Archinect - News

Seven defining projects by the 2024 Pritzker Prize winner Riken Yamamoto

2024-03-05T17:40:00-05:00

This morning’s announcement of Riken Yamamoto as the 53rd official laureate of the Pritzker Prize has come with praise for the Beijing-born Japanese designer whose community-minded approach to architecture has impacted countless lives. Many outside of Asia were surprised by his selection, which is being received as a win for rational design principles, relational aesthetics, and the democratization of architecture.

He is particularly well-known for placing emphasis on the boundaries and periphery spaces inherent in his designs, as well as for having an equal competency in transfusing landscapes within their natural environments and urban context. To date, completed works include projects in Japan, Switzerland, China, and the Republic of Korea.

“Yamamoto has expanded the toolbox of the profession towards both the past and the future to be able to give each time, in very different modes and at very different scales, the most pertinent response to the challenges of both the built envi...

Toyo Ito donates early-career archive to the Canadian Centre for Architecture

2023-12-06T17:21:00-05:00

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) has just announced its acquisition of architect Toyo Ito’s early-career archive.

The trove entails drawings, models, and sketches related to his practice Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects (founded as Urban Robot) from 1971 until 1989. The CCA says the donation will help researchers establish a better through line from the 2013 Pritzker Prize winner's early-career work in dialogue with its other archival holdings. The decision was made in September after 82-year-old Ito apparently determined he could not find an “appropriate place” in his home country in which to store the collection, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

In a press announcement, Ito said: “The CCA is an architectural museum and research center I have the utmost trust in. Upon this donation, I received requests from many Japanese architects and researchers, asking if it is possible to keep those archives in Japan. However, I have the confidence that CCA offers unparalleled ac...

Phyllis Lambert and Kazuyo Sejima win 2023 Jane Drew and Ada Louise Huxtable Prizes

2023-01-30T13:40:00-05:00

Influential Canadian architect Phyllis Lambert and SANAA co-founder Kazuyo Sejima have been named as this year's respective winners of the Jane Drew and Ada Louise Huxtable prizes by the UK-based publications Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review as part of the annual W Awards program, now in its 11th year.

Lambert was awarded the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for her influence on the culture of architecture. Her early work with Mies van der Rohe on New York’s Seagram Building has been well documented, along with the influence spread throughout her native country after founding the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal in 1979. Her influence is still widely felt today in both countries. As AR’s Deputy Editor Eleanor Beaumont said, Lambert encourages us to “always be curious.”

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Phyllis Lambert with the model for the Seagram Building New York, 1955. Photo © Fonds Phyllis Lambert.

Sejima, the 2010 winner of the Pritzker Prize along with S...

Legendary Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has passed away aged 91

2022-12-29T19:41:00-05:00

Arata Isozaki is dead. The famed designer of many of post-war Japan’s most significant public buildings and cultural commissions and winner of the 2019 Pritzker Prize passed away peacefully on Wednesday at his home in Okinawa, according to the New York Times.

Born in Ōita Prefecture in 1931, Isozaki studied at the University of Tokyo before working in the office of Kenzo Tange and then setting out to form his own practice in 1963. He was among a generation of Japanese star architects and designers, including contemporaries Issey Miyake, Shiro Kuramata, and Kisho Kurokawa, that indelibly changed the way the country was perceived and spoke to the world, authoring the designs for several key structures rendered in his ever-changing and aberrant interpretation of the metabolic style.

Isozaki's 1990 Art Tower Mito. Photo courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimoto

“The most important thing an artist can do is confront society with something it has never seen before, something in a sense improper,” Iso...

Tadao Ando to receive the Andrée Putman Lifetime Achievement Award

2022-09-06T08:00:00-04:00

Prolific, self-taught, and Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando has been announced today as the recipient of the Andrée Putman Lifetime Achievement award. The recognition is presented by the Créateurs Design Awards, a program that highlights extraordinary work in architecture, interior design, product design, photography, journalism, and curation.

Previously on Archinect: New photos of Tadao Ando's Bourse de Commerce — Pinault Collection makeover. (Image courtesy Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection. © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, NeM / Niney et Marca Architectes, Agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier. Photo by Patrick Tourneboeuf. Artist: Urs Fischer.)

“France has a cultural legacy of pursuing ideas beyond the boundary of an era. Revolutionary projects such as the Eiffel Tower and the Centre Pompidou came to fruition in Paris, redefining the city’s historical context,” Ando said in response to winning the award. “Coresidence of the genius loci, the essence of a pl...

