's new architecture is of our time, bound neither by classicism nor modernism. His expanded perceptions and ideas seek answers beyond mere style. It is a new architecture characterized by seeing buildings, their functions and the life within them, in new ways that require wide-ranging, but thoughtful exploration for unprecedented solutions.

Every architect who aspires to greatness must in some sense reinvent architecture; conceive new solutions; develop a special design character; find a new aesthetic vocabulary. Portzamparc's work exhibits all these characteristics. He has an unusually clear and consistent vision, devising highly original spaces that serve a variety of functions on an urban scale in the Cite' de la Musique, or a more personal individual scale in a housing project or the delightfully chic Cafr Beaubourg.

He is a gifted composer using space, structure, texture, form, light and color all shaped by his personal vision. This reinvented architecture, no matter how idiosyncratic or original, still has its common source in modernism, appropriately assimilated.

Portzamparc is the first French architect to be awarded the Pritzker Prize. It is a fitting tribute to the individual and to the rich tradition of French architecture that he represents. No other country, with the possible exception of Italy, has made such a contribution to the field of architecture through its buildings, its urban design and through the Beaux Arts educational system.

The Ecoles des Beaux Arts held sway over the minds of generations of architects for a century or more, and even in recent times has proven more tenacious and pervasive in its influence than is generally acknowledged. Its theories, doctrines and teaching methods still dominate architectural education in many parts of the world.

The Commons, Columbus, lndiana
Columbus, Indiana, a small town some 45 miles south of Indianapolis, is a showcase of modern architecture with over fifty buildings designed by internationally recognized firms. Architectural enthusiast and Chairman of Cummings Engine Company, J. Irwin Miller was influential in bringing quality architecture to the town. His support of modern architecture began in 1937 when Elliel Saarinen received the commission to design a church in Columbus. In support of the concept that the built environment is crucial to a quality community, patronage was moved from an individual effort to a broader endeavor with the founding of the Cummings Engine Foundation. Established in 1954, its mission was to pay architects' fees for any civic building designed by an architect selected from a list of approved professionals. Professionals such as Harry Weese, Richard Meier, I.M. Pei, SOM, and Venturi & Rauch, among others, have built in Columbus.

The glass enclosed Commons Centre was designed by Cesar Pelli in 1973 while he was with Gruen Associates in Los Angeles. The complex occupies two blocks in the center of downtown. It is a bi-level public space with a playground, performance stage, exhibition space, cafeteria and areas for seating. The Centre also incorporates a large civic space where many community events take place. The complex it is enlivened by Jean Tinguely's Chaos I (1974).

The 1994 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony was held at the Commons and included the participation of the Mayor of Columbus, The French Minister of Culture, the Director of Architecture for the French Ministry of Infrastructures, and representing the Pritzker Architecture Prize organization, J. Carter Brown, Bill Lacy, and Jay Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation.
Read Christian de Portzamparc's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read J. Carter Brown's Ceremony Speech Read Bill Lacy's Ceremony Speech Reach Jacques Toubon's Ceremony Speech

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Christian de Portzamparc | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Christian de Portzamparc will be celebrating his fiftieth birthday on May 5 (1994), an anniversary that will be made even more memorable by the fact that he has just been named the 1994 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. He is the seventeenth person and the sixth European to be so honored since The Hyatt Foundation established the award in 1979.

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Fumihiko Maki calls himself a modernist, unequivocally. His buildings tend to be direct, at times understated, and made of metal, concrete and glass, the classic materials of the modernist age, but the canonical palette has also been extended to include such materials as mosaic tile, anodized aluminum and stainless steel. Along with a great many other Japanese architects, he has maintained a consistent interest in new technology as part of his design language, quite often taking advantage of modular systems in construction. He makes a conscious effort to capture the spirit of a place and an era, producing with each building or complex of buildings, a work that makes full use of all that is presently at his command. Maki often speaks of the idea of creating "unforgettable scenes"-in effect, settings to accommodate and complement all kinds of human interaction-as the inspiration and starting point for his designs.

Maki, who was born in Tokyo on September 6, 1928, studied with Kenzo Tange at the University of Tokyo where he received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1952. Maki then spent the next year at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. After completing a Master of Architecture degree at the Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard University, he apprenticed at the firms Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, New York and Sert Jackson and Associates in Cambridge.

In 1956, he took a post as assistant professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also received his first design commission-for the Steinberg Hall (an art center) on that campus. Following his four years there, he joined the faculty at Harvard's GSD from 1962 to 1965, and has been a frequent guest lecturer at numerous other universities.

In 1965, he returned to Japan to establish his own firm, Maki and Associates in Tokyo. In the 28 years since, his staff has grown to approximately 35 people, with an equal number having passed through to begin their own practices. "I was never attracted to the idea of a large organization. On the other hand, a small organization may tend to develop a very narrow viewpoint. My ideal is a group structure that allows people with diverse imaginations, that often contradict and are in conflict with one another, to work in a condition of flux, but that also permits the making of decisions that are as calculated and objectively weighed as necessary for the creation of something as concrete as architecture."

Japanese Architect Fumihiko Maki Is Named 1993 Laureate of the Pritzker Archtecture Prize
Citing his work as "intelligent and artistic in concept and expression, meticulously achieved," The Hyatt Foundation jury has named Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki the sixteenth Laureate of his profession's highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Maki, whose modernist architectural achievements in Japan have been raised throughout the world as highly successful fusions of the cultures of east and west, is the second Japanese architect to win the Pritzker Prize, and was a student of the first, Kenzo Tange, who received the honor in 1987.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the award in 1979, will present Maki with a $100,000 grant and medal at a ceremony to be held at Prague Castle in the recently formed Czech Republic on June 10.

In making the announcement from The Hyatt Foundation's office in Los Angeles, Pritzker lauded the choice of the jury, saying, "Maki's roots are in Japan, but his studies and early work in the United States have given him an unique understanding of both eastern and western cultures evident in his designs. He never loses touch with human scale, whatever the size of the project."

Bill Lacy, secretary to the international panel of jurors that elects the Laureate each year, quoted from the formal citation from the jury: "He uses light in a masterful way making it as tangible a part of every design as are the walls and roof. In each building, he searches for a way to make transparency, translucency and opacity exist in total harmony. He uses detail to give his structures rhythm and scale."

The prize is presented to him, Lacy continued, "For building works that are not only expressions of his time, but that are destined to survive mere fashion."

Lacy elaborated, "A group of young Japanese architects, bound by the past and firmly committed to respect it, but determined to look to the future emerged in the late 1940s. Their architecture was both experimental and modernist with some European overtones that gradually gave way to a more original and uniquely Japanese style. Their work was featured in the international architectural press and soon they were the emulated, not the emulators, with their inventive and artistic new shapes and pioneering use of new materials. Fumihiko Maki was one of the leaders of this new wave that would rebuild Japan."

Maki who was born on September 6, 1928 took his undergraduate degree in architecture at the University of Tokyo before going on for Masters degrees at both Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

His first commission was in the United States at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri-Steinberg Hall, an arts center. It remains his only built work in the U.S. until the completion of the Yerba Buena Gardens Visual Arts Center currently under construction in San Francisco, scheduled to open this fall.

Fumihiko Maki of Japan is an architect whose work is intelligent and artistic in concept and expression, meticulously achieved.

He is a modernist who has fused the best of both eastern and western cultures to create an architecture representing the age-old qualities of his native country while at the same time juxtaposing contemporary construction methods and materials.

His first exposure to modern architecture was in 1930s Tokyo where a few pioneering architects departed from traditional and European styles. Following his graduation from the University of Tokyo, he came to the United States for further study at Cranbrook Academy of Art and at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design under Jose Luis Sert. He later taught at Washington University, where as a young professor, he designed his first built work. These early experiences helped build the foundation for his own unique style that would reflect his cosmopolitan view of the world.

Early in his career, he became a founding member of an avant garde group of talented young Japanese architects calling themselves Metabolists, a word derived from the Greek with various meanings-alteration, variation, revolution-changeability and flexibility being key elements of their view. One aim was never to design in isolation from the city structure as a whole.

Maki has expressed his constant concern for the "parts" and the "whole"-describing one of his goals as achieving a dynamic equilibrium that includes sometimes conflicting masses, volumes, and materials.

He uses light in a masterful way making it as tangible a part of every design as are the walls and roof. In each building, he searches for a way to make transparency, translucency and opacity exist in total harmony. To echo his own words, "Detailing is what gives architecture its rhythm and scale."

There is amazing diversity in his work-from the awesome Nippon Convention Center near Tokyo with its man-made mountain range of stainless steel roofs to his earlier and smaller YKK Guest House or a planned orphan village in Poland.

Prague Castle, Prague, Czech Republic
Prague Castle is a sprawling complex situated atop a large hill on the left bank of the Vltava River. Dating back to the nineth century, several castles have occupied the site of the current Prague Castle, which today is the seat of the President of the Czech Republic, and serves as the historical and political center of both the city and state.

A Romanesque palace was erected there in the twelfth century that was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the fourteenth century, during the rule of Charles IV. The Royal Palace was re-built to the current shape under the ruling Jagellos dynasty at the end of the fifteenth century. At that time, renowned architect, Benedikt Rejt, added the now-famous Vladislav Hall, also in the Gothic style. The castle was enlarged in the sixteenth century. The Spanish Hall, in a new part of the castle, was added during the reign of Rudolf II. Prague Castle took on a classical appearance in the eighteenth century, which it maintains today, during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa, under the direction of architect Nicolò Pacassi. After World War I, the gardens and the interior of the castle were renovated by Slovene architect Jože Plečnik.

From 1920 until 1934, he completed numerous projects at the castle, including the renovation of numerous gardens and courtyards, the design and installation of monuments and sculptures, and the design of numerous new interior spaces, including the Plečnik Hall completed in 1930, which features three levels of abstracted Doric colonnades.

Speakers at the official presentation ceremony of the 1993 Pritzker Architecture Prize were: Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic; Milan Udhe, President, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic; Adrian A Basora, US Ambassador ; Bill Lacy, Secretary to the Jury; J. Carter Brown, Chairman of the Jury; and Jay A. Pritzker, President The Hyatt Foundation.
Read Fumihiko Maki's Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech Read J. Carter Brown's Ceremony Speech Read Milan Uhde's Ceremony Speech

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Fumihiko Maki | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Fumihiko Maki calls himself a modernist, unequivocally. His buildings tend to be direct, at times understated, and made of metal, concrete and glass, the classic materials of the modernist age, but the canonical palette has also been extended to include such materials as mosaic tile, anodized aluminum and stainless steel.

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"Every design," says Siza, "is a rigorous attempt to capture a concrete moment of a transitory image in all its nuances. The extent to which this transitory quality is captured, is reflected in the designs: the more precise they are, the more vulnerable."

While working on a sizable office building design for Porto, Siza discounted any possibility of blending the new building by imitating its surroundings. The area was too important since it was between the historic center of the city and a bridge that has great significance because it was built by Eiffel in 1866. He explained, "We have gone beyond the stage whereby unity of language was believed to be the universal solution for architectural problems. Recognizing that complexity is the nature of the city, transformational movements take on very different forms."

Siza, whose full name is Alvaro Joaquim de Meio Siza Vieira, was born on June 25, 1933 in the small coastal town of Matosinhos, just north of Porto, Portugal. Siza studied at the University of Porto School of Architecture from 1949 through 1955, completing his first built works (four houses in Matosinhos) even before ending his studies in 1954. That same year he opened his private practice in Porto.

In 1966, Siza began teaching at the University, and in 1976, he was made a tenured Professor of Architecture. In addition to his teaching there, he has been a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; the University of Pennsylvania; Los Andes University of Bogota; and the Ecole Polytechnique of Lausanne.

In addition, he has been a guest lecturer at many universities and conferences throughout the world, from the United States, Colombia and Argentina to Spain, Germany, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and England in Europe.

In recent years, he has received honors from foundations and institutions in Europe, including, the Alvar Aalto Foundation Gold Medal in 1988, the renowned Mies van der Rohe Foundation Award the Borges & Irmao Bank in Vila do Conde, Portugal (1982-86). In the United States in 1988, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design recognized Siza for his Malagueira Quarter Housing Project in Evora, Portugal that began in 1977, presenting him with the first Veronica Rudge Green Prize, often referred to as the Prince of Wales Prize for Urban Design.

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Alvaro Siza | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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"Every design," says Siza, "is a rigorous attempt to capture a concrete moment of a transitory image in all its nuances. The extent to which this transitory quality is captured, is reflected in the designs: the more precise they are, the more vulnerable."

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Robert Venturi (1925-2018) has been described as one of the most original talents in contemporary architecture. He has also been credited with saving modern architecture from itself. He has done this by being eloquent verbally with his writings and visually with the appearance of his buildings. Like other Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates before him, he is a writer, a teacher, an artist and philosopher, as well as an architect.

Venturi graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1947 and received his Master of Fine Art degree, also from Princeton, in 1950. He furthered his studies as a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome from 1954 to 1956. Shortly after his return to the United States, he taught an architectural theory course at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Architecture. In the following three decades, he has lectured at numerous institutions including Yale, Princeton, Harvard, University of California at Los Angeles, Rice University and the American Academy in Rome.

