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Watch Riken Yamamoto's remarks from the 2024 Pritzker Prize ceremony

2024-11-14T15:35:00-05:00

Video from this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Riken Yamamoto’s May lecture and award presentation ceremony in Chicago has been shared with Archinect to celebrate the 46th edition of architecture’s most important individual honor.

The documentary-style film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the festivities, featuring commentary from Norman Foster and Yale School of Architecture dean Deborah Berke, among several others.

Berke tells us "I think the most important thing about it is how subtle it is and how willing he is as an architect to let the buildings be background in order to foreground human interaction" in deference to Yamamoto's deep understanding of both relational aesthetics and the art of the urban form.

Video courtesy of The Hyatt Foundation/The Pritzker Architecture Prize

More commentary from jurors Barry Bergdoll, Stephen Breyer, André Corrêa do Lago, Kazuyo Sejima, and Wang Shu provided an additional spotlight on Yamamoto’s legacy of social advocacy th...

Riken Yamamoto receives the 2024 Pritzker Prize in Chicago

2024-05-20T15:16:00-04:00

A celebration of Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto as the 53rd official Pritzker Prize laureate was held in Chicago over the weekend. Yamamoto was joined by past winners Francis Kéré (2022) and Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal (2021) on stage at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture for a special presentation of his life and work, which began in Beijing in 1945 and has seen designs realized in Japan, Switzerland, China, and the Republic of Korea, through a lens considering 'The Architect as a Catalyst for Change.'

Yamamoto is the ninth Japanese winner of the Pritzker Prize, after his countrymen Arata Isozaki (2019), Shigeru Ban (2014), Toyo Ito (2013), Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (2010), Tadao Ando (1995), Fumihiko Maki (1991), and Kenzō Tange (1987). He said during the ceremony that he felt pride at being a "member of the Pritzker family." His win follows David Chipperfield, who spoke from the Ancient Agora in Athens last year.

The full remarks fro...

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...

Riken Yamamoto wins the 2024 Pritzker Prize

2024-03-05T09:00:00-05:00

Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto has been awarded the 2024 Pritzker Prize.

Born in 1945, the architect and social advocate has built a career that establishes kinship between public and private realms, in pursuit of harmonious societies that overcome diverse identities, economies, politics, infrastructures, and housing systems.

Yamakawa Villa, photo courtesy of Tomio Ohashi

“For me, to recognize space, is to recognize an entire community,” Yamamoto notes. “The current architectural approach emphasizes privacy, negating the necessity of societal relationships. However, we can still honor the freedom of each individual while living together in architectural space as a republic, fostering harmony across cultures and phases of life.”

Jian Wai SOHO, photo courtesy of Mitsumasa Fujitsuka

Yamamoto was chosen by the Pritzker jury for his championing of a profession that creates awareness in the community, "questioning the discipline of architecture to calibrate each individual architectural ...

AI models predict the 2024 Pritzker Winner

2024-03-04T08:10:00-05:00

As the architecture community anticipates the official Pritzker Prize announcement this Tuesday, our team at Archinect has been fully immersed in the whirlwind of predictions and speculations. A few days ago we published a roundup of forecasts from the Archinect community, highlighting potential winners such as Moshe Safdie, Barclay Crousse, Eyal Weizman/Forensic Architecture, Thomas Heatherwick, H arquitectes, and Johnston Marklee, to name just a few. This curiosity led to an idea for a fun experiment: consult with various Artificial Intelligence models to gauge their insights on the prestigious award's 2024 recipient. Initiating conversations with four leading LLM models—ChatGPT 4, Google Gemini, Anthropic's Claude 2, and Perplexity—I navigated the sometimes hilariously clumsy, but mostly very interesting "thoughts" from our AI frenemies. Each of the models ended up predicting different winners, but there's a common theme with all of the selections that you'll notice.

I conducted...

Archinect readers predict the 2024 Pritzker Prize winner

2024-03-01T14:05:00-05:00

Our annual Archinect readers’ predictions for this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize have once again spurred a lively discussion forum thread full of guesses as to which architect will become the 53rd official laureate when the prize is announced on Tuesday, March 5.