Sou Fujimoto’s new resort concept offers guests a revelatory experience of form and philosophy

2022-08-02T19:15:00-04:00

A few months removed from their grand House of Music debut in Budapest, Sou Fujimoto Architects has just unveiled concept renderings and a project website of an undulating coastal resort design on Okinawa’s Ishigaki Island for the Japanese hospitality brand NOT A HOTEL.

The circular home concept includes four bedrooms arranged around an open-air combined living/dining room that includes an island kitchen and panoramic views of the ocean. Its green roof gives way to an internal courtyard that is defined by a 12-meter (40-foot) infinity pool and framed by a singular symbol tree. The construction will equal more than 3,000 tsubos, or about 106,000 square feet, upon its completion, which is scheduled for next summer.

Image courtesy Sou Fujimoto Architects

As mentioned in the project announcement, the design’s near-poetic expression of natural geometries and landscaping is conducive to improved circulation throughout while simultaneously breaking the indoor-outdoor threshold in a refresh ...

all(zone) will push new material boundaries in the ninth MPavilion

2022-07-12T12:51:00-04:00

Two months after being named the designer of the prestigious annual MPavilion commission in Melbourne, Australia, Thailand-based practice all(zone) has revealed an experimental concept featuring a mixture of materials and forms they claim are previously unseen in the country's architectural history.

The ninth edition of the pavilion will be displayed prominently in Melbourne's historic Queen Victoria Gardens and query audiences to “think more deeply about different ways of using materials in a sustainable future,” according to a new project announcement.

Image courtesy Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

By incorporating layers of colorful netting and a waterproof mesh membrane produced by the French manufacturer Serge Ferrari, the pavilion’s presence expands on the commission’s legacy of producing cultural incubators that form the basis for critical exchange in the marketplace of ideas. AECOM and the specialist engineering consultancy TENSYS are now working with all(zone) on a construction pr...

Thailand's all(zone) will create the 2022 MPavilion

2022-05-20T13:56:00-04:00

Innovative Thai practice all(zone) has been named the winner of Australia’s coveted annual MPavilion commission, now in its ninth iteration coming out of a two-year pandemic hiatus. The Bangkok-based studio will reveal its design for Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens site in July in advance of a public opening slated for November 17th.

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation, which manages the commission, commended the “playful” firm for having a “commitment to designing built environments where people can feel at home in the world,” adding that co-founder Rachaporn Choochuey’s direction “hold[s] people at the heart of their designs, viewing the spaces they are creating not just as physical architecture but as platforms for people to cheerfully convene, converse, and celebrate.”

all(zone)'s MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Image courtesy The Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

The Aussie answer to the UK’s yearly Serpentine Pavillion commission has seen past contributions from Gle...

Delhi-based architect Swati Janu awarded the 2022 Moira Gemmil Prize for Emerging Architecture

2022-05-03T14:14:00-04:00

The W Awards, formerly known as the Women in Architecture awards, announce this year's Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture winner. The awards program was created to recognize the work and achievements of female and non-binary designers in professional practice under the age of 45.

Last year's prize was awarded to six female architects part of the architecture practice Lacol. This year's Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture goes to architect Swati Janu.

Social Design Collaborative's ModSkool in Delhi, a modular, low-cost school designed to help communities quickly dismantle the structure as a means to protect it from demolitions. The Modskool was awarded the Beazley Design of the Year 2020 in Architecture. Learn more about the project here. Image courtesy of the Architectural Review.

The Delhi-based architect, writer, and community artist is the founder of Social Design Collaborative. Her practice focuses on integrating architectural activism and community engagemen...

Balkrishna Doshi on the road that led to his RIBA Royal Gold Medal

2022-02-23T13:37:00-05:00

India based Balkrishna Doshi will be awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in April. He gave Eleanor Young a rare insight into how Ahmedabad and his studio there taught him the importance of sound and silence to design, about flexibility and rejoicing, and putting people first

The recent RIBA Royal Gold medalist Balkrishna Doshi spoke about various episodes and challenges in his six-decade career, stating that in his view, client directives are the single-biggest obstacles he faces as a designer.

“As architects, we say ‘I have made a nice verandah, but somebody has encroached’ — we think encroaching or deviating is incorrect ethics. But when you are living and celebrating life, you forget the original purpose, and that is important.”

Previously on Archinect: Balkrishna Doshi awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA

Doshi also described his passion for working with young people and credited an early incident outside the Parisian offices of his mentor Le Corbusier as a formative event in his life and career.