In his first book, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, published in 1966 by the Museum of Modern Art, Venturi posed the question, "Is not Main Street almost all right?" He was arguing for what he called "the messy vitality" of the built environment. As he puts it, "We were calling for an architecture that promotes richness and ambiguity over unity and clarity, contradiction and redundancy over harmony and simplicity." He was challenging Modernism with the multiple solutions available from history-a history defined as relating not only to the specific building site, but the history of all architecture. He wanted architecture to deal with the complexities of the city, to become more contextual.

In his original preface to the book, Venturi states, "As an architect, I try to be guided not by habit but by a conscious sense of the past-by precedent, thoughtfully considered." He continues later, "As an artist, I frankly write about what I like in architecture: complexity and contradiction. From what we find we like-what we are easily attracted to-we can learn much of what we really are."

Venturi is an architect whose work cannot be categorized; to him, there is never a single solution. Lest anyone try to pigeon-hole him as a postmodernist, he declared that he was practicing modern architecture, and paraphrased his own words earlier about Main Street, "the modern movement was almost all right." emphasizing his close affinity to the basic tenets of modernism, while still giving importance to human use, memories, comfort and entertainment. Venturi has made it possible to accept the casual and the improvised in the built environment.

Venturi's early professional work was in the office of Eero Saarinen, where among other projects, he worked on the design of the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center. He also worked in the offices of Louis I. Kahn and Oscar Stonorov in Philadelphia.

Architect Robert Venturi Is Named the 1991 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Robert Venturi, who has always identified himself as a Philadelphia architect, but whose projects are international in scope, has been selected to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize of 1991, generally acknowledged as architecture's highest award. Venturi, often described as one of the most original talents in contemporary architecture, has not only made his mark with built works, but with his writings, teaching and theories.

He has been credited with saving modem architecture from itself by making it possible to accept the casual and the improvised. After Venturi issued his now famous "Less is a bore," response to the Mies van der Rohe modernist dictum, "Less is more," architecture has not been the same.

In making the announcement, Bill Lacy, secretary to the international panel of jurors that elects the Laureate, quoted from the jury citation lauding Venturi, "He has expanded and redefined the limits of the art of architecture in this century, as perhaps no other has, through his theories and built works."

The prize, consisting of $100,000 grant, a medallion and formal certificate, will be presented by Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, in a ceremony on May 16 at Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City, Mexico. Robert Venturi is the seventh American to become a Laureate since the prestigious prize was established by The Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Seven other architects from as many countries have been so honored in the same time period, making him the fourteenth Laureate.

Venturi, who will be approaching his sixty-sixth birthday when he receives the honor, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Princeton University. He furthered his studies as a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

In the past three decades, his works have ranged from cups and saucers to major buildings that are or will become landmarks. In his hometown, he is designing a new Philadelphia Orchestra Hall. On Trafalgar Square in London, a major addition to the National Gallery of Art will soon be opened. Halfway around the world in Washington State, the Seattle Museum of Art will soon be finished. Down the coast to the University of California at Los Angeles, a new Medical Research Laboratory has just been completed.

Many of his projects are for institutions of higher learning, including his alma mater, Princeton, where he has numerous completed projects, among the most recent being the Fisher/Bendheim Halls. Other buildings are found on the campuses of Oberlin College, University of Pennsylvania, Shippensburg University and Dartmouth College.

Architecture is a profession about wood, bricks, stones, steel and glass. It is also an art form that is based on words, ideas and conceptual frameworks. Few architects of the twentieth century have been able to combine both aspects of the profession, and none have done so more successfully than Robert Venturi.

He has expanded and redefined the limits of the art of architecture in this century, as perhaps no other has through his theories and built works. Of the former, his thin but potent volume, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, published in 1966, is generally acknowledged to have diverted the mainstream of architecture away from modernism.

The extent of the influence that this treatise has had on everyone practicing or teaching architecture is impossible to measure, but readily apparent. In this landmark book, Venturi looked with fresh eyes at the architectural landscape of America and described the inherent honesty and beauty of ordinary buildings. From this simple observation he wove a manifesto that challenged prevailing thinking on the subject of American functionalist architecture, and the minimalism of the International School.

Not content with just theory, Venturi began to implement his convictions. He provided full-scale illustrations of his ideas through his pioneering early buildings. His first houses, including one for his mother in 1961, gave form to his beliefs, confounding the critics and angering many of his peers. Over the intervening years he methodically forged a career that established him not only as a theorist of exceptional insight, but also as a master practitioner of the arts.

Palacio de Iturbide, Mexico City, Mexico
El Palacio de Iturbide, located in the historical center of Mexico City, was designed by architect Francisco Guerrero y Torres and completed in 1785. The palace is an adaptation of the Spanish Barroque, as built in the New World. It is considered a masterwork of civil architecture of its period due to the richness of materials and sumptuous detailing. It is also the only eighteenth century Mexican residence to have four floors. The immense interior patio, recalling Italian villas, is defined by eighteen arches resting on Tuscan columns.

The palace takes its name from Agustin Iturbide, an important military and political leader (and first, but brief, Emperor of Mexico). The house was given to him in 1821 to served as his residence until 1823. Over the years the building has experienced many uses, including hotel, offices, and workshops. It was declared a national monument in 1931. Finally, the Palace of Iturbide was acquired in 1972 by Banamex, the National Bank of Mexico, and since then has been restored and used for important cultural activities.
Read Robert Venturi's Ceremony Acceptance Speech

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Robert Venturi | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Robert Venturi (1925-2018) has been described as one of the most original talents in contemporary architecture. He has also been credited with saving modern architecture from itself. He has done this by being eloquent verbally with his writings and visually with the appearance of his buildings.

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Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) has achieved distinction as a theorist, author, artist, teacher and architect, in his native Italy as well as internationally. Noted critic and historian, Vincent Scully, has compared him to Le Corbusier as a painter-architect. Ada Louise Huxtable, architectural critic and Pritzker juror has described Rossi as "a poet who happens to be an architect."

Rossi was born in Milan, Italy where his father was engaged in the manufacture of bicycles, bearing the family name, a business he says was founded by his grandfather. While growing up during the years of World War II, Rossi's early education took place at Lake Como, and later in Lecco. Shortly after the war ended, he entered the Milan Polytechnic University, receiving his architecture degree in 1959. Rossi served as editor of the Architectural magazine Casabella from 1955 to 1964.

Although early film aspirations were gradually transposed to architecture, he still retains strong interest in drama. In fact, he says, "In all of my architecture, I have always been fascinated by the theatre." For the Venice Biennale in 1979, he designed the Teatro del Mondo, a floating theatre, built under a joint commission from the theatre and architecture commissions of the Biennale. It seated 250 around a central stage. It was towed by sea to the Punta della Dogana where it remained through the Biennale. Rossi described the project in its site, as "a place where architecture ended and the world of the imagination began." More recently, he completed a major building for Genoa, the Carlo Felice Theatre which is the National Opera House. In Canada, the first Rossi project in the Western Hemisphere was completed in 1987 when the Toronto Lighthouse Theatre was built on the banks of Lake Ontario.

In his book, A Scientific Autobiography, he describes an auto accident that occurred in 1971 as being a turning point in his life, ending his youth, and inspiring a project for the cemetery at Modena. It was while he was recuperating in a hospital that he began thinking of cities as great encampments of the living, and cemeteries as cities of the dead. Rossi's design for the cemetery at San Cataldo won first prize in a competition in 1971, and is being built in stages.

Aldo Rossi of Italy Elected 1990 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Aldo Rossi of Milan, Italy has been selected as the 1990 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. Twelve architects have been previously named over the past eleven years, six from the United States and six from other countries. Rossi is the seventh from the international community to receive the prestigious prize, acknowledged as the Nobel of architecture.

The prize, consisting of a $100,000 grant, a medallion and formal citation, will be presented by Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, in a formal ceremony on Saturday, June 16 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Italy.

Rossi, who will celebrate his fifty-ninth birthday on May 3, received his architecture degree in 1959 at the Polytechnic University of Milan. In those three decades since, he has achieved international recognition not only as a practicing architect, but also as an artist and author of architectural theories and urban design concepts.

In recent years, he has completed a number of significant projects around the world, including the Toronto Lighthouse Theatre in Canada, the 11 Palazzo Hotel and Restaurant Complex in Japan, and in his native Italy commercial centers, various types of housing, theatres, museums, cemeteries, schools, and other public buildings. In the United States, he has completed two projects, one in Galveston, Texas, a monumental arch; and in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, the Pocono Pines houses. He has a major project underway in Coral Gables, Florida, the new School of Architecture for the University of Miami.

A number of other major works are under construction or design phases in Japan, France, England, the Netherlands, and West Germany. He has won design competitions and lectured in major universities around the world over the past thirty years. In the U.S. alone, he has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, Cooper Union, and Cornell.

His drawings and paintings have won him acclaim in exhibitions. His designs for such objects as a coffee pot and furniture have given another added dimension to his career.

As an architectural and urban design theorist, he wrote The Architecture of the City in 1966. Originally published in Italy, it has since been translated into seven languages and has become an international reference on the subject. His A Scientific Autobiography which was first published in English in 1981 has provided even further insight to his beliefs.

Architecture is a profession in which talent matures slowly. It is a discipline which requires many years of thoughtful observation, of testing principles, of sensing space, and experiencing the many moods necessary for seasoning and nurturing. Wunderkind in architecture are extremely rare.

The array of abilities that permit an architect to work with a sure hand and achieve the intended result allows for no shortcuts. An architect who would be the best he can be must serve a lifetime apprenticeship, well beyond that required for official licensing. He must know human behavior, understand structures and materials, and how to shape forms and spaces to serve intended purposes in inspired and original ways.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury has found these qualities and more in Aldo Rossi, and have selected him as the 1990 Laureate.

Known for many years as a theorist, philosopher, artist and teacher, Rossi has spent time developing his architectural voice, and pen. Words as well as drawings and buildings have distinguished him as one of the great architects. As a master draftsman, steeped in the tradition of Italian art and architecture, Rossi's sketches and renderings of buildings have often achieved international recognition long before being built.

His book, Architecture and the City, published in 1966, is a text of significance in the study of urban design and thinking. Out of this theoretical base came designs that seem always to be a part of the city fabric, rather than an intrusion.

Each of Rossi's designs, whether an office complex, hotel, cemetery, a floating theatre, an exquisite coffee pot, or even toys, captures the essence of purpose.

Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Located on the Grand Canal in Venice, the Palazzo Grassi design of the building is attributed to Giorgio Massari (1687-1766), who was at that period terminating Ca' Rezzonico on the opposite side of the Grand Canal. Palazzo Grassi was the last palace to be erected in Venice before the fall of the Republic and the largest sited on the Grand Canal. The building of monumental marble palazzos, dominating a noble and panoramic site was certainly one of the most recognizable and unmistakable signs of a family's newly-acquired status and wealth. It is believed that the Grassi family began to purchase land and buildings for their Palazzo beginning in the 1730s. Having amassed enough land opening on to the Grand Canal in the early 1740s, they could undertake their ambitious building project.

The first great fondaco-houses along the Grand Canal were built in the thirteenth century. It was during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that resplendent and colorful Venetian Gothic style was employed. During the Renaissance, however, architectural orders and rules based both on Ancient Roman as well as modern precepts were used.

The white marble palace for the Grassi family was completed by 1872. Its architecture expresses an academic classicism that is somewhat out of touch with the surrounding Venetian palazzos. It has a formal palace façade, lacking the lower mercantile openings, with an especially rhythmic arrangement of the bays.

After the Grassi family sold Palazzo Grassi in 1840, its ownership passed through many different individual hands. In 1983, the Palazzo was purchased by the FIAT group with the goal of transforming the building into an exhibition space for the visual arts. Since 2006, the palace is owned by the French entrepreneur François Pinault who exhibits his art collection there.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony honoring Italian architect, Aldo Rossi, took place at this palace in Venice in 1990.
Read Aldo Rossi's Ceremony Acceptance Speech

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Aldo Rossi | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) has achieved distinction as a theorist, author, artist, teacher and architect, in his native Italy as well as internationally. Noted critic and historian, Vincent Scully, has compared him to Le Corbusier as a painter-architect. Ada Louise Huxtable, architectural critic and Pritzker juror has described Rossi as "a poet who happens to be an architect."

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Frank Gehry considers the recently commissioned Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to be his first major project in his hometown. No stranger to music, he has a long association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, having worked to improve the acoustics of the Hollywood Bowl. He also designed the Concord Amphitheatre in northern California, and yet another much earlier in his career in Columbia, Maryland, the Merriweather Post Pavilion of Music.

The Museum of Contemporary Art selected him to convert an old warehouse into its Temporary Contemporary (1983) exhibition space while the permanent museum was being built. It has received high praise, and remains in use today. On a much smaller scale, but equally as effective, Gehry remodeled what was once an ice warehouse in Santa Monica, adding some other buildings to the site, into a combination art museum/retail and office complex.

The belief that "architecture is art" has been a part of Frank Gehry's being for as long as he can remember. In fact, when asked if he had any mentors or idols in the history of architecture, his reply was to pick up a Brancusi photograph on his desk, saying, "Actually, I tend to think more in terms of artists like this. He has had more influence on my work than most architects. In fact, someone suggested that my skyscraper that won a New York competition looked like a Brancusi sculpture. I could name Alvar Aalto from the architecture world as someone for whom I have great respect, and of course, Philip Johnson."