Last year, our social media polls had the eventual winner, David Chipperfield, over a group of frontrunners that mostly carried over to 2024, namely Jeanne Gang, Kengo Kuma, and Bjarke Ingels.

Alejandro Aravena (also the 2016 Pritzker laureate) is the jury chair for the sixth consecutive year, joined by the prize’s Executive Director Manuela Lucá-Dazio; Columbia GSAPP professor Barry Bergdoll; Yale SoA dean Deborah Berke; retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; the critic and Brazilian Ambassador to India André Aranha Corrêa do Lago; and the 2010 and 2012 laureates Kazuyo Sejima and Wang Shu.

Here's what some of the commenters in the discussion thread predicted:

ae_0 listed "H arquitectes, Centro de Colabora...

David Chipperfield reflects on his journey in Pritzker Prize ceremony video

2023-11-14T12:50:00-05:00

A video of the special Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony honoring this year’s laureate David Chipperfield has been shared with Archinect, following the culmination of the event held this May from the Ancient Agora in Athens.

Chipperfield spoke to a crowd who were assembled at the cultural site in honor of the 45th year of the Pritzker Prize, which has been presented annually by the Hyatt Foundation since its establishment in 1979.

Video courtesy of The Hyatt Foundation/The Pritzker Architecture Prize

“My debts are enormous,” he began in stating. “I’m thankful for this prize but even more thankful for the wonderful journey that got me here... Architectural practice depends not only on creative talent but just as much on the collaboration of individuals within the studio and without. It has been a journey of privilege.”

Other speakers in the documentary-style video include Greek First Lady and designer Mareva Grabowski; Hyatt Foundation Chairman Tom Pritzker; and the Prize’s Jury...

Pritzker Prize winner David Chipperfield and others reflect on the role of architectural practice

2023-05-23T17:19:00-04:00

This year’s Pritzker Prize laureate David Chipperfield has concluded his remarks at the special awards ceremony and presentation held this morning at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

Topics covered by Chipperfield’s address include the limits and responsibilities of practice, the market’s influence over the industry, and an overview of his career, all framed by the impetus of climate change and the responsibility of designers within the context of the current global architectural stasis.

Chipperfield began by paying homage to Le Corbusier, Josep Lluís Sert, and the other architects who met at the school for the influential Fourth CIAM Congress on urban planning in August of 1933, stating: “We find ourselves again, in this room, needing more than ever the sort of planning structures that were proposing in order that we can confront the environmental issues of our time.”

“We must become incr...

David Chipperfield's former staffers share their experiences working for the newest Pritzker winner

2023-03-10T06:00:00-05:00

Following this week’s announcement of David Chipperfield as the 46th Pritzker Prize laureate, we reached out to several of his former employees that now run their own firms and studios in order to get their thoughts and recollections on working for the architect as younger designers.

Chipperfield himself benefited greatly from his time in the offices of Richard Rogers and Norman Foster shortly after completing his studies at the Architectural Association (AA) in London and in advance of starting his practice later in 1985. Speaking to Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright after the win, Chipperfield said: “In both those offices, they were quite obsessive about doing more than you’re asked to do.”

“My generation has always been about the product,” he added, “but I believe more than anything now that we need to focus on the process.”

Read about his influence shared by his protégés as to if (and how) their experience at DCA influenced their current practice and stylistic sen...

David Chipperfield is the 2023 Pritzker Prize winner

2023-03-07T10:00:00-05:00

British architect Sir David Chipperfield has been awarded the 2023 Pritzker Prize.

The Pritzker jury described Chipperfield as a "prolific architect who is radical in his restraint, demonstrating his reverence for history and culture while honoring the preexisting built and natural environments, as he reimagines functionality and accessibility of new buildings, renovations and restorations through timeless modern design that confronts climate urgencies, transforms social relationships and reinvigorates cities."

The Neues Museum, courtesy of SPK / David Chipperfield Architects, photo Joerg von Bruchhausen

Chipperfield's work spans over four decades with over one hundred projects ranging from civic, cultural, and academic buildings to residences and urban masterplanning throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. When naming Chipperfield as the 2023 Pritzker laureate, the organizers singled out his Neues Museum restoration (Berlin, Germany, 2009) as demonstrating "Chipperfield’s discer...

