Archinect's Front Runners for the 2018 Pritzker Prize

2018-03-06T09:00:00-05:00

The 2018 Pritzker Prize will be announced tomorrow, on Wednesday, March 7th at 10 AM EST. Speculation surrounding who will take architecture's top honor this year has been going on for some time, with discussions quite active in our forum and elsewhere. After last year's stunner, in which three architects (a first!) from a relatively unknown practice took the prize, we are all left wondering what direction the 2018 jury will go in. Will they continue to move away from the starchitects (usually white and male) once favored by the prize, as they have in recent years? Will they continue to place a premium on those whose work addresses pressing social issues such as housing or the environment? And, will they once again praise collaboration by awarding multiple architects, or will it return, as is usually the case, to a solo prize?

Either way, while we wait for the results, it is fun to place some bets. The following is a list of architects that have a good shot at the historically, fair...

The S House prefab system hopes to bring super-low-cost housing to Vietnam — and the rest of the world

2017-07-05T14:55:00-04:00

Known as “S Houses,” these prefab structures going up here in Ba Vi, about 30 miles from Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, are iterations of a prototype that Mr. Nghia has been honing since about 2013. [...] But Mr. Nghia says that his plan is to mass-manufacture this portable, easy-to-assemble design for people in slums, remote areas or refugee camps around the world, beginning later this year, all for the starting price — $1,500 — of about two iPhones.

The NYT takes a closer look at the extremely affordable S House prefab system currently going up by the dozens in Vietnam, with a keen eye on the global super-low-cost market. Designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, a design studio with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, S House was exhibited with a full-scale prototype at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial.

S HOUSE at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Photo: Steve Hall, Tom Harris, copyright: Hedrich Blessing, image via the architects' website.

If the firm name sounds strangely familiar, Vo Trong Nghia Architects won the 2014 World Architecture Festival 'House' category with the spectacular House for Trees project. VTN partner Masaaki Iwamoto is also a 2014 Wheelwright Prize finalist.

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Archinect's Front Runners for the 2018 Pritzker Prize

The S House prefab system hopes to bring super-low-cost housing to Vietnam — and the rest of the world