“I clearly remember my first day at 35 Rue de Serves, when I entered Monsieur Corbusier’s office with a suitcase on my head. I had crossed the road without thinking about the traffic light, and suddenly there was a huge honking, everybody braked, an...

Balkrishna Doshi awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA

2021-12-09T15:32:00-05:00

Renowned Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has been announced as the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA, one of the highest architectural honors in the world. By receiving the award, Doshi joins past winners including Sir David Adjaye (2021), Grafton Architects (2020), and Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (2019). Doshi is also the 2018 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

RIBA President Simon Alford described Doshi as an individual who was “influenced generations of architects through his delightfully purposeful architecture.” The ninety-four-year-old architect has seen over 100 built projects throughout his 70-year career, influencing the direction of architecture in India and adjacent regions through both his practice and teaching.

Aranya Low-Cost Housing, Indore, India. Photographer: John Panicker (c) Vastushilpa Foundation

Born in 1927 in Pune, India, Doshi studied at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, before working for four years with Le Corbusier as Seni...

Marina Tabassum is the 2021 Soane Medalist

2021-11-17T14:18:00-05:00

Marina Tabassum has been named the 2021 recipient of the prestigious Soane Medal honoring her lifework and innovation in the field. The Marina Tabassum Architects founder is the fourth recipient of the medal joining Denise Scott Brown, Rafael Moneo, and Kenneth Frampton on a list of past winners.

Widely admired for her attempts to move away from for-profit architecture and towards a more just and humane application of the profession, Tabassum has been lauded as a trailblazer for female architects, as well as women of color, and was recently among several architects and urban planners named as Academy of American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award winners.

Tabassum referred to past medal winners in a lecture delivered at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London on Tuesday.

“I am 52 years old. Unlike the giants who preceded me to this lectern, I consider myself a work in progress: the search is still on,” she began.

Related on Archinect: Marina Tabassum, Justin Garrett Moore amo...

Kengo Kuma has been named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People

2021-09-16T18:38:00-04:00

Kengo Kuma champions an ideal of “losing architecture”—intricate buildings that disappear into their environs—although it’s hard to miss the new National Stadium … His stylistic fingerprints can be seen throughout the elaborate project … Greenery dots the facade of the oval-shaped structure, the centerpiece of this year’s Games, allowing a series of wooden eaves—a favored material for Kuma, procured from prefectures across Japan—to better blend in with the surrounding garden.

Kengo Kuma’s design for the Japan National Stadium served as the centerpiece for this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games. Kuma also recently announced museum projects with literary tie-ins in Denmark and Norway and has been able to add sneaker collaborations and homeware to his portfolio successfully.

The 67-year-old Yokohama native joins Jeanne Gang, David Adjaye, and Bjarke Ingels as architects to be named to the prestigious list in the past five years.

'Her architecture is elegant, ecological and always intriguing' — Architect Anupama Kundoo wins 2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award

2021-08-17T16:53:00-04:00

The RIBA Charles Jencks Award has been given to architects and firms who have made "a major contribution to both the theory and practice of architecture." This prestigious award has been presented to Débora Mesa and Antón García-Abril of Ensamble Studio (2019), Herzog & de Meuron (2015), and Eric Owen Moss (2011) to name a few.

The notable shortlist of nominated architects includes MASS Design Group, Emilio Ambasz, Alexander Brodsky, Nigel Coates, Beatriz Colomina, Francis Kéré, Peter Salter, Marina Tabassum, and Eyal Weizman.

This year's RIBA Charles Jencks Award is presented to Indian architect and researcher Anupama Kundoo. Her winning the award is a great reflection of influential architectural practices and academic work in South Asia.

Wall House by Anupama Kundoo. Image © Javier Callejas

Trained in Mumbai, Kundoo's focus on housing initiatives, material research, sustainability, and community-driven design has positioned her as an advocate for socially responsible architectur...

California Polytechnic University, Pomona's Dept of Architecture awards Toyo Ito the 2021 Richard J. Neutra Award for Professional Excellence

2021-04-14T15:52:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Cal State Polytechnic University, Pomona, an Archinect School Partner

The Department of Architecture, California Polytechnic University, Pomona is pleased to award Toyo Ito the 2021 Richard J. Neutra Award for Professional Excellence. The Neutra Award recognizes the contributions that Richard Neutra, an acclaimed modern architect, and former Cal Poly Pomona lecturer, made to the practice of architecture in the areas of research and design. The Neutra Award acknowledges individuals who have dedicated their careers to researching and developing new environments in which to work, live and play.