Born in Canada in 1929, Gehry is today a naturalized U.S. citizen. In 1954, he graduated from the University of Southern California and began working full time with Victor Gruen Associates, where he had been apprenticing part-time while still in school. After a year in the army, he was admitted to Harvard Graduate School of Design to study urban planning. When he returned to Los Angeles, he briefly worked for Pereira and Luckman, and then rejoined Gruen where he stayed until 1960.

In 1961, Gehry and family, which by now included two daughters, moved to Paris where he worked in the office of Andre Remondet. His French education in Canada was an enormous help. During that year of living in Europe, he studied works by LeCorbusier, Balthasar Neumann, and was attracted to the French Roman churches. In 1962, he returned to Los Angeles and set up his own firm.

He has said on more than one occasion, "Personally, I hate chain link. I got involved with it because it was inevitably being used around my buildings. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

A project in 1979 illustrates his use of chain-link fencing in the construction of the Cabrillo Marine Museum, a 20,000 square foot compound of buildings that he "laced together" with chain-link fencing. These "shadow structures" as Gehry calls them, bind together the parts of the museum.

California Architect Frank Gehry Named 1989 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Frank Gehry of Santa Monica, California has been selected as the twelfth Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. Although born in Canada, he became a citizen of the United States in 1950. He is the sixth American to receive the prestigious prize since it was established by The Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Architects from six other countries have also been so honored in the past decade.

The prize, consisting of a $100,000 grant, a medallion and formal certificate, will be presented in a ceremony on May 18 in Nara, Japan at Todai-Ji Buddhist Temple, the world's largest and oldest wooden structure, with the status of a National Treasure in that country.

Having just celebrated his sixtieth birthday, Gehry has achieved considerable fame in recent years due in part to some of his more unusual projects, making use of materials such as chain link fencing, cardboard, and corrugated metal in unorthodox ways. His own home in Santa Monica is a well-known example.

Gehry received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California in 1954, with further study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1956 and 1957.

His career was launched with the design of a highly regarded Los Angeles landmark, the Danziger Studio/Residence in 1964. A retrospective exhibition of his work, organized by the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis, Minnesota, toured major museums over the past two years, drawing record crowds.

In Los Angeles, the recent awarding of a commission to design the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the Music Center, estimated to cost one hundred million dollars to some of his more unusual projects, brought him added acclaim. In the past year, he has also received a commission for a major high-rise building for Progressive Corporation in Cleveland, and he won the competition for another in New York.

Gehry has received more than 25 national and regional AIA Awards, the Brunner Prize, and many others. He is a much sought after lecturer for museums, architecture societies and universities. In addition to his building designs, he has become widely known for his cardboard furniture concepts, and for designing museum exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art-from Art Treasures of Japan to the Treasures of Tutankhamun as well as for the works of contemporary artists.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, announced the 1989 choice of the jury, saying, "The great body of work of architect Frank Gehry, which includes residences, museums, libraries, schools, shops, concert halls, restaurants, all manner of public buildings, and even a hay barn, demonstrates a range of styles that defies classification, but certainly warrants recognition for his contributions to the art of architecture."

Bill Lacy secretary to the jury, reported the formal citation from the selection panel, that reads as follows: "In an artistic climate that too often looks backward rather than toward the future, where retrospectives are more prevalent than risk-taking, it is important to honor the architecture of Frank Gehry.

Refreshingly original and totally American, proceeding as it does from his populist Southern California perspective, Gehry's work is a highly refined, sophisticated and adventurous aesthetic that emphasizes the art of architecture.

Bill Lacy, the executive director of the Pritzker Prize, wrote in his 1991 book, 100 Contemporary Architects, "As an architect/philosopher/artist, Dutchman Rem Koolhaas has expanded and continues to expand our perceptions of cities and civilization."

In an artistic climate that too often looks backward rather than toward the future, where retrospectives are more prevalent than risk-taking, it is important to honor the architecture of Frank O. Gehry.

Refreshingly original and totally American, proceeding as it does from his populist Southern California perspective, Gehry's work is a highly refined, sophisticated and adventurous aesthetic that emphasizes the art of architecture.

His sometimes controversial, but always arresting body of work, has been variously described as iconoclastic, rambunctious and impermanent, but the jury, in making this award, commends this restless spirit that has made his buildings a unique expression of contemporary society and its ambivalent values.

Always open to experimentation, he has as well a sureness and maturity that resists, in the same way that Picasso did, being bound either by critical acceptance or his successes. His buildings are juxtaposed collages of spaces and materials that make users appreciative of both the theatre and the back-stage, simultaneously revealed.

Although the prize is for a lifetime of achievement, the jury hopes Mr. Gehry will view it as encouragement for continuing an extraordinary "work in progress," as well as for his significant contributions thus far to the architecture of the twentieth century.

Todai-ji Buddhist Temple, Nara, Japan
Todai-ji, or Eastern Great Temple, a Buddhist temple complex in the city of Nara, Japan, was originally founded in the year 743. At that time, Buddhism was at its height and served as a state religion. The best-known statue at Todai-ji Temple is Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese as Daibutsu. It is a giant gilded statue 49 feet tall. It was originally housed in an all-wood building, the Daibutsu-den, 157 feet in height, reputedly the largest wooden building in the world of its time. The statue has been recast several times since for various reasons including earthquake damage, and the temple rebuilt twice after fire. The current building, finished in 1709 although immense, is about thirty percent smaller than its predecessor. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage site as "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara," together with seven other sites including temples, shrines, and places in the city of Nara.

Also built around the middle of the eighth century at Todai-ji, the original Shosoin, which is an architectural treasure in itself, served as the repository for the temple treasure. It is made in the Azekura style, a log-house construction that is often seen in old storehouses: the walls, intersecting at corners, are built up of hewn logs laid horizontally on top of each other. Shosoin safeguarded a heritage of around 9,000 different objects that date back to the seventh and eighth centuries along with numerous works from overseas, especially from Persia, China, and Korea.

Frank Gehry received the 1989 Pritzker Architecture Prize at the ceremony at Todai-ji, Nara, Japan.
Read Frank Gehry's Ceremony Acceptance Speech

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Frank Gehry | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Frank Gehry considers the recently commissioned Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to be his first major project in his hometown. No stranger to music, he has a long association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, having worked to improve the acoustics of the Hollywood Bowl.

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Two architects, Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer, from North and South America respectively, whose works have been among the most influential and recognized in this century have been named Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates of 1988. The awards will be presented on Monday, May 23, at a ceremony at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the prize in 1979, commented, "We are delighted that the jury has used the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the prize to honor, not one, but two masters of modern architecture."

Niemeyer, who lives in Rio de Janeiro and will be 81 this year, is perhaps best known for designing most of the buildings in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil. He began his career in 1936, achieving his first taste of international acclaim in a collaboration with Le Corbusier on the building for the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro. It attracted worldwide attention at the time as one of the first buildings to express the emerging concepts of the modern architectural movement. In thr late forties, the two again worked together on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. He is the sixth architect from outside the United States to receive the prize.

Bunshaft, who celebrates his seventy-ninth birthday this year lives in New York City. He has designed many buildings there, one of which, Lever House, has been declared an historic landmark, and which Bunshaft calls "my first real building." The sixty-story Chase Manhattan Bank, the Union Carbide Building, and the original PepsiCo building are all Bunshaft additions to the New York skyline. In Washington, D.C., the Hirshhorn Museum has become a familiar addition to the cultural landscape. In his hometown of Buffalo, New York, he designed another art museum, the addition to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, described by another Pritzker Laureate as "the most beautiful museum in the world." In Texas, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, and at Yale, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, add to 'the distinction of their designer, whose career at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, New York spanned over four decades. His last building for that firm before retiring was one he calls "one of my best and most unique projects," the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Purpose of the prize is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

The prize consists of a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, and a medallion. When the Pritzker family established the prize, they wanted to honor a creative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. They modeled their procedures and rewards after the latter. As with the Nobels, the two Pritzker Laureates chosen by the jury in 1988 will share the prize equally.

The nominating procedure is continuous from year to year, with the final selection being made by an international jury with all deliberation, procedures and voting in secret.

The jury for the 1988 Pritzker Architecture Prize consisted of J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who has served as juror since its founding, and is the chairman. The other citizens of the United States on the panel are Ada Louise Huxtable, author and architectural critic; and the architect Kevin Roche of Hamden, Connecticut, who received the Pritzker Prize in 1982. Serving as jurors from other countries are Jacob Rothschild, chairman of the board of trustees of the National Gallery of Art in London, England; architects Ricardo Legorretaof Mexico City and Fumihiko Maki of Tokyo, Japan; and from Torino, Italy, Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat.

Bill Lacy, secretary to the jury and former president of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, announced the selection with a citation from the jury that reads as follows:

"As we approach a decade of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, it seems appropriate to celebrate that milepost by honoring two masters of modern architecture to whom the profession owes so much. The sharing of the prize is unprecedented, but entirely warranted as a tribute to architects from North and South America whose work has had worldwide influence in this century, and doubtless will continue into the future."

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Gordon Bunshaft | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Two architects, Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer, from North and South America respectively, whose works have been among the most influential and recognized in this century have been named Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates of 1988. The awards will be presented on Monday, May 23, at a ceremony at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.

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Two architects, Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer, from North and South America respectively, whose works have been among the most influential and recognized in this century have been named Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates of 1988. The awards will be presented on Monday, May 23, at a ceremony at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the prize in 1979, commented, "We are delighted that the jury has used the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the prize to honor, not one, but two masters of modern architecture."

Niemeyer, who lives in Rio de Janeiro and will be 81 this year, is perhaps best known for designing most of the buildings in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil. He began his career in 1936, achieving his first taste of international acclaim in a collaboration with Le Corbusier on the building for the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro. It attracted worldwide attention at the time as one of the first buildings to express the emerging concepts of the modern architectural movement. In thr late forties, the two again worked together on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. He is the sixth architect from outside the United States to receive the prize.

Bunshaft, who celebrates his seventy-ninth birthday this year lives in New York City. He has designed many buildings there, one of which, Lever House, has been declared an historic landmark, and which Bunshaft calls "my first real building." The sixty-story Chase Manhattan Bank, the Union Carbide Building, and the original PepsiCo building are all Bunshaft additions to the New York skyline. In Washington, D.C., the Hirshhorn Museum has become a familiar addition to the cultural landscape. In his hometown of Buffalo, New York, he designed another art museum, the addition to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, described by another Pritzker Laureate as "the most beautiful museum in the world." In Texas, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, and at Yale, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, add to 'the distinction of their designer, whose career at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, New York spanned over four decades. His last building for that firm before retiring was one he calls "one of my best and most unique projects," the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Purpose of the prize is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

The prize consists of a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, and a medallion. When the Pritzker family established the prize, they wanted to honor a creative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. They modeled their procedures and rewards after the latter. As with the Nobels, the two Pritzker Laureates chosen by the jury in 1988 will share the prize equally.

The nominating procedure is continuous from year to year, with the final selection being made by an international jury with all deliberation, procedures, and voting in secret.

The jury for the 1988 Pritzker Architecture Prize consisted of J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who has served as juror since its founding, and is the chairman. The other citizens of the United States on the panel are Ada Louise Huxtable, author and architectural critic; and the architect Kevin Roche of Hamden, Connecticut, who received the Pritzker Prize in 1982. Serving as jurors from other countries are Jacob Rothschild, chairman of the board of trustees of the National Gallery of Art in London, England; architects Ricardo Legorretaof Mexico City and Fumihiko Maki of Tokyo, Japan; and from Torino, Italy, Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat.

Bill Lacy, secretary to the jury and former president of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, announced the selection with a citation from the jury that reads as follows:

"As we approach a decade of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, it seems appropriate to celebrate that milepost by honoring two masters of modern architecture to whom the profession owes so much. The sharing of the prize is unprecedented, but entirely warranted as a tribute to architects from North and South America whose work has had worldwide influence in this century, and doubtless will continue into the future."

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Oscar Niemeyer | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Two architects, Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer, from North and South America respectively, whose works have been among the most influential and recognized in this century have been named Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates of 1988. The awards will be presented on Monday, May 23, at a ceremony at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.

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Kenzo Tange (1913-2005), winner of the 1987 Pritzker Architecture Prize, is one of Japan's most honored architects. Teacher, writer, architect, and urban planner, he is revered not only for his own work but also for his influence on younger architects. He was born in the small city of Imabari, Shikoku Island, Japan in 1913. Although becoming an architect was beyond his wildest dreams as a boy, it was Le Corbusier's work that stirred his imagination so that in 1935, he became a student in the Architecture Department of Tokyo University. In 1946, he became an assistant professor at Tokyo University, and organized the Tange Laboratory. His students included Fumihiko Maki, Koji Kamiya, Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa, and Taneo Oki.

Tange was in charge of the reconstruction of Hiroshima after World War II. The Hiroshima Peace Center and Park begun in 1946 made the city symbolic of the human longing for peace. Architecturally, the Peace Center shows a deep understanding of traditional culture while at the same time is a signpost in the search for a modern style in Japan.

Tange research and interest in urban planning extended throughout his career. His doctorate, completed in 1959, was titled, "Spatial Structure in a Large City," an interpretation of urban structure on the basis of people's movements commuting to and from work. His "Plan for Tokyo 1960" was the Tange Team's logical response to these problems, giving thought to the nature of the urban structure that would permit growth and change. His Tokyo Plan received enormous attention world-wide, for its new concepts of extending the growth of the city out over the bay, using bridges, man made islands, floating parking and mega structures. Other urban design and planning projects were begun in 1967 for the Fiera District of Bologna, Italy, and for a new town with residences for 60,000 in Catania, Italy.