And the Archinectors predictions for the 2023 Pritzker Prize are...

2023-03-06T19:01:00-05:00

The results are in for Archinect readers’ annual Pritzker Prize predictions!

Following this discussion forum thread and quick social media polling, Archinectors have come up with their best guesses (along with the usual sarcastic responses) as to who will succeed recent laureates Balkrishna Doshi, Lacaton & Vassal, and Diébédo Francis Kéré for architecture’s highest honor before the winner of this year’s prize will be officially announced tomorrow, March 7th.

The polls on Archinect's Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram channels produced a nearly neck-and-neck tie between David Adjaye and David Chipperfield, likely in response to their mid-career and recent works (including the recent Abrahamic Family House and James Simon Gallery, respectively) and ignoring their criticisms and minor controversies. Moshe Safdie, who just published a memoir and opened important new buildings in South America, was another popular name, along with Jeanne Gang and Obama Presidential Center designers TWBT...

$150,000 Jane & Kevin Roche Scholarship Fund launched to support architecture students

2022-07-11T18:33:00-04:00

A scholarship fund honoring the legacy of the late Kevin Roche has been established by the Connecticut Architecture Foundation (CAF) in coordination with the local firm Svigals + Partners and in time for what would have been the Pritzker winner’s 100th birthday this year. Roche’s children, who were behind the decision to repurpose their father’s heirlooms, said the establishment’s purpose was to “[make] the Pritzker work for the betterment of architecture in a new way, refocusing its lens from the most heralded to the least.”

The fund will begin rewarding money to students with at least two years of completed study in an undergraduate architecture program, or to those holding acceptance letters from accredited graduate programs in the subject, starting next year.

In a live event hosted in New Haven at Yale School of Architecture by Dean Deborah Berke, recent Pritzker laureates Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Ireland-based Grafton Architects presented a short video tribute, a...

Pritzker Prize winner Diébédo Francis Kéré on why his childhood is keeping him motivated

2022-03-22T18:01:00-04:00

I never saw myself connected to this big thing. I was just using my skills to create comfortable spaces and beautiful schools and housing for my people. No, I never dreamed to see this work connected with Pritzker. No, no, never.

NPR’s Michel Martin got the newest Pritzker laureate and recently-named Dakar Goethe Institute designer to harken back to his childhood village in Burkina Faso, which he credited as a strong influence beginning with his educational experiences in darkened classrooms that frequently hovered around 100 degrees.

Recently on Archinect: Francis Kéré named 2022 Pritzker Prize winner

“Being in the village, you're thinking about big buildings, glass and whatever, far away,” Kéré told NPR. “And so in Burkina, that is it. The focus is the Western. But in my case, it's like you just have, you know, a tradition, which is strong, which has skills, which has some great things that I relate to the environment, to the ecology […] but people don't see it [as if] it has a value. And when we started, it cost me a lot of energy to really convince [them]. But a couple of years ago, people started to see that what I'm doing was the good solution.”

Related on Archinect: Francis Kéré and others are attempt...

Francis Kéré named 2022 Pritzker Prize winner

2022-03-15T10:00:00-04:00

Diébédo Francis Kéré has been awarded the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize, widely considered one of the industry's highest honors.

"Francis Kéré has found brilliant, inspiring and game-changing ways to answer these questions over the last decades," said the jury citation for the award. "His cultural sensitivity not only delivers social and environmental justice, but guides his entire process, in the awareness that it is the path towards the legitimacy of a building in a community. He knows, from within, that architecture is not about the object but the objective; not the product, but the process."

Born in Gando, Burkina Faso in 1965, Kéré studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin. In 2005, while living in Berlin, he set up Kéré Architecture and has since designed a portfolio of notable works, including the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion, installations at Coachella, and a pavilion for the Tip...