Mr. Ito (1941-), graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1965 and worked in the office of Kiyonori Kikutake until 1969. In 1971, he founded his own office Urban Robot (URBOT), which was renamed Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

Mr. Ito is the recipient of numerous awards for his innovative and forward-looking architecture. He is the recipient of the Golden Lion ...

MAD LA: Ma Yansong and Los Angeles

2020-04-02T12:08:00-04:00

Ma, who makes his home in Pacific Palisades, is in fact a superstar in his native country, China, where he has completed skyscrapers, opera houses, museums, apartments and entire neighborhoods. But both there and here, like a quiet, mysterious character in one of Lucas’ tales (Boba Fett comes to mind), he hovers in the background, nonetheless wielding enormous power.

The Los Angeles Times today published a Sam Lubell profile of Ma Yansong, founder and creative mind of of Beijing- and LA-based MAD Architects.

Rendering courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Yansong talks about his under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, the Gardenhouse residential complex in Beverly Hills, reaction to criticism, inspiration by nature and movies, and why he actually doesn't like talking at all.

"I don’t know why artists need to talk so much," he says in the piece. "I think my work can speak for me."

Related reading: Archinect's conversation, A new nature: Interview with Ma Yansong of MAD Architecture

Kengo Kuma steps into shoe design with ASICS

2019-12-02T16:01:00-05:00

Architects dabbling in fashion design is nothing new. From Zaha Hadid to Santiago Calatrava and Virgil Abloh, shoe brands often turn to architects for inspiration. In the latest example, Japanese footwear brand ASICS has teamed with Kengo Kuma to design a new running shoe that's said to marry "ASICS’ most cutting edge technology with ancient techniques and Kengo’s beautifully engineered aesthetic to create what he calls his 'smallest building yet,'" according to Isabelle Hore-Thorburn of HIGHESTNOBIETY.

METARIDE AMU running shoe. Image © ASICS

METARIDE™ AMU by KENGO KUMA. Video © ASICS Japan

Kuma's spin on the shoe showcases the "yatara ami" (bamboo knitting) technique that creates two interlocking layers that aid in the foot's natural movement. The design keeps up with the sleek, slip-on attributes shoe brands such as Nike and Adidas have incorporated into their recent lineups while offering a subtle and clean profile in contrast to some of t...

Japanese architect Junya Ishigami announces plans for design of 2019 Serpentine pavilion

2019-02-14T13:40:00-05:00

Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, known for his experimental works that blend nature and fantasy, has been tapped by the Serpentine Gallery to design their popular summer attraction, the Serpentine Pavilion. The highly sought-after commission follows the success of previous iterations by rising stars in the world of architecture, Frida Escobedo (2018) and Diébédo Francis Kéré (2017).

Junya Ishigami, KAIT Workshop, Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Japan, 2008 © Junya Ishigami + Associates

At 44, Ishigami, who worked at SANAA before starting his own practice, has amassed a unique body of work. In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale for his installation “Architecture as Air," praised by the jury for pushing the "limits of materiality, visibility, tectonics, thinness, and ultimately of architecture itself.” Described by Oliver Wainwright as a magician of materials, Ishigami's gift for creating unfeasibly light structures is obvious in o...

Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi's plea for a Biological City

2018-12-10T15:29:00-05:00

Unfortunately, we have since forgotten this soulful approach to architecture and design, following instead the prevailing planning model of big budgets, large-scale structures and isolated behaviors. Consequently, our habitations have become fragmented and we fail to see the city’s infrastructure and life in an integrated way.

Celebrated Indian architect and 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate, Balkrishna Doshi, pens a passionate NYT opinion piece in which he calls for a renewed harmony of human settlements with nature rather than pursuing more resource-consuming megastructures.

The Balkrishna Doshi-designed Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, 1977. Photo: Sanyam Bahga/Flickr

"In addition to such quietude, other aesthetic measures of settlements include grace, love, compassion and humility," Doshi writes. "To animate a settlement one must create humble and tender connections, which encourage humans to come together and to share and to feel themselves a part of a larger order, a part of Mother Earth."

Amateur Architecture Studio brings traditional Chinese materials and craftsmanship into modern architecture

2018-08-30T16:15:00-04:00

Wang Shu and his wife, Lu Wenyu, of China’s Amateur Architecture Studio want to protect Chinese culture and history by returning to artisanal building techniques and the use of materials such as natural stone, wood and bamboo. Wang Shu’s rejection of what he calls “professional, soulless architecture” has almost become a war cry. That kind of architecture, he believes, is ruining China.