For his Tokyo Cathedral of Saint Mary, he visited several medieval Gothic examples. "After experiencing their heaven-aspiring grandeur and ineffably mystical spaces," he says, "I began to imagine new spaces, and wanted to create them by means of modern technology."

Yamanishi Broadcasting and Press Center (1966) in Kofu, Japan uses many of Tange's new theories-cylinders house staircases, elevators, air conditioning and electrical equipment systems. The horizontal spaces connecting them are likened to the buildings along a street. Some plots are vacant and others are occupied. An important aspect was the expansion potential of the complex. Open spaces between floors, which now serve as terraces and roof gardens, could be enclosed when needed.

Kenzo Tange, one of the world's most honored architects, today became the 1987 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is the ninth recipient of what has come to be known as the most prestigious award in the profession. A native of Japan, Tange is the fifth recipient from outside the United States.

Although the major portion of Tange's work has been in Japan, including the world renowned stadiums for the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo, he has designed and built in China, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Nigeria, Italy, Yugoslavia and the United States.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the prize in 1979 to reward a creative endeavor not honored by the Nobel Prizes, presented a $100,000 tax-free grant to Tange today at The Museum of Modern Art. A formal award ceremony will be held at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas on May 2.

Pritzker praised Tange for his "wide-ranging creative activities, not only as an architect and urban planner, but as a teacher and writer, researcher and historian. His theories on the informational society, and his search for a design expression for that society, have produced not only a great body of built work, but also have stimulated the quest for an architecture that can again elevate the human spirit. Mr. Tange has been quoted as saying, 'architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart.' The jury has unanimously agreed that this life's work has done that ... and more."

In revealing the 1987 Laureate, noted author and journalist Brendan Gill, who is secretary to the Pritzker jury, said of Tange, "He has shaped, as architect, teacher, and philosopher of architecture, half a century of Japanese building design and urban planning."

Gill continued, "In his youth, he was influenced by Le Corbusier, and later, while teaching at MIT, by his close friend Eero Saarinen. Among his students and colleagues in Japan, have been Fumihiko Maki and Arata Isozaki."

Given talent, energy, and a sufficiently long career, one may pass from being a breaker of new ground to becoming a classic. This has been the happy fate of Kenzo Tange, who in his eight decade is celebrated as an architect of international reputation. Along with his practice, he has been a leading theoretician of architecture and an inspiring teacher; among the well-known architects who have studied under him are Fumihiko Maki and Arata Isozaki. His stadiums for the Olympic Games held in Tokyo in 1964 are often described as among the most beautiful structures built in the twentieth century. In preparing a design, Tange arrives at shapes that lift our hearts because they seem to emerge from some ancient and dimly remembered past and yet are breathtakingly of today.

The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
The Kimbell Art Museum is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding examples of twentieth-century American architecture. Designed by the American architect Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974), the Museum has won wide acclaim since its opening in 1972. In his design for the Kimbell, Kahn emphasized the low, horizontal aspect of the building with separate reinforced concrete vaults, forming two exhibition spaces and a central entrance lobby, and creating three open porticos on the outside. The 120,000 square foot building is widely recognized for the powerful spaces defined by parallel barrel vaults. The spatial rhythm extends to the exterior water-features on the west side of the building, and resolves into a number of paths and garden areas on the grounds.

Kahn's innovative use of natural light greatly enhances the experience of the art. Kahn envisioned a museum with "the luminosity of silver." In his design, "narrow slits to the sky" (as he described the skylights) admit natural light, which is dispersed onto the underside of the rhythmic vaults and down the walls. Courtyards, lunettes, and light slots vary the quality and intensity of the light. The building's gracious proportions, fine craftsmanship, and beautiful landscaping add further to the sense of serenity and restraint.

The 1987 ceremony awarding Kenzo Tange of Japan the prize took place on May 2, 1987 at the Kimball Art Museum. Speakers included representatives of the Kimball Museum, J. Carter Brown, Chair or the Pritzker Prize Jury, Carlton Smith, Secretary to the Jury, Jay Pritzker, founder of the Prize and Kenzo Tange, the 1987 laureate.
Read Kenzo Tange's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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Kenzo Tange | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Kenzo Tange (1913-2005), winner of the 1987 Pritzker Architecture Prize, is one of Japan's most honored architects. Teacher, writer, architect, and urban planner, he is revered not only for his own work but also for his influence on younger architects. He was born in the small city of Imabari, Shikoku Island, Japan in 1913.

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The work of Gottfried Böhm ranges from the simple to the complex, using many different kinds of materials, with results that sometimes appear humble, sometimes monumental. He has been described in the sixties as an expressionist, and more recently as post-Bauhaus, but almost always he stands alone in departing from the conventions of established architecture, seeking to go one step beyond.

Böhm himself prefers to be thought of in terms of creating "connections"-for example, the integration of the old with the new, the world of ideas with the physical world, the interaction between the architecture of a single building with the urban environment, taking into account the form, material, and color of a building in its setting.

Gottfried Böhm was born in Offenbach-am-Main on January 23, 1920, the son of Dominikus Böhm, one of Europe's most respected architects of Roman Catholic churches and ecclesiastical buildings. Since his paternal grandfather had been an architect as well, it is not surprising that Gottfried started on that path.

His academic career began in 1942, when he attended the Technische Hochschule in Munich. He received degree in 1946. For another year, he continued his education, studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. That training has been important for the clay models he develops during the design process of his buildings.

He worked in his father's office as an assistant architect from 1947to1950. During that time he collaborated with the Society for the Reconstruction of Cologne under the direction of Rudolph Schwarz. In 1948, he met and married Elisabeth Haggenmueller, who is also a licensed engineer and architect. They have four sons, three of whom have become architects.

Feeling the need for other points of view, in 1951, Böhm journeyed to New York where he worked in the architectural firm of Cajetan Baumann for six months. Several more months were spent on a study tour of the United States, during which time he had the opportunity to meet Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, two of the architects for whom he holds great admiration.

His study tour over, Böhm returned to work with his father in 1952. His father's influence plus the ideas and theories of Bauhaus, were apparent in his first independent projects. Nevertheless, his multiple skills enabled him to overcome this phase quickly. He did not discover a different style; what he discovered was a clear conviction of the importance of every single architectural assignment, no matter how small, and he learned that, along with the factors of time and place, man is the most important value to be taken into consideration."

German Architect Gottfried Böhm is the 1986 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate
Gottfried Böhm, a third generation architect from Cologne, Federal Republic of Germany, was announced today as the 1986 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is the eighth recipient of the prestigious international award, and the fourth to be selected from outside the United States.

Böhm's work is primarily in Europe, but he has designed buildings in Formosa and Brazil as well. Such projects as the City Hall of Bensberg, the Church of the Pilgrimage at. Neviges, and the Zueblin corporate building in Stuttgart have brought international acclaim.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the prize in 1979 to reward a creative endeavor not honored by the Nobel Prizes, presented a $100,000 tax-free grant to Böhm today at The Museum of Modern Art. A formal award ceremony will be held at the Goldsmiths' Hall in London on May 7. At that time, Böhm will receive the symbol of the prize, a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore.

Pritzker described Böhm as "an excellent choice by our distinguished jury. Each of the Laureates has been honored for achievements demonstrating a combination of talent, vision, and commitment that consistently produces work to enhance the environment, and therefore humanity as well. Böhm's buildings excel by all of these criteria."

Noted author and journalist Brendan Gill, secretary to the Pritzker jury, announced Böhm as the 1986 Laureate to an impressive gathering of architects and architectural writers. He praised Böhm's work, saying, "As little known in the United States as he is well-known in Europe, for forty years Böhm has succeeded in interpreting and transforming the architectural riches of past centuries into contemporary structures, thrilling in themselves."

The jury making the selection consisted of J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who served as chairman; Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat in Torino, Italy; Thomas J. Watson, chairman emeritus of IBM Corporation; and three architects, Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico City, Fumihiko Maki of Tokyo; and 1982 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Kevin Roche of Hamden, Connecticut.

In making the award to Böhm, the jury's citation read as follows: "Son, grandson, husband and father of architects, Gottfried Böhm has reason to recognize the nourishment that traditional ways and means, handed down from one generation to the next, provide in architecture, as in all the arts

Son, grandson, husband, and father of architects, Gottfried Böhm has reason to recognize the nourishment that traditional ways and means provide in architecture, as in all the arts. In the course of a career of over forty years, he has taken care to see that the elements in his work which suggest the past also bear witness to his ready acceptance, whether in the design of churches, town halls, public housing, or office buildings, of the latest and best in our contemporary technology. His highly evocative handiwork combines much that we have inherited from our ancestors with much that we have but newly acquired-an uncanny and exhilarating marriage, to which the Pritzker Architecture Prize is happy to pay honor.

Goldsmiths' Hall, London, England
Since the fourteenth century, the Goldsmiths' Company, originally founded to regulate the trade, has been responsible for testing the quality of gold, silver and, from 1975, platinum articles. Its headquarters, on the same site in London since 1339, is near St. Paul's Cathedral. The magnificent Goldsmiths' Hall opened in 1835 and was designed by architect Philip Hardwick. Although there have been some changes to the decorative schemes and functions over the years, Goldsmiths' Hall remains much as Hardwick envisioned it. The Hall narrowly escaped complete destruction during World War II, but has been faithfully restored on the exterior after the War, retaining much of its charm as an urban palazzo.

The Livery Hall, the largest room in Goldsmiths' Hall, was the site of the 1986 Pritzker Architecture Prize award ceremony. This magnificently proportioned room is striking due to its Corinthian columns of scagliola and richly decorated moulded ceiling . There are four matching chandeliers of English glass, supplied by Perry and Co. in 1835, now electrified internally, each holding forty-eight candles. Participating in the Ceremony were: the Duke of Gloucester, Carter Brown, Chair of the Jury, Brendan Gill, Secretary to the Jury, Jay Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation, and giving his acceptance speech, Gottfreid Böhm, the eighth Pritzker laureate.
Read Gottfried Böhm's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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Gottfried Böhm | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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The work of Gottfried Böhm ranges from the simple to the complex, using many different kinds of materials, with results that sometimes appear humble, sometimes monumental. He has been described in the sixties as an expressionist, and more recently as post-Bauhaus, but almost always he stands alone in departing from the conventions of established architecture, seeking to go one step beyond.

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Hans Hollein was born in Vienna, Austria in 1934. From his earliest school days, he manifested a talent for drawing. Although he chose architecture as his profession, his works of art are in many public and private collections around the world.

He has been described as far more than an architect-artist, teacher, author, and a designer of furniture and silverware. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, in Vienna in 1956. He was awarded a Harkness Fellowship which afforded him the opportunity travel in the United States. He undertook graduate work at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and completed his Master of Architecture degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1960. During those same years, he was able to meet and study with some of the architects he most admired, including Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra.

It is characteristic of his curiosity and humor that when he learned there are seven towns or cities in the United States, all bearing the name, "Vienna," he took the time to visit all of them. This was while touring the country in a second-hand Chevrolet.

After working in architectural firms in Sweden and the United States, he settled in Vienna where his first commission in 1965 was what Architectural Forum magazine described as "even smaller than most first commissions: a shop and showroom 12 feet wide for a candle maker." They added however that "it brought him an enthusiastic client and a prominent location on a fashionable Vienna street."

Known as the Retti Candleshop, Hollein's accomplishment of this minor commission brought him international attention, including the $25,000 Reynolds Memorial Award. It was the first time in a decade that the award had gone to a work that cost less than the prize.

Hans Hollein, an Austrian architect whose work is acclaimed around the world, was today named the 1985 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is the seventh architect to be so honored, and the third from outside the United States.

Consisting of a $100,000 tax-free grant and a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, the international Pritzker Architecture Prize was established in 1979 to reward a creative endeavor not honored by the Nobel Prizes.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation that sponsors the prize, presented the check to Hollein today at the Museum of Modern Art. The sculpture will be presented in a formal ceremony at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California on May 10.

The distinguished international panel of jurors that made the selection this year consists of J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who served as chairman; Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat in Torino, Italy; J. Irwin Miller, chairman, executive and finance committees of the Curnmins Engine Company of Columbus, Indiana; Thomas J. Watson, chairman emeritus of IBM Corporation; and three architects, Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico City; Fumihiko Maki of Tokyo; and 1982 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Kevin Roche of Hamden, Connecticut.

In making the presentation, Pritzker quoted from the jury's citation which describes Hollein as "an architect who is also an artist... one who with wit and eclectic gusto draws upon the traditions of the New World as readily as upon those of the Old, " and further, saluting him "as a superb teacher, who urges the young by his example to take big chances, and yet making sure that the designed remains of paramount importance, not the designer.

Brendan Gill, noted author and journalist who is secretary to the jury, in announcing the Laureate, praised Hollein as "that comparatively rare thing in contemporary architecture, an artist-architect, combining great technical prowess with a gift for astonishing the ' eye. His buildings, like his drawings, have a playful seductiveness. One is happy in their presence."