Justice Stephen Breyer will continue to serve on the Pritzker Prize jury after Supreme Court retirement

2022-01-31T11:59:00-05:00

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer may be leaving the nation’s top court, but his days of making high-profile decisions are not over yet. Breyer will reportedly remain one of the jurors of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, regarded as the highest honor in the field.

The 83-year-old Breyer has served on the Pritzker Prize jury since 2011. He reportedly became interested in the discipline after having first-hand involvement in the selection of architects for the then-new Moakley Courthouse in Boston as part of his responsibilities as Chief Judge of the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals.

Breyer’s architectural activities may be limited to the Pritzker jury, which he chaired for the 2019 and 2020 competitions, but his tastes and opinions in areas of public design are rather well known. His reputation as a philosopher has extended over into his Pritzker-judging activities as well, according to Yale SoA Dean Deborah Berke, who said she and the prize’s seven other jury members deeply value his astute and original observations.

“He has a very, very keen eye, not only for buildings but also for their context, their community, and within the building itself its composition and materiality. He sees works of architecture holistically,” the recent Topaz ...

'It is important for the world to know that people like you exist': Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal formally awarded 2021 Pritzker Prize

2021-09-15T13:18:00-04:00

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been formally awarded the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize at a special ceremony which took place on September 14th. The French architects were announced as recipients of the prestigious prize in March in recognition of their contribution to the built environment, particularly their commitment to sustainability through the use of pre-existing structures.

Ceremony highlights. Video courtesy Pritzker Architecture Prize.

During their ceremony acceptance speech, Lacaton and Vassal stressed the importance of creating habitable spaces with a positive relationship to the climate and starting from a principle of retaining, rather than demolishing, existing structures. “In this respect, the heritage of modernity and experiments with free plan, spatial generosity, transparency and light for all, offer many valuable lessons,” they said.

“Considering the existing as a present material deeply modifies the way we envisage the city, which is always a...

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Gottfried Böhm dies at 101

2021-06-11T14:15:00-04:00

The renowned German architect Gottfried Böhm has passed away at the age of 101. In 1986, Böhm became the first German architect to be awarded the Pritzker Prize, recognizing his skilled use of concrete, steel, and glass in church architecture. Böhm won particular acclaim for his sculptural concrete churches, including the Pilgrimage Church in Neviges, Germany, which is regarded as one of the most important church constructions on the 20th century.

Gottfried Böhm in 2015. Image: Elke Wetzig

Born in 1920 near Frankfurt, Germany, Böhm was part of a generation of German architects tasked with rebuilding the country after the Second World War. His work was heavily influenced by the works of early European modernists, including Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, both of whom Böhm met personally.

Bensberg City Hall, Germany. Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas

Böhm’s first building, the Madonna in the Rocks chapel in Cologne, Germany, was completed in 1949 and was incorporated into the Pet...

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal named 2021 Pritzker Prize Winners

2021-03-16T10:38:00-04:00

French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal of Lacaton & Vassal have been awarded the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize, widely considered one of the industry's highest honors.

Transformation of G, H, I Buildings, Grand Parc, 530 Units, Social Housing (with Frédéric Druot and Christophe Hutin), photo courtesy of Philippe Ruault

The prize jury praised the architects' ongoing commitment to sustainability through their reverence for pre-existing structures, "conceiving projects by first taking inventory of what already exists."

53 Units, Low-Rise Apartments, Social Housing, photo courtesy of Philippe Ruault

The 2021 jury citation states, in part: "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...

The architecture stories that defined October 2020

2020-12-29T14:53:00-05:00

While the news cycle in October was mostly dominated by the upcoming elections and ongoing pandemic, other aspects of life continued. In the world of architecture, these were the stories that captured our collective attention...

The Challenges of Academia

Lesley Lokko resigns as Dean of CCNY's Spitzer School of Architecture

After less than a year of her appointment as dean of CCNY's architecture school, Lesley Lokko surprised us all with her announcement of resignation. Work environment and systemic racism played a role, as we learned in our panel discussion with Lesley and other leaders of the architectural academy...

What will the future of architectural education look like?

As part of our panel discussion series for Parade, an exciting new initiative started by Archinect and Designer Pages, we spoke with a number of leaders in the world in architectural academia to address the bigger issues affecting the current and future state of education.