Amateur Architecture Studio focuses on creating work that transcends the black and white divide of traditional and modern architecture. The duo have made it their mission to bring back handmade work and natural materials into modernization.

China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus by Amateur Architecture Studio. Image: Tõnis Kimmel/Flickr.

Wang Shu was the first Chinese Pritzker winner, awarded back in 2012, for his commitment to reviving traditional craftsmanship in the profession.

China Academy of Art, Wa Shan Guesthouse, Xiangshan Campus by Amateur Architecture Studio. Image: Iwan Baan.

The studio works with material such as bamboo, stone, and wood rather than only focusing on concrete and steel. The Chinese tradition of handmade construction is essential to Shu, who prefers the title of "artisan" rather than "architect".

Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi: architecture needs to invest in dignity of low-income housing

2018-03-12T13:35:00-04:00

Speaking to the Guardian after the announcement of his award, Doshi said that architects and urban planners involved in low-income housing projects – as well as architectural education – needed to move away from their focus on the designer as individual to being far more collaborative, compassionate and invested in the dignity of those they house.

Study up on the impressive body of work of freshly minted Pritzker Prize laureate, Balkrishna Doshi, here.

'My works are an extension of my life': Notable designs of 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi

2018-03-07T15:12:00-05:00

If you're not too familiar with the works of 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi, the 90-year-old architect, urban planner, and educator has been a major influence in shaping modern architecture and urban living in his native India. Throughout his 70-year career, he has built public administrations, educational and cultural institutions, private residences, and more.

Read on for a glimpse into some of Doshi's notable projects.

Balkrishna Doshi (photo courtesy of VSF)

“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,” Doshi said on receiving the Pritzker Prize. “[W]ith all my humility and gratefulness I want to thank the Pritzker Jury for this deeply touching and rewarding recognition of my work. This rea...

Balkrishna Doshi wins 2018 Pritzker Prize

2018-03-07T10:07:00-05:00

That time of year is here again! Today, Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi was announced as the 2018 Pritzker Prize winner. Dubbed the “Nobel Prize” of architecture, the illustrious $100,000 prize also comes with a formal citation certificate and a bronze medallion based on the designs of iconic architect Louis Sullivan.

Balkrishna Doshi will join the Pritzker's honorary list of laureates, which includes RCR Arquitectes co-founders Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta (who collectively won the 2017 prize), Alejandro Aravena (2016), the late Frei Otto (2015), Shigeru Ban (2014), Toyo Ito (2013), Wang Shu (2012), Eduardo Souto de Moura (2011), SANAA (2010), Peter Zumthor (2009), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

Kazuyo Sejima joins Pritzker Prize jury

2018-01-30T14:42:00-05:00

The Hyatt Foundation today announced the appointment of Kazuyo Sejima as the newest member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize jury.

Sejima herself is a Pritzker laureate and received the prestigious recognition in 2010 alongside her SANAA co-founding partner Ryue Nishizawa.

"I am looking forward to working with my colleagues on the jury and supporting the mission of the Pritzker Prize," Sejima commented on the appointment.

Grace Farms “River” building in New Canaan, CT by SANAA. Photo: Iwan Baan.

The Pritzker Prize jury for 2018, the accolade's 40th anniversary, also includes:

Jury Chair Glenn Murcutt, architect and 2002 Pritzker Laureate, Sydney, Australia
Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Washington, D.C., USA
André Corrêa do Lago, architectural critic, curator, and Brazilian Ambassador to Japan, Tokyo, Japan
The Lord Palumbo, architectural patron, Chairman Emeritus of the Trustees, Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom
Richard Rogers, architect and 2007 Pritzker Laur...

Wang Shu and André Corrêa do Lago announced as new jurors of the coveted Pritzker Prize

2017-09-06T13:28:00-04:00

As the Pritzker Prize marks its 40th anniversary with the upcoming 2018 edition, the award which has come to be known internationally as architecture’s highest honor welcomes two new members to its jury: architect and 2012 Laureate Wang Shu and André Aranha Corrêa do Lago.

They will be replacing architect and educator Yung Ho Chang, and architecture curator, writer and editor Kristin Feireiss. The two served on the Pritzker Prize Jury for 7 and 6 years, respectively, and have recently stepped down. Jurors serve a minimum three-year term, which allows for both change and stability in the decision-making process

As a former winner of the prize, the Chinese architect's recent appointment comes as no surprise. Wang, whose work incorporates cultural tradition, craft skills, and spontaneous elements, said of the honor that “it is a great responsibility to serve on the jury. I also hope to share my knowledge of China and the Asian context with them.”