The Pritzker Prize Jury honors Hans Hollein as a master of his profession-one who with wit and eclectic gusto draws upon the traditions of the New World as readily as upon those of the Old. An architect who is also an artist, he has the good fortune to design museums that are then eager to place within their walls works of art from his hand, whether in the form of drawings, collages, or sculpture. In the design of museums, schools, shops, and public housing, he mingles bold shapes and colors with an exquisite refinement of detail and never fears to bring together the richest of ancient marbles and the latest in plastics. The Jury salutes him as a superb teacher, who urges the young by his example to take big chances and yet make sure that not the designer but the thing designed remains of paramount importance. Unflaggingly, he continues to practice what he proclaimed upon behalf of his fellow architects a quarter of a century ago, at the beginning of his distinguished career: "We give back to man the joy of building."

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens are located twelve miles from Los Angeles near Pasadena, California, in the city of San Marino. It is a private, nonprofit research and educational center set amidst 120 acres of breathtaking gardens. Three art galleries and a library showcase magnificent collections of paintings, sculptures, rare books, manuscripts, and decorative arts. The botanical collection features over 14,000 different species of plants.

Originally the residence of Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), the main house was designed by Los Angeles architects Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey. It was built during the years 1909-1911 with the Main Gallery added in 1934. Most of the interiors are modeled on French and English rooms of the eighteenth century. Noted landscape designer, Beatrix Farrand, collaborated on the grounds designs of the 1930s, which reflect themes from around the world.

Henry Huntington, a key figure in the railroad and real estate development of Southern California in the early twentieth century, was also an active collector of rare books and manuscripts, art, and plants. By the time he established the institution in 1916, he and his wife, Arabella, had amassed an extensive collection focusing on British and American history, literature, and art, as well as rare and spectacular plant specimens. Opened to the public in 1928, the institution today serves scholars conducting advanced research in the humanities. The library's rare books and manuscripts constitute one of the world's largest and most extensively used collections in America outside of the Library of Congress.

The 1985 ceremony and dinner celebrating the awarding of the seventh Pritzker Architecture Prize took place on the spectacular and historic grounds of the Huntington.
Read Hans Hollein's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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Hans Hollein | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Hans Hollein was born in Vienna, Austria in 1934. From his earliest school days, he manifested a talent for drawing. Although he chose architecture as his profession, his works of art are in many public and private collections around the world.

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At 49, Richard Meier was the youngest architect to receive his profession's highest accolade, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Shortly after receiving that honor, he was awarded what is probably one of the twentieth century's most important commissions, the design of The Getty Center, the Los Angeles art complex funded by the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Explaining his own roots, Meier says, "Le Corbusier was a great influence, but there are many influences and they are constantly changing. Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect, and I could not have done my parent's house the way that I did, without being overwhelmed by Falling Water." Meier continued, "We are all affected by LeCorbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Mies van der Rohe. But no less than Bramante, Borromini and Bernini. Architecture is a tradition, a long continuum. Whether we break with tradition or enhance it, we are still connected to that past."

In 1963, he established his private practice, and working from his apartment, launched the business with a commission for his mother and father, a residence in Essex Fells, New Jersey. In 1965, one of his early residential commissions, Smith House in Darien, Connecticut propelled him into national prominence. Looking back on it now, Meier spoke of "the clarity of the building, the openness, the direct articulation of private and public spaces, how it relates to the land and water." He added, "It's been over 17 years, and what was innovative and captured a great many people's imagination and admiration then, is already a part of our language, and somewhat taken for granted today."

Richard Meier, architect of the recently acclaimed High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as many other world-wide public projects and private residences over the past two decades, was today named the 1984 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is the sixth architect in the world to be so honored.

Consisting of a $100,000 tax-free grant and a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, the international Pritzker Architecture Prize was established in 1979 to reward a creative endeavor not honored by the Nobel Prizes. Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the prize, presented the check today, and will present the sculpture in a ceremony at the National Gallery of Art on May 15.

A prestigious panel of jurors reviews nominations from around the world each year to make the selection. The jurors this year were Giovanni Agnelli, Chairman of Fiat, Torino, Italy; J. Carter Brown, Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; Arata Isozaki, noted Japanese architect; Philip Johnson, 1979 Pritzker Prize Laureate; J. Irwin Miller, Chairman, Executive and Finance Committees, Cummins Engine Company; Kevin Roche, 1982 Pritzker Prize Laureate; and Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Chairman Emeritus, IBM Corporation. Jurors in years past have included the late Lord Clark of Saltwood, England and Cesar Pelli, Dean of the School of Architecture at Yale University.

Carleton Smith, secretary to the jury and chairman of the International Awards Foundation, who announced the name of the Laureate at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum today, stated that Meier was the unanimous choice of the jury.

He quoted the jury's citation as follows: "We honor Richard Meier for his single-minded pursuit of new directions in contemporary architecture. In his search for clarity and his experiments in balancing light, forms, and space, he has created works that are personal, vigorous, original.

"His houses, seminary, museums and public buildings have stretched and enriched our imaging, our thinking, our wanting, and perhaps our doing. They are intended not to overwhelm but to celebrate."

He concluded, "What he has achieved is only prologue to the compelling new experiences we anticipate from his drawing board."

We honor Richard Meier for his single-minded pursuit of the essence of modern architecture. He has broadened its range of forms to make it responsive to the expectations of our time.

In his search for clarity and his experiments in balancing light and space, he has created structures which are personal, vigorous, original.

What he has achieved is only prologue to the compelling new experiences we anticipate from his drawing board.

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. was created in 1937 by a joint resolution of Congress, accepting the gift of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon. The paintings and works of sculpture given by Andrew Mellon upon his death in 1937 have formed a nucleus of high quality around which the collections have grown. Funds for the construction of the West Building were provided by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. On March 17, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the completed building and the collections on behalf of the people of the United States of America.

The Gallery's East Building, located on land set aside in the original Congressional resolution, was opened in 1978. Designed by Pritzker laureate I.M. Pei, the dramatic geometry responds well to the imposing 1941 West Building, which is situated across a plaza. To correspond in texture and color to the original building, the new one is faced inside and out with lavender-pink marble from the same quarry in Tennessee. Bridges and mezzanines create powerful vertical spaces throughout the East Building. When visitors leave one exhibition, they return to the atrium before entering another one. The triangular layout of the floor plan generates a sense of exploration. The atrium's indoor garden, which is larger than one-third of an acre, is roofed by a "space-frame" of glass pyramids. It was in this impressive space that the 1984 Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony, honoring Richard Meier, was held.
Read Richard Meier's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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Richard Meier | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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At 49, Richard Meier was the youngest architect to receive his profession's highest accolade, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Shortly after receiving that honor, he was awarded what is probably one of the twentieth century's most important commissions, the design of The Getty Center, the Los Angeles art complex funded by the J.

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Ieoh Ming Pei's architecture can be characterized by its faith in modernism, humanized by its subtlety, lyricism, and beauty. Pei was born in Canton China in 1917 and came to the United States in 1935 to study first at the University of Pennsylvania and then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B. Arch. 1940) and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (M. Arch. 1946). In 1948, he accepted the newly created post of Director of Architecture at Webb & Knapp, Inc., the real estate development firm, and this association resulted in major architectural and planning projects in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh and other cities. In 1955, he formed the partnership of I.M. Pei & Associates, which became I.M. Pei & Partners in 1966. The partnership received the 1968 Architectural Firm Award of The American Institute of Architects. In 1989, the firm was renamed Pei Cobb Freed and Partners.

Pei has designed over fifty projects in this country and abroad, many of which have been award winners. Two of his most prominent commissions have included the East Building of the National Gallery of Art (1978), in Washington, D.C., and the extension of the Louvre in Paris, France. The need to modernize and expand the Louvre, while respecting its history and architecture, led to the centrally located glass pyramid which forms the new main entrance and provides direct access to galleries in each of the museum's three wings. The pyramid also serves as a skylight for a very large expansion building constructed under the courtyard which provides all public amenities and technical support for the museum.

Ieoh Ming Pei, architect of some of the world's most acclaimed buildings, has been chosen the 1983 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

I.M. Pei's structures have received global recognition for the past three decades, beginning with the Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado in 1955, and most recently, the Fragrant Hill Hotel in Beijing, China, the country of his birth.

Among his other renowned works in this country are the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the West Wing of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the New York City Convention and Exhibition Center, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and the Texas Commerce Tower in Houston. Abroad, two of his well-known office complexes are The Gateway and the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation in Singapore. Pei was recently selected to design the headquarters for the Bank of China in Hong Kong.

The international Pritzker Architecture Prize, consisting of $100,000 tax-free and a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, was established in 1979 to reward a creative endeavor not honored by the Nobel Prizes.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which administers and funds the prize, made the presentation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art today.

Ieoh Ming Pei has given this century some of its most beautiful interior spaces and exterior forms. Yet the significance of his work goes far beyond that. His concern has always been the surroundings in which his buildings rise.

He has refused to limit himself to a narrow range of architectural problems. His work over the past forty years includes not only palaces of industry, government and culture, but also moderate and low-income housing. His versatility and skill in the use of materials approach the level of poetry.

His tact and patience have enabled him to draw together peoples of disparate interests and disciplines to create a harmonious environment.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the world-renowned cultural institution, was founded in New York in 1870 and moved to its current site in Central Park ten years later. The original Gothic-Revival-style building has expanded greatly in size since then, and the various additions now completely surround the original structure. The present facade and entrance structure along Fifth Avenue were completed in 1926.

The Sackler Wing (1978), designed by Kevin Roche, located to the north of the original building, is a striking addition, which houses the Temple of Dendur. The temple, built in 22 C.E., was dismantled and removed from its original site, in 1963, in order to save it from being submerged by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. In recognition of the American assistance in saving various other monuments threatened by the dam's construction, the temple was given to the United States of America by Egypt.

In 1967, the temple was awarded to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was installed in the Sackler Wing in 1978. A reflecting pool in front of the temple and a sloping wall behind it, represent the Nile and the cliffs of the original location. The glass on the ceiling and north wall of the Sackler is stippled, in order to diffuse the light and mimic the extraordinary quality of light in Nubia. The simplicity of its setting, like a minimal frame on a painting, gives the temple a context which does not overwhelm it.

The 1983 Pritzker Architecture prize ceremony, honoring I.M. Pei, took place in this setting.
Read I.M. Pei's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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I.M. Pei | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Ieoh Ming Pei's architecture can be characterized by its faith in modernism, humanized by its subtlety, lyricism, and beauty. Pei was born in Canton China in 1917 and came to the United States in 1935 to study first at the University of Pennsylvania and then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.

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Kevin Roche (1922-2019), the 1982 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, is no stranger to awards and praise. With good reason, since the body of work accomplished by him, and with his partner of 20 years, John Dinkeloo, who died in 1981, is truly prolific.

Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1922, Roche received his undergraduate degree in architecture from the National University of Dublin in 1945. He continued his studies in the United States in 1948 with Mies van der Rohe at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, but left after only one semester. His search for the humanist side of architecture led him to the office Eliel and Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. His future partner, John Dinkeloo, joined the firm in 1951, shortly after Roche. From 1954 until Eero Saarinen's death in 1961, Roche was his principal associate in design.

Upon Saarinen's death, Roche and Dinkeloo completed the ten major projects underway, including the St. Louis Arch, the TWA Terminal at JFK International Airport in New York, Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., Deere and Company Headquarters in Moline, Illinois, and the CBS Headquarters in New York.

Roche's first design after Saarinen's death was the Oakland Museum. The city was planning a monumental building to house natural history, technology and art. Roche gave them a unique concept, a building that is a series of low-level concrete structures covering a four block area, on three levels, the terrace of each level forming the roof of the one below-a museum (actually three museums) with a park on its roof. This kind of innovative solution became Roche's trademark.

American architect Kevin Roche, of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, was today named the fourth annual recipient of the international Pritzker Architecture Prize, specifically created in 1979 to honor a branch of human endeavor overlooked by the Nobel Prizes. Along with the prestige of recognition, Roche receives a specially created Henry Moore sculpture and $100,000 tax-free.

In Europe, he has a number of completed projects that have won high praise from critics, including a residence in Bordeaux, France; the Educatorium, a multifunction building for Utrecht University in the Netherlands; the master plan and Grand Palais for Lille, France which is his largest realized urban planning project; and the Kunsthal, providing exhibition space, a restaurant and auditoriums in Rotterdam.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of the Hyatt Foundation that administers and funds the prize, made the announcement at a press conference at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City. He presented Roche with the check, and promised delivery of the Moore sculpture at a formal banquet planned for Chicago's Art Institute on May 19.

He also read the citation from the jury, as follows: "In this mercurial age, when our fashions swing overnight from the severe to the ornate, from contempt for the past to nostalgia for imagined times that never were, Kevin Roche's formidable body of work sometimes intersects fashion, the Robert Lehman Pavilion and the Michael C. Rockefeller Primitive Art Wing.

In California, Roche designed the innovative Oakland Museum. His arts and education projects in other parts of the country include the Denver Center for the Performing Arts; the Fine Arts Center of the University of Massachusetts; the J.M. Moudy Building for Visual Arts and Communication at Texas Christian University, Ft. Worth; and the Creative Arts Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.