Get Lectured, Fall 2020 series

One o...

Pritzker Architecture Prize names Alejandro Aravena as Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury

2020-10-29T17:54:00-04:00

Today, The Pritzker Architecture Prize announced the appointments of Alejandro Aravena as Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury and Manuela Lucá-Dazio as an advisor to the Prize and the next Executive Director, beginning in March 2021.

"Throughout the history of the Prize, we have consistently relied on the diversity, expertise and standing of our jury members to interpret the evolving role of architecture as it responds to the changing needs of community, environment and technology. We are pleased to welcome back Alejandro Aravena, and in a renewed capacity as he brings with him a fresh model of leadership to steward our independent, international and esteemed jury," said Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award in a statement. "Likewise, we are delighted to work with Manuela Lucá-Dazio in this new season as we continue our privilege of honoring architects who have impressed upon the industry through the art of architecture and their service ...

The Pritzker Prize releases the first-ever virtual ceremony honoring 2020 laureates, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects

2020-10-06T19:24:00-04:00

As previously reported on Archinect, for the first time in 42 years, the Pritzker Prize honors did not take place in person. In response to the restrictions forced by COVID-19 the Pritzker Architecture Prize has created a documentary-style archival video to celebrate the work of 2020 Laureates Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.

2020 Pritzker Prize Ceremony Highlights

Previously on Archinect: Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects named 2020 Pritzker Prize winners

Like the traditional ceremony, there are still addresses from a number of people congratulating the duo and acceptance speeches from both McNamara and Farrell, each sharing their words remotely in special locations.

2020 Pritzker Prize Ceremony, full video

And don't forget to check out Archinect's conversation with Yvonne Farrell below:

For the first time in 42 years, the Pritzker Prize honors will not take place in person

2020-09-30T16:36:00-04:00

On October 6th, the Pritzker Architecture Prize will release a special video dedicated to 2020 Laureates Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. The documentary-style archival video will highlight the duo's work, their reflections on the industry, and a special message to aspiring architects.

For the first time in 42 years, the Pritzker Prize Awards ceremony will not be held in-person. Yet, the special video tribute will include elements of the traditional Prize ceremony, exclusive, never-before-seen footage of the Laureates and images of their work.

Universita Luigi Bocconi. Image courtesy of Federico Brunetti

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are the 47th and 48th Pritzker Prize Laureates. Image courtesy of Alice Clancy

With acceptance speeches delivered remotely, this year's prize winners shared their thoughts in specific locations allowing viewers to look into public and private sites worldwide. For example, McNamara shared words while standing in the Long Room, the main chamber o...

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects named 2020 Pritzker Prize winners

2020-03-03T10:07:00-05:00

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects have been awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Dubbed as the "Nobel Prize" of architecture, the prize is considered the industry's highest honor.

Loreto Community School, photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh.

In a press statement announcing their selection, the Farrell wrote, “Architecture could be described as one of the most complex and important cultural activities on the planet. 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.”

To which McNamara added, “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 t...

Significant works of 2019 Pritzker Prize laureate Arata Isozaki

2019-03-05T13:38:00-05:00

Arata Isozaki was just awarded the 2019 Pritzker Prize at the age of 87. Isozaki once famously said that "the most important thing an artist can do is confront society with something it has never seen before, something in a sense improper." As a full life of work lies behind the Japanese architect, we can witness the shifts and patterns of his multi-decade career as it has been committed to the level of unfamiliarity and newness that Isozaki has long sought to imbue in his work.

1. Ōita Prefectural Library, Ōita, Japan, 1962-66

Ōita Prefectural Library, photo courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimot

As a young architect, Isozaki was influenced by the then-popular style of Brutalist architecture, and he applied it when given the opportunity to design the library in his hometown of Ōita on the island of Kyushu. Far away from Tokyo, he did not consider himself a member of the Metabolist movement due to its utilitarian motives.

2. Tsukuba Center Building, Ibaraki, Japan, 1979-83

Tsukaba Center Buil...