Mr. Corrêa do Lago, on the other hand,...

How Tadao Ando defines his own "home for the spirit"

2016-11-28T13:04:00-05:00

This should be Ando’s residence. But there is no bedroom. Or food in the kitchen. And a couple of years ago he told Japanese TV that he lives in a normal apartment. This is Tadao Ando’s house, but is it his home? [...] Ando built it to be his home in 1995 but never moved in. You can find it listed in architecture books as the “Atelier” or “Studio Annexe”. “I wanted a fun place to live, a place where every day is thrilling, a quiet place to think,” he says.

Ando, on the ultimate home, to Robin Harding for the Financial Times:

“Please write this,” he says. “A church is a home town for the spirit, a place where the spirit lives. Big or small. It’s the home of the spirit so when you go there you feel relief. You feel the spirit’s richness. I have to think whether I have made a home for the spirit or not. A house is the same. It must be a home for that person’s spirit."

More Ando on Archinect:

Tadao Ando and Elyn Zimmerman win the 2016 Isamu Noguchi Award

2015-12-02T14:49:00-05:00

The Noguchi Museum in New York announced the one and only Tadao Ando and artist Elyn Zimmerman as the 2016 recipients of the Isamu Noguchi Award. Established in 2014, the award recognizes individuals whose work conveys collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and innovative qualities like that of influential landscape architect and artist Isamu Noguchi. In the last two editions, Norman Foster and artist Hiroshi Sugimoto won the inaugural award, while architect Yoshio Taniguchi and industrial designer Jasper Morrison received the 2015 award earlier this year.

During a special ceremony at the Museum's Spring Benefit on May 10, 2016, Ando and Zimmerman will each be presented with the award — which resembles Noguchi's iconic "Red Cube" sculpture. The Museum selected Ando for his masterful "minimalist approach, sensitivity to light, and incorporation of natural elements" that he is widely known for. Zimmerman, who started out as a painter and photographer, was recognized for her signature use...

Tadao Ando amid serious health concerns: "Just being alive isn’t sufficient."

2015-06-15T20:00:00-04:00

Ando has always been up for a challenge. Recently he is tackling some of his biggest obstacles yet. He’s had several major surgeries for cancer. But he’s not letting this slow him down. [...] Ando was diagnosed with cancer, and first had his gallbladder and duodenum removed. Then, more cancer turned up, and his pancreas and spleen were taken out. [...] “People live as long as they’re meant to. So, we might as well make every effort we can, until we die.”

Despite the serious health worries, the 73-year-old Ando isn't slowing down much. Just last week, we published further details of his first building in New York City, 152 Elizabeth Street, which is currently under construction.

Read Archinect's interview with Tadao Ando from 2012:

Tadao Ando Interview: 20 Minutes with a Master

Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA lectures at GSAPP

2014-09-22T16:47:00-04:00

This past Wednesday, Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA addressed an overflowing Wood Auditorium, giving the first GSAPP lecture of the semester. Recently appointed dean Amale Andraos gave a brief introduction of Sejima and returned at the end of the lecture to lead a discussion as well as the Q/A portion of the evening.

Sejima began her lecture by explaining her choice of “Canopy” as her theme, an idea that is central to her, both as a part of SANAA and independently. “I like to make a space like a park, because a park is a place where different kind of people can gather,” stated Sejima, describing her desire to create an architecture that allows diverse groups of people to come together to both share and create their own space. By developing the concept of a canopy, Sejima creates a direct connection with the building and the environment, in a similar way that parks connect people with each other and the environment.

Starting with the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland and conc...

Shigeru Ban named as 2014 Pritzker Prize Laureate

2014-03-24T17:14:00-04:00

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has been announced as the 2014 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Established by the Pritzker family of Chicago in 1979, the prestigious award is widely regarded as "the Nobel Prize" in the architecture profession.

Shigeru Ban will be the seventh Japanese architect to become a Pritzker Laureate — following the late Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, the team of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010, and Toyo Ito in 2013.

Shigeru Ban will officially accept the prize at a formal ceremony in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on June 13, 2014. This will be the first time the ceremony will be held in The Netherlands.

Past recipients in recent years include Toyo Ito (2013), Wang Shu (2012), Eduardo Souto de Moura (2011), SANAA (2010), and Peter Zumthor (2009). Laureates receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, and a bronze medallion based on the designs of famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan.

From the wi...