He has built a wide array of corporate structures, including the new buildings of the John Deere Company in Illinois; the College Life Insurance Company of America buildings in Indianapolis; Aetna Life and Casualty Computer Building in Hartford, Connecticut; the headquarters of the Cumins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana; and Richardson-Vicks in Wilton, Connecticut. Three other major projects are nearing completion: the corporate headquarters for General Foods in Rye, New York; Conoco in Houston; and Union Carbide in Danbury, Connecticut. In New Haven, he also built the headquarters for the Knights of Columbus and the New Haven Coliseum.

Among his most recent commissions are the Central Park Zoo, announced just last week by the City of New York; and the De Witt Wallace Museum of Fine Arts in Colonial Williamsburg.

In this mercurial age, when our fashions swing overnight from the severe to the ornate, from contempt for the past to nostalgia for imagined times that never were, Kevin Roche's formidable body of work sometimes intersects fashion, sometimes lags fashion, and more often makes fashion.

He is no easy man to describe: an innovator who does not worship innovation for itself, a professional unconcerned with trends, a quiet humble man who conceives and executes great works, a generous man of strictest standards for his own work.

In this award to Kevin Roche we recognize and honor an architect who persists in being an individual, and has for all of us, through his work and his person, made a difference for the better.

The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois
The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879 as both a museum and school, opened on its present site in the heart of Chicago in 1893. Throughout its history, it has grown extensively in response to the additions to its world-renowned collections and expanding programs. The original building, designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge forms the main entrance on Michigan Avenue. However, other architects and firms such as Howard Van Doren Shaw, Skidmore Owing & Merrill, Tom Beeby, C.F. Murphy Associates, Dan Kiley, Renzo Piano, and others have made significant contributions this institution.When the Chicago Stock Exchange (1893-94) was demolished in 1972, one of city's most important landmarks designed by Louis Sullivan with his partner, Dankmar Adler, there was strong public outcry. Sections of Sullivan's elaborate stenciled decorations, molded plaster capitals, and art glass were preserved from the Trading Room, the magnificent centerpiece of the original 13-story structure.

Using these fragments, the Art Institute was able to reconstruct the Trading Room in its new wing in 1976-77. The arch from the main entrance of the Stock Exchange Building was also preserved and graces the Art Institute's campus in homage to the original landmark.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremonies from both 1982 and 1988 took place at the Art Institute of Chicago. The 1982 ceremony consisted of an open air reception and ceremony and dinner in the Stock Exchange Trading Room. The 1998 presentation was officially made at a luncheon within the museum.
Read Kevin Roche's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read J. Carter Brown's Ceremony Speech

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Kevin Roche | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Kevin Roche (1922-2019), the 1982 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, is no stranger to awards and praise. With good reason, since the body of work accomplished by him, and with his partner of 20 years, John Dinkeloo, who died in 1981, is truly prolific.

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James Stirling (1926-1992), of Great Britain is considered by many as the premier architect of his generation, an unparalleled innovator in postwar international architecture. Stirling was born in Glasgow in 1926. He was educated at the University of Liverpool School of Architecture and began his own practice in partnership with James Gowan in London in 1956. Over a seven-year period they designed some of the most significant projects of the time, most notably the garden apartments at Ham Common (1955-58), the seminal Engineering Building at Leicester University (1959-63), and the Cambridge University History Building (1964-67).

In 1971, Stirling began to work in association with Michael Wilford. From this point on, the scale and number of his projects broadened to include museums, galleries, libraries and theaters. Since 1980, he has completed a major social sciences center in Berlin; a Performing Arts Center for Cornell University; and such major museum projects as the Clore Gallery expansion for the Tate Gallery in London; the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, an addition to Harvard's Fogg Museum; and the competition winning design for the Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany.

British architect James Stirling was named as the winner of the third annual international Pritzker Architecture Prize at a press conference held at New York's Museum of Modern Art. In making the announcement, Jay A. Pritzker, president of the Hyatt Foundation, which administers and funds the prize, presented the 55-year-old Stirling with a check for $100,000. The second award element, a cast of a Henry Moore sculpture created especially for the purpose, will be presented at a Washington banquet next month.

Stirling, a Scottish-born architect whose work includes museums, educational institutions and private residences, was the 1980 recipient of the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Among his current and upcoming projects are buildings for the Fogg Museum, Cambridge, and Columbia University, New York, as well as the new Turner Museum at London's Tate Gallery.

The first Pritzker Architecture Prize was presented in 1979 to Philip Johnson of the United States, and the second, in 1980, was awarded to Mexico's Luis Barragán. Stirling was chosen to receive the 1981 Prize by a distinguished international jury: J. Carter Brown, Director, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Lord Clark of Saltwood (Kenneth Clark), author and art historian; Arata Isozaki, architect and critic; Philip Johnson, architect and 1979 Pritzker Laureate; J. Irwin Miller, chairman, executive committee, Cumins Engine Company, and architecture patron; and Cesar Pelli, architect and Dean of the School of Architecture, Yale University.

We honor James Stirling-a prodigy for so many years-as a leader of the great transition from the Modern Movement to the architecture of the New-an architecture that once more has recognized historical roots, once more has close connections with the buildings surrounding it, once more can be called a new tradition.

Originality within this tradition is Stirling's distinction: in the old "modern times," 45 degree angles in plan and section; today, startling juxtapositions and transpositions of clearly classical and nineteenth century references.

In three countries-England, Germany, and the United States-he is influencing the development of architecture through the quality of his work.

National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony of 1981, honoring James Stirling, was held in Washington, D.C. in the Pension Building, now the National Building Museum. The red-brick building was designed in an Italianate Renaissance Revival style in 1881 by civil engineer and U.S. Army General Montgomery C. Meigs (1816-1892) and completed in 1887. It was originally envisioned as both office space and as a monument to those who died fighting in the U.S. Civil War. In 1980 an Act of Congress designated the Pension Building as the site of a new museum celebrating American achievements in the building arts.

The massive building, measuring 400 feet by 200 feet, occupies an entire city block in downtown Washington, D.C. The lower exterior facades are modeled after Antonio da Sangallo's Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The exterior walls are composed of common brick faced with pressed brick, decorative masonry, and ornamental terra cotta. In commemoration of war heroes, Caspar Buberl (1834-1899) sculpted a 1200-foot terra cotta exterior frieze, which wraps the building, depicting the Union's Army and Navy.

The interior plan of the Pension Building is dominated by a full-height hall or atrium at the center, with interconnecting rooms at the perimeter. The Great Hall measures 316 feet by 116 feet, and 159 feet tall (approximately 15 stories) at its highest point. The eight Corinthian columns of the Great Hall are among the tallest in the world at 75 feet high, 8 feet in diameter, 25 feet in circumference and crowned by a molded plaster capital and an abacus of cast iron. Each is built of 70,000 bricks.

The building is widely recognized as a marvel of engineering. An ingenious system of windows, vents, and open archways allows the Great Hall to function as a reservoir of light and air. The impressive Great Hall is used for the most important gala events, including many Presidential Inaugural Balls, from 1885 to the present day.
Read James Stirling's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

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James Stirling | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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James Stirling (1926-1992), of Great Britain is considered by many as the premier architect of his generation, an unparalleled innovator in postwar international architecture. Stirling was born in Glasgow in 1926. He was educated at the University of Liverpool School of Architecture and began his own practice in partnership with James Gowan in London in 1956.

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Dumbarton Oaks is a wonderful refuge in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Buildings on the grounds include the ninetieth-century Georgian style mansion, built in the early 1800s with subsequent additions and modifications made throughout the twentieth century. The Museum of Pre-Columbian Art (1959-1963) consisting of eight circular galleries, designed by architect Philip Johnson, is widely considered among the architectural masterworks of the twentieth century.

In 1920, diplomat Robert Bliss and his wife Mildred, prominent art collectors, developed Dumbarton Oaks, their estate from 1920-40. The rough grounds were transformed into gardens with elements of French, English, and Italian formal gardens, however combined in a distinctive way by Beatrix Jones Farrand, who also worked on the private gardens of John Rockefeller, Jr. and the grounds at Yale University.

In 1940, the Blisses conveyed Dumbarton Oaks, together with a specialized art research library of 50,000 volumes and a collection of medieval and Byzantine art, to Harvard University. Today, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is an international center for scholarship, providing resources for Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies. Begun as a private collection by the Blisses in 1920, the library and collections include art, objects, artifacts, manuscripts, and rare books

Because the Blisses were also lovers of music, they built a Music Room at the main house and hosted private concerts there, including several by musician friends, including Jan Paderewski and the composer Igor Stravinsky. The ceremonies for the 1979 and 1980 Pritzker Architecture Prize were held in this space.
Read Luis Barragán's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read J. Irwin Miller's Ceremony Speech

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Luis Barragán | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Dumbarton Oaks is a wonderful refuge in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Buildings on the grounds include the ninetieth-century Georgian style mansion, built in the early 1800s with subsequent additions and modifications made throughout the twentieth century.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dumbarton Oaks is a wonderful refuge in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Buildings on the grounds include the ninetieth-century Georgian style mansion, built in the early 1800s with subsequent additions and modifications made throughout the twentieth century. The Museum of Pre-Columbian Art (1959-1963) consisting of eight circular galleries, designed by architect Philip Johnson, is widely considered among the architectural masterworks of the twentieth century.

In 1920, diplomat Robert Bliss and his wife Mildred, prominent art collectors, developed Dumbarton Oaks, their estate from 1920-40. The rough grounds were transformed into gardens with elements of French, English, and Italian formal gardens, however, combined in a distinctive way by Beatrix Jones Farrand, who also worked on the private gardens of John Rockefeller, Jr. and the grounds at Yale University.

In 1940, the Blisses conveyed Dumbarton Oaks, together with a specialized art research library of 50,000 volumes and a collection of medieval and Byzantine art, to Harvard University. Today, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is an international center for scholarship, providing resources for Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies. Begun as a private collection by the Blisses in 1920, the library and collections include art, objects, artifacts, manuscripts, and rare books.

Because the Blisses were also lovers of music, they built a Music Room at the main house and hosted private concerts there, including several by musician friends, including Jan Paderewski and the composer Igor Stravinsky. The ceremonies for the 1979 and 1980 Pritzker Architecture Prize were held in this space.
Read Philip Johnson's Ceremony Acceptance Speech Read Cesar Pelli's Ceremony Speech

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Philip Johnson | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dumbarton Oaks is a wonderful refuge in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Buildings on the grounds include the ninetieth-century Georgian style mansion, built in the early 1800s with subsequent additions and modifications made throughout the twentieth century.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) met during their collegiate studies at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD). They studied under rationalist architects who had newly arrived to challenge the preexisting thought and culture of the institution. Upon graduating in 1976, they were each offered the unique opportunity to teach at UCD, where they continued to educate until 2006, and were appointed as adjunct professors in 2015. "Teaching for us has always been a parallel reality," comments Farrell. "And it's a way of trying to distill our experience and gift it to other generations coming along so that they actually play a role in the growing of that culture. So it's a two way thing, we learn from students and hopefully students learn from us."

Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell while students at UCD, 1974

In 1978, Farrell and McNamara, along with three others, established Grafton Architects, named after the street of their original office to prioritize the existence of place, rather than individuals. Significant projects have included North King Street Housing (Dublin, Ireland 2000); Urban Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland 2002); Solstice Arts Centre (Navan, Ireland 2007); Loreto Community School (Milford, Ireland 2006); Offices for the Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009); and Medical School, University of Limerick (Limerick, Ireland 2012).

Reflecting on their childhoods, McNamara recalls, "My awakening to the experience of architecture was a visit as a child to an enormous 18th-century house on the beautiful main street of the city of Limerick where my aunt lived. Her husband had a beautiful mahogany lined pharmacy shop on the ground floor, and she ran a little Montessori school in a room over the entrance hall. This aroused a sense of wonder as to what a house could be and I remember vividly the sensation of space and light, which was an absolute revelation to me."

Medical School, University of Limerick, photo courtesy of Dennis Gilbert

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara Receive the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Chicago, IL (March 3, 2020) - Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Dublin, Ireland, have been selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

"Architecture could be described as one of the most complex and important cultural activities on the planet," remarks Farrell. "To be an architect is an enormous privilege. To win this prize is a wonderful endorsement of our belief in architecture. Thank you for this great honor."

Urban Institute of Ireland, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

As architects and educators since the 1970s, Farrell and McNamara create spaces that are at once respectful and new, honoring history while demonstrating a mastery of the urban environment and craft of construction. Balancing strength and delicacy, and upholding a reverence of site-specific contexts, their academic, civic and cultural institutions, as well as housing developments, result in modern and impactful works that never repeat or imitate, but are decidedly of their own architectural voice.

"For their integrity in their approach to both their buildings, as well as the way they conduct their practice, their belief in collaboration, their generosity towards their colleagues, especially as evidenced in such events as the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unceasing commitment to excellence in architecture, their responsible attitude toward the environment, their ability to be cosmopolitan while embracing the uniqueness of each place in which they work, for all these reasons and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize," states the 2020 Jury Citation, in part.

"Within the ethos of a practice such as ours, we have so often struggled to find space for the implementation of such values as humanism, craft, generosity, and cultural connection with each place and context within which we work. It is therefore extremely gratifying that this recognition is bestowed upon us and our practice and upon the body of work we have managed to produce over a long number of years," says McNamara. "It is also a wonderful recognition of the ambition and vision of the clients who commissioned us and enabled us to bring our buildings to fruition."