Arata Isozaki named 2019 Pritzker Prize winner

2019-03-05T10:17:00-05:00

Announced Tuesday morning, Arata Isozaki has been awarded the 2019 Pritzker Prize. Dubbed as the "Nobel Prize" of architecture, it is considered the industry's highest honor. Isozaki—whose notable works have included Ōita Medical Hall (1959-60) and Annex (1970-1972), the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles, and the more recent, National Convention Center in Qatar —is the 46th Pritzker Prize laureate and the eighth Japanese architect to be awarded.

On their selection, the 2019 Jury praised the architect for "possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and embracing the avant-garde." The Citation further states that Isozaki "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.”

Arata Isozaki will join the Pritzker's honorary list of laureates, which includes Balkrishna Doshi (...

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."

Justice Stephen Breyer to take over for Murcutt as Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury

2018-08-16T14:50:00-04:00

Following Glenn Murcutt's retirement as the most recent chair, the Hyatt Foundation has announced that Justice Stephen Breyer will become the new head of the Pritzker Prize's seven-member jury. The U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday, has sat on the panel that awards architecture’s greatest honor since 2011.

Though he never studied architecture, Breyer played a key role in advising the design and construction for the federal courthouse in Boston led by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. He also wrote the foreword to the book "Celebrating the Courthouse: A Guide for Architects, Their Clients, and the Public."

This made him a good choice to serve on the panel back in 2011, when the Prtizker's chairman at the time was hoping to expand the breadth of its jurors' experience. His new role is also not without precedent; Lord Peter Palumbo, a British property developer and art collector, served as chair from 2005 to 2016.

“It is with great pleasure that we design...

Balkrishna Doshi's 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate Lecture to be streamed live on May 16th

2018-05-02T18:14:00-04:00

Balkrishna Doshi, the 2018 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, will present his public lecture “Paths Uncharted” on May 16th at 6:30pm EST. Professor Doshi’s lecture will be recorded and streamed live on Facebook and Instagram via @UofTDaniels. Following the event, the recording will be made available on the Daniels Faculty’s YouTube channel.

The University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design will host this event in their new Daniels Building designed by NADAAA in collaboration with ERA Architects and Adamson & Associates. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Pritzker Prize, and the first time that the international award will be presented in Canada.

The public is invited to participate in this educational initiative, which aims to heighten discussion and debate around architecture, stimulate awareness of work in the field, and inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession.

...

Balkrishna Doshi on Fortune Magazine 'World's 50 Greatest Leaders' list

2018-04-19T14:42:00-04:00

This year’s Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor, went to India’s Doshi, who has spent the bulk of his 70-year career championing accessible housing, earning the moniker “the architect for the poor.” [...] Underlying all his work is the ideal that all economic classes deserve good housing.

Fortune Magazine just released its annual list, The World's 50 Greatest Leaders, featuring the visionaries, thinkers, challengers, and influencers who see, understand, and act on today's challenges.

Besides the expected (philanthropists, CEOs, politicians) and a few deserving unexpected (student activists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools, the #MeToo Movement) selections, one architect represents the profession this year—not with flashy buildings but with a solid body of work and the repeated call for good design and dignified housing for all: Balkrishna Doshi, the 90-year-old Indian architect and recipient of the 2018 Pritzker Prize.

Also among the honorees is former architect and now mayor of the Indonesian city of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil. Since taking office in 2013, Kamil implemented an array of technology solutions to improve efficiency, reduce traffic congestion, and tackle the challenges of a growing city of 2.5 million.

Pritzker Prize winner Balkrishna Doshi: Education without doors

2018-03-26T13:55:00-04:00

The Pritzker is a great award. Unimaginable. It’s the first time in India—that’s another story. But it is also the recognition of saying that these kinds of buildings are really wonderful, they are globally recognizable buildings. The philosophy of creating something for the have-nots, I think is one of the unique things that can happen.

CityLab reporter Ashish Malhotra sits down with recent Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi to chat about winning the Pritzker, Ahmedabad, Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn as mentors, and open access to architectural education: "So I always wrote, in the [CEPT] campus, my whole idea was that an educational campus should be without doors. No boundaries. And that philosophy I continue."