Their native Ireland, an island replete with mountains and cliffs, informs their acute sensitivities to geography, changing climates and nature in each of their sites. Their buildings consistently remain purposefully rich, yet modest, enhancing cities and lending to sustainability while responding to local needs. University Campus UTEC Lima (Lima, Peru 2015) is located on a challenging site with a highway sunk in a ravine on one side and a residential neighborhood on the other. The result is a vertical and cascading building responding to both site and climatic needs. Its open spaces were designed to deliberately welcome cooling breezes of the ocean and minimize the need for air-conditioning. At the Offices for the Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009), the selection of local limestone used in thick panels grants strength to the building. Windows recessed or flush with the façade have grills below them to circulate fresh air throughout the building. Exposures on all sides of the building, atypical of the architecture in this city, offer panoramic views.

University Campus UTEC Lima, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have practiced architecture together for forty years in a way that clearly reflects the objectives of the Pritzker Prize: to recognize the art of architecture and consistent service to humanity as evidenced through a body of built work.

Co-founding their professional practice, called Grafton Architects, in Dublin, Ireland in 1978, they have consistently and unhesitatingly pursued the highest quality of architecture for the specific location in which it was to be built, the functions it would house and especially for the people who would inhabit and use their buildings and spaces. They have an oeuvre that includes numerous educational buildings, housing and cultural and civic institutions. Pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession, they are also beacons to others as they forge their exemplary professional path.

Loreto Community School, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

Many of their buildings are located in their home country of Ireland, but through competitions, they have won major commissions for other places around the world, such as Italy, France and Peru. With a profound understanding of place gained through their research, keen powers of observation, open and ever curious explorations and deep respect for culture and context, Farrell and McNamara are able to make their buildings respond to a setting and city most appropriately, while still being fresh and modern. This deep understanding of "spirit of place" means that their works enhance and improve the local community. Their buildings are "good neighbors" that seek to make a contribution beyond the boundaries of the building and to make a city work better. Their North King Street Housing in Dublin (2000) is one example of this: it creates an inner courtyard and a welcome respite from the adjacent busy streets.

Their approach to architecture is always honest, revealing an understanding of the processes of design and construction from large scale structures to the smallest details. It is often in these details, especially in buildings with modest budgets, where a big impact can be felt. For example, the Urban Institute of Ireland (Dublin, 2002) employs what the architects call a "crafted skin" to create a visually interesting building through changes in materials responding to openings, folds, needs for shade and other concerns. At the same time, it employs common sense, good-practice environmental control methodologies for an efficient, sustainable building. On a particularly sensitive site in Dublin, the masterful Offices for the Department of Finance (2009) attests to their knowledge and care in the selection of materials and construction techniques with a carefully handcrafted bronze railing and gate and sanded limestone on the facades.

Offices for the Department of Finance, photo courtesy of Grafton Architects

The architects are skilled and successful working at many scales-from large institutional buildings to a house of only a little more than 100 square meters. Without grand or frivolous gestures, they have managed to create buildings that are monumental institutional presences when appropriate, but even so they are zoned and detailed in such a way as to produce more intimate spaces that create community within. In their large buildings such as the University Campus UTEC (2015) in Lima, Peru or the School of Economics Building (2008) at Universita Luigi Bocconi, they have achieved a human scale through the composition of spaces and volumes of different sizes. The dialogues they create between buildings and surroundings demonstrate a new appreciation of both their works and place.

The following are images of the architecture of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.

These images may be downloaded and distributed only in relation to the announcement of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara being named the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.
The photographer/photo libraries/artists must be credited if noted.
All images are copyright of the respective photographers and artists cited, and courtesy of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Click on each image to download a high-resolution file.
Captions for these images are in the 2020 Image Book, available here.

Download the 2020 Media Kithere.

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Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) met during their collegiate studies at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD). They studied under rationalist architects who had newly arrived to challenge the preexisting thought and culture of the institution.

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La ceremonia se lleva acabo en un lugar importante para la arquitectura, por lo que la ubicación no es en un lugar en especifico, va cambiando cada año.
A esta ceremonia solo se puede entrar mediante invitación de la familia Pritzker por lo cual es una ceremonia muy exclusiva.

La ultima ceremonia del premio presencial fue en el año 2020 en el Instituto Urbano de Irlanda en donde se les entrego el premio a Yvonne Farrell y Shelley McNamara

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Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) met during their collegiate studies at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD). They studied under rationalist architects who had newly arrived to challenge the preexisting thought and culture of the institution. Upon graduating in 1976, they were each offered the unique opportunity to teach at UCD, where they continued to educate until 2006, and were appointed as adjunct professors in 2015. "Teaching for us has always been a parallel reality," comments Farrell. "And it's a way of trying to distill our experience and gift it to other generations coming along so that they actually play a role in the growing of that culture. So it's a two way thing, we learn from students and hopefully students learn from us."

Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell while students at UCD, 1974

In 1978, Farrell and McNamara, along with three others, established Grafton Architects, named after the street of their original office to prioritize the existence of place, rather than individuals. Significant projects have included North King Street Housing (Dublin, Ireland 2000); Urban Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland 2002); Solstice Arts Centre (Navan, Ireland 2007); Loreto Community School (Milford, Ireland 2006); Offices for the Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009); and Medical School, University of Limerick (Limerick, Ireland 2012).

Reflecting on their childhoods, McNamara recalls, "My awakening to the experience of architecture was a visit as a child to an enormous 18th-century house on the beautiful main street of the city of Limerick where my aunt lived. Her husband had a beautiful mahogany lined pharmacy shop on the ground floor, and she ran a little Montessori school in a room over the entrance hall. This aroused a sense of wonder as to what a house could be and I remember vividly the sensation of space and light, which was an absolute revelation to me."

Medical School, University of Limerick, photo courtesy of Dennis Gilbert

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara Receive the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Chicago, IL (March 3, 2020) - Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Dublin, Ireland, have been selected as the 2020 Pritzker Prize Laureates, announced Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award that is known internationally as architecture's highest honor.

"Architecture could be described as one of the most complex and important cultural activities on the planet," remarks Farrell. "To be an architect is an enormous privilege. To win this prize is a wonderful endorsement of our belief in architecture. Thank you for this great honor."

Urban Institute of Ireland, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

As architects and educators since the 1970s, Farrell and McNamara create spaces that are at once respectful and new, honoring history while demonstrating a mastery of the urban environment and craft of construction. Balancing strength and delicacy, and upholding a reverence of site-specific contexts, their academic, civic and cultural institutions, as well as housing developments, result in modern and impactful works that never repeat or imitate, but are decidedly of their own architectural voice.

"For their integrity in their approach to both their buildings, as well as the way they conduct their practice, their belief in collaboration, their generosity towards their colleagues, especially as evidenced in such events as the 2018 Venice Biennale, their unceasing commitment to excellence in architecture, their responsible attitude toward the environment, their ability to be cosmopolitan while embracing the uniqueness of each place in which they work, for all these reasons and more, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize," states the 2020 Jury Citation, in part.

"Within the ethos of a practice such as ours, we have so often struggled to find space for the implementation of such values as humanism, craft, generosity, and cultural connection with each place and context within which we work. It is therefore extremely gratifying that this recognition is bestowed upon us and our practice and upon the body of work we have managed to produce over a long number of years," says McNamara. "It is also a wonderful recognition of the ambition and vision of the clients who commissioned us and enabled us to bring our buildings to fruition."

Their native Ireland, an island replete with mountains and cliffs, informs their acute sensitivities to geography, changing climates and nature in each of their sites. Their buildings consistently remain purposefully rich, yet modest, enhancing cities and lending to sustainability while responding to local needs. University Campus UTEC Lima (Lima, Peru 2015) is located on a challenging site with a highway sunk in a ravine on one side and a residential neighborhood on the other. The result is a vertical and cascading building responding to both site and climatic needs. Its open spaces were designed to deliberately welcome cooling breezes of the ocean and minimize the need for air-conditioning. At the Offices for the Department of Finance (Dublin, Ireland 2009), the selection of local limestone used in thick panels grants strength to the building. Windows recessed or flush with the façade have grills below them to circulate fresh air throughout the building. Exposures on all sides of the building, atypical of the architecture in this city, offer panoramic views.

University Campus UTEC Lima, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have practiced architecture together for forty years in a way that clearly reflects the objectives of the Pritzker Prize: to recognize the art of architecture and consistent service to humanity as evidenced through a body of built work.

Co-founding their professional practice, called Grafton Architects, in Dublin, Ireland in 1978, they have consistently and unhesitatingly pursued the highest quality of architecture for the specific location in which it was to be built, the functions it would house and especially for the people who would inhabit and use their buildings and spaces. They have an oeuvre that includes numerous educational buildings, housing and cultural and civic institutions. Pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession, they are also beacons to others as they forge their exemplary professional path.

Loreto Community School, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

Many of their buildings are located in their home country of Ireland, but through competitions, they have won major commissions for other places around the world, such as Italy, France and Peru. With a profound understanding of place gained through their research, keen powers of observation, open and ever curious explorations and deep respect for culture and context, Farrell and McNamara are able to make their buildings respond to a setting and city most appropriately, while still being fresh and modern. This deep understanding of "spirit of place" means that their works enhance and improve the local community. Their buildings are "good neighbors" that seek to make a contribution beyond the boundaries of the building and to make a city work better. Their North King Street Housing in Dublin (2000) is one example of this: it creates an inner courtyard and a welcome respite from the adjacent busy streets.

Their approach to architecture is always honest, revealing an understanding of the processes of design and construction from large scale structures to the smallest details. It is often in these details, especially in buildings with modest budgets, where a big impact can be felt. For example, the Urban Institute of Ireland (Dublin, 2002) employs what the architects call a "crafted skin" to create a visually interesting building through changes in materials responding to openings, folds, needs for shade and other concerns. At the same time, it employs common sense, good-practice environmental control methodologies for an efficient, sustainable building. On a particularly sensitive site in Dublin, the masterful Offices for the Department of Finance (2009) attests to their knowledge and care in the selection of materials and construction techniques with a carefully handcrafted bronze railing and gate and sanded limestone on the facades.

Offices for the Department of Finance, photo courtesy of Grafton Architects

The architects are skilled and successful working at many scales-from large institutional buildings to a house of only a little more than 100 square meters. Without grand or frivolous gestures, they have managed to create buildings that are monumental institutional presences when appropriate, but even so they are zoned and detailed in such a way as to produce more intimate spaces that create community within. In their large buildings such as the University Campus UTEC (2015) in Lima, Peru or the School of Economics Building (2008) at Universita Luigi Bocconi, they have achieved a human scale through the composition of spaces and volumes of different sizes. The dialogues they create between buildings and surroundings demonstrate a new appreciation of both their works and place.

The following are images of the architecture of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.

These images may be downloaded and distributed only in relation to the announcement of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara being named the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.
The photographer/photo libraries/artists must be credited if noted.
All images are copyright of the respective photographers and artists cited, and courtesy of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Click on each image to download a high-resolution file.
Captions for these images are in the 2020 Image Book, available here.

Download the 2020 Media Kithere.

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Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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Yvonne Farrell (1951) and Shelley McNamara (1952) met during their collegiate studies at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin (UCD). They studied under rationalist architects who had newly arrived to challenge the preexisting thought and culture of the institution.

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To honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect/s for significant achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. It is granted annually and is often referred to as "architecture's Nobel" and "the profession's highest honor."

The award consists of $100,000 (US) and a bronze medallion. The award is conferred on the laureate/s at a ceremony held at an architecturally significant site throughout the world.

Front row, left to right Carlos Jimenez*, Lord Palumbo, Ryue Nishizawa, Cindy Pritzker***, Kazuyo Sejima, Frank Gehry, Christian de Portzamparc, Glenn Murcutt.
Back row, left to right Juhani Pallasmaa*, Karen Stein*, Rolf Fehlbaum*, Jorge Silvetti* Hans Hollein, Alejandro Aravena*, Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Cesar Pelli*, Rafael Moneo (behind-Jan Utzon, representing Jorn Utzon) Richard Rogers, Jean Nouvel, Kevin Roche, Renzo Piano, Martha Thorne**, Bill Lacy**. (Photo taken in 2010)
*Juror
** Executive Director
***Founder

Jay and Cindy Pritzker believed that a meaningful prize would encourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings but also would inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession.

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are headquartered in Chicago. Their name is synonymous with Hyatt Hotels located throughout the world. The Pritzkers have long been known for their support of educational, scientific, medical, and cultural activities. Jay A. Pritzker, (1922-1999), founded the prize with his wife, Cindy. His eldest son, Tom Pritzker, the Chairman and President of Hyatt Foundation, explains, "As native Chicagoans, it's not surprising that our family was keenly aware of architecture, living in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city filled with buildings designed by architectural legends such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and many others."

He continues, "In 1967, we acquired an unfinished building which was to become the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. Its soaring atrium was wildly successful and became the signature piece of our hotels around the world. It was immediately apparent that this design had a pronounced effect on the mood of our guests and attitude of our employees. While the architecture of Chicago made us cognizant of the art of architecture, our work with designing and building hotels made us aware of the impact architecture could have on human behavior. So in 1978, when we were approached with the idea of honoring living architects, we were responsive. Mom and Dad (Cindy and the late Jay A. Pritzker) believed that a meaningful prize would encourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings but also would inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession."

Many of the procedures and rewards of the Pritzker Prize are modeled after the Nobel Prize. Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, and since 1987, a bronze medallion. Prior to that year, a limited edition Henry Moore sculpture was presented to each Laureate.

Cindy & Jay Pritzker, Margot & Tom Pritzker

The official ceremony granting the award takes place every year, usually in May, at an architecturally significant site throughout the world. The choice of location of the ceremony reinforces the importance of the built environment while providing a unique setting for the ceremony. The presentation ceremonies move around the world each year, paying homage to the architecture of other eras and/or works by previous laureates of the prize. As the ceremony locations are usually chosen each year before the laureate is selected, there is no intended connection between the two.

The invitation-only event is attended by international guests and guests from the host country. The ceremony itself normally consists of welcoming remarks usually from a dignitary of the host country; comments from the jury chairman; the presentation of the prize by Tom Pritzker; and an acceptance speech from the Laureate.

Special ceremony videos have been created since 2020 to allow an unlimited international audience participate in the honoring of each Laureate by viewing full ceremony remarks and additional insights from past Laureates and Jurors.

The laureate receives $100,000 and also a bronze medallion. The bronze medallion awarded to each Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is based on designs of Louis Sullivan, famed Chicago architect generally acknowledged as the father of the skyscraper. On one side is the name of the prize. On the reverse, three words are inscribed, "firmness, commodity and delight," recalling Roman architect Vitruvius' fundamental principles of architecture of firmitas, utilitas, venustas.

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About the Prize | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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To honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

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Es un premio otorgado por la familia Pritzker a través de su fundación hyatt de manera anual mediante una ceremonia, esta busca reconocer arquitectos vivos cuya obra construida haya generado "contribuciones consistentes y significativas a la humanidad".
El premio es 100,000 dólares, además de un medallón de bronce al arquitecto ganador de ese año.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect/s for significant achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. It is granted annually and is often referred to as "architecture's Nobel" and "the profession's highest honor."

The award consists of $100,000 (US) and a bronze medallion. The award is conferred on the laureate/s at a ceremony held at an architecturally significant site throughout the world.

Front row, left to right Carlos Jimenez*, Lord Palumbo, Ryue Nishizawa, Cindy Pritzker***, Kazuyo Sejima, Frank Gehry, Christian de Portzamparc, Glenn Murcutt.
Back row, left to right Juhani Pallasmaa*, Karen Stein*, Rolf Fehlbaum*, Jorge Silvetti* Hans Hollein, Alejandro Aravena*, Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Cesar Pelli*, Rafael Moneo (behind-Jan Utzon, representing Jorn Utzon) Richard Rogers, Jean Nouvel, Kevin Roche, Renzo Piano, Martha Thorne**, Bill Lacy**. (Photo taken in 2010)
*Juror
** Executive Director
***Founder

Jay and Cindy Pritzker believed that a meaningful prize would encourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings but also would inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession.

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are headquartered in Chicago. Their name is synonymous with Hyatt Hotels located throughout the world. The Pritzkers have long been known for their support of educational, scientific, medical, and cultural activities. Jay A. Pritzker, (1922-1999), founded the prize with his wife, Cindy. His eldest son, Tom Pritzker, the Chairman and President of Hyatt Foundation, explains, "As native Chicagoans, it's not surprising that our family was keenly aware of architecture, living in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city filled with buildings designed by architectural legends such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and many others."

He continues, "In 1967, we acquired an unfinished building which was to become the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. Its soaring atrium was wildly successful and became the signature piece of our hotels around the world. It was immediately apparent that this design had a pronounced effect on the mood of our guests and attitude of our employees. While the architecture of Chicago made us cognizant of the art of architecture, our work with designing and building hotels made us aware of the impact architecture could have on human behavior. So in 1978, when we were approached with the idea of honoring living architects, we were responsive. Mom and Dad (Cindy and the late Jay A. Pritzker) believed that a meaningful prize would encourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings but also would inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession."

Many of the procedures and rewards of the Pritzker Prize are modeled after the Nobel Prize. Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, and since 1987, a bronze medallion. Prior to that year, a limited edition Henry Moore sculpture was presented to each Laureate.

Cindy & Jay Pritzker, Margot & Tom Pritzker

The official ceremony granting the award takes place every year, usually in May, at an architecturally significant site throughout the world. The choice of location of the ceremony reinforces the importance of the built environment while providing a unique setting for the ceremony. The presentation ceremonies move around the world each year, paying homage to the architecture of other eras and/or works by previous laureates of the prize. As the ceremony locations are usually chosen each year before the laureate is selected, there is no intended connection between the two.

The invitation-only event is attended by international guests and guests from the host country. The ceremony itself normally consists of welcoming remarks usually from a dignitary of the host country; comments from the jury chairman; the presentation of the prize by Tom Pritzker; and an acceptance speech from the Laureate.

Special ceremony videos have been created since 2020 to allow an unlimited international audience participate in the honoring of each Laureate by viewing full ceremony remarks and additional insights from past Laureates and Jurors.

The laureate receives $100,000 and also a bronze medallion. The bronze medallion awarded to each Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is based on designs of Louis Sullivan, famed Chicago architect generally acknowledged as the father of the skyscraper. On one side is the name of the prize. On the reverse, three words are inscribed, "firmness, commodity and delight," recalling Roman architect Vitruvius' fundamental principles of architecture of firmitas, utilitas, venustas.

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About the Prize | The Pritzker Architecture Prize

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To honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

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Nacido el 26 de agosto de 1922 en Chicago, Illinois, Jay Pritzker fue emprendedor, cofundador de Marmon Group y cofundador de Hyatt Hotels. Es uno de los tres hijos de Abram Nicholas Pritzker, el patriarca de la familia Pritzker, una de las familias más ricas de los Estados Unidos.

Jay Pritzker mostró su inteligencia y ambición desde el principio; se matriculó en la Universidad de Chicago a la edad de 14 años y se graduó con títulos de licenciatura y derecho de la Universidad Northwestern. Aunque la ley era un negocio familiar, Jay adoptó un enfoque diferente y formó Marmon Group en 1953 con su hermano Robert. Esta se convirtió en la sociedad matriz de las inversiones de la familia Pritzker. Durante las siguientes décadas, estas participaciones llegaron a incluir varias empresas de fabricación y transporte.

Cuando Jay estaba en un viaje de negocios a Los Ángeles en 1957, se detuvo en un concurrido café cerca del aeropuerto y comentó que los empresarios como él, en la ciudad en viajes cortos de negocios, probablemente preferirían alojarse en hoteles cerca del aeropuerto en lugar de en el aeropuerto. centro de la ciudad. Se enteró de que el motel más cercano al aeropuerto estaba agotado, e hizo un trato con el propietario de la propiedad, Hyatt Von Dehn, para comprarlo en el acto por 2,2 millones de dólares. El motel se llamaba Hyatt House.

Junto con su hermano Donald, Jay Pritzker comenzó a construir la marca Hyatt. Su segunda propiedad, también un motel Hyatt House, estaba cerca del Aeropuerto Internacional de San Francisco, luego se expandieron fuera de California a aeropuertos y ubicaciones urbanas en todo el país. En 1967, los hermanos abrieron el Regency Hyatt House en Atlanta, que fue el primer hotel en utilizar un diseño de atrio y fue recibido con escepticismo por parte de los visitantes que pensaron erróneamente que el aire caliente se elevaría en el espacio del atrio y crearía una lluvia en el interior. El diseño del atrio se convirtió en una característica distintiva de los hoteles Hyatt Regency. En 1969 se inauguró el primer Hyatt internacional, el Hong Kong Hyatt Hotel (conocido hoy como Hyatt Regency Hong Kong).

Pritzker murió el 23 de enero de 1999, y en el momento de su muerte, la fortuna que él y su hermano Robert habían amasado se estimaba en alrededor de $ 13.5 mil millones. Su legado incluye el premio anual de arquitectura Pritzker, que otorga $ 100,000 a arquitectos excepcionales, y el Jay Pritzker Pavilion en el Millennium Park de Chicago, que se completó en 2004.

Hoy, Hyatt Hotels Corporation es una empresa que cotiza en bolsa (NYSE: H) y administra más de 900 hoteles en más de 65 países. La cartera de marcas de la compañía incluye no solo Hyatt House y Hyatt Regency, sino también Park Hyatt, The Unbound Collection y Hyatt Centric. El hijo de Jay Pritzker, Thomas, es el presidente actual de Hyatt.

¿Quiere saber más sobre los líderes de la industria hotelera? Echa un vistazo a Titans of the Hotel Industry, que incluye una descripción general de líderes como Conrad Hilton (Hilton), J. Willard Marriott (Marriott), Barry Sternlicht (Starwood), Isadore Sharp (Four Seasons), Rich Barton y Brian Chesky (Airbnb).

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¿Quién es Jay Pritzker? Datos breves sobre el fundador de Hyatt

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Nacido el 26 de agosto de 1922 en Chicago, Illinois, Jay Pritzker fue emprendedor, cofundador de Marmon Group y cofundador de Hyatt Hotels. Es uno de los tres hijos de Abram Nicholas Pritzker, el patriarca de la familia Pritzker, una de las familias más ricas de los Estados Unidos.

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Jay A. Pritzker fue un empresario nacido en una de las familias más ricas de Estados Unidos, nació el 26 de agosto de 1922 en Chicago, Illinois.
Es cofundador de Marmon Group y de Hyatt Hotels.
Al estar en la industria hotelera entendió como la arquitectura puede generar un cambio en la humanidad, por ello decide empezar con los Premios de Arquitectura Pritzker junto con su esposa Cindy Pritzker.
Muere en el año 1999 dejando como presidente de Hyatt a su hijo Thomas Pritzker.

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Nacido el 26 de agosto de 1922 en Chicago, Illinois, Jay Pritzker fue emprendedor, cofundador de Marmon Group y cofundador de Hyatt Hotels. Es uno de los tres hijos de Abram Nicholas Pritzker, el patriarca de la familia Pritzker, una de las familias más ricas de los Estados Unidos.

Jay Pritzker mostró su inteligencia y ambición desde el principio; se matriculó en la Universidad de Chicago a la edad de 14 años y se graduó con títulos de licenciatura y derecho de la Universidad Northwestern. Aunque la ley era un negocio familiar, Jay adoptó un enfoque diferente y formó Marmon Group en 1953 con su hermano Robert. Esta se convirtió en la sociedad matriz de las inversiones de la familia Pritzker. Durante las siguientes décadas, estas participaciones llegaron a incluir varias empresas de fabricación y transporte.

Cuando Jay estaba en un viaje de negocios a Los Ángeles en 1957, se detuvo en un concurrido café cerca del aeropuerto y comentó que los empresarios como él, en la ciudad en viajes cortos de negocios, probablemente preferirían alojarse en hoteles cerca del aeropuerto en lugar de en el aeropuerto. centro de la ciudad. Se enteró de que el motel más cercano al aeropuerto estaba agotado, e hizo un trato con el propietario de la propiedad, Hyatt Von Dehn, para comprarlo en el acto por 2,2 millones de dólares. El motel se llamaba Hyatt House.

Junto con su hermano Donald, Jay Pritzker comenzó a construir la marca Hyatt. Su segunda propiedad, también un motel Hyatt House, estaba cerca del Aeropuerto Internacional de San Francisco, luego se expandieron fuera de California a aeropuertos y ubicaciones urbanas en todo el país. En 1967, los hermanos abrieron el Regency Hyatt House en Atlanta, que fue el primer hotel en utilizar un diseño de atrio y fue recibido con escepticismo por parte de los visitantes que pensaron erróneamente que el aire caliente se elevaría en el espacio del atrio y crearía una lluvia en el interior. El diseño del atrio se convirtió en una característica distintiva de los hoteles Hyatt Regency. En 1969 se inauguró el primer Hyatt internacional, el Hong Kong Hyatt Hotel (conocido hoy como Hyatt Regency Hong Kong).

Pritzker murió el 23 de enero de 1999, y en el momento de su muerte, la fortuna que él y su hermano Robert habían amasado se estimaba en alrededor de $ 13.5 mil millones. Su legado incluye el premio anual de arquitectura Pritzker, que otorga $ 100,000 a arquitectos excepcionales, y el Jay Pritzker Pavilion en el Millennium Park de Chicago, que se completó en 2004.

Hoy, Hyatt Hotels Corporation es una empresa que cotiza en bolsa (NYSE: H) y administra más de 900 hoteles en más de 65 países. La cartera de marcas de la compañía incluye no solo Hyatt House y Hyatt Regency, sino también Park Hyatt, The Unbound Collection y Hyatt Centric. El hijo de Jay Pritzker, Thomas, es el presidente actual de Hyatt.

¿Quiere saber más sobre los líderes de la industria hotelera? Echa un vistazo a Titans of the Hotel Industry, que incluye una descripción general de líderes como Conrad Hilton (Hilton), J. Willard Marriott (Marriott), Barry Sternlicht (Starwood), Isadore Sharp (Four Seasons), Rich Barton y Brian Chesky (Airbnb).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
¿Quién es Jay Pritzker? Datos breves sobre el fundador de Hyatt

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nacido el 26 de agosto de 1922 en Chicago, Illinois, Jay Pritzker fue emprendedor, cofundador de Marmon Group y cofundador de Hyatt Hotels. Es uno de los tres hijos de Abram Nicholas Pritzker, el patriarca de la familia Pritzker, una de las familias más ricas de los Estados Unidos.