who really cares, the Pritzker Prize is based on what a bunch of old guys think is good architecture. a whole bunch of architects better than Thom Mayne have gotten it, as well as architects worse than him. The entire notion of the Pritzker Prize is a buddy buddy club based on popularity and fashion. In the end, what does this prize mean? It is good for the recipient because he/she then gets to publish more books, and clients then 'get' a building by a pritzker winning architect, and the architect then gets to raise the fees. and then what?

and the work goes on, what else?

i think prizes and awards are good things, every profession has them. especially in a proefssion such as ours it is important to recognize great works. and what is nice about the pritzker is that it is an international award. and i don't really know, because i haven't had any sort of personal involvement with any of the committee members, but

is is really all that stuffy buddy buddy?

Yes.

everything is buddy buddy in the professional world. I also am a fan of prizes. They help to publicize the profession and shed some light on (usually) deserving recipients

"don't enter awards competitions. just don't. it's not good for you."
http://brucemau.com/manifesto.html

"Bruce Mau and the Institute Without Boundaries."

- sounds like a band name, along the lines of
"Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band."
But not as good.

- mies

hah, indeed

fuck prizes and the boys club.

do it for and from your own soul and you always "win".

Rotondi kicks Mayne's arse any day of the week. We all know who the real superstar was when they were together. Publicity is a weird thing indeed. While Mayne is now lauded by his peers and celebrated in the press, Rotondi has all but faded from memory.

What a shame this profession is- its chews and spits out young and old alike. Churn, churn, churn goes its gaping maws!

e the Pritzer isn't an award competition its an award given to significant contribution to the field of architecture, redefinition is you will. It is also a global phenomenon...now think of those names you think deserve it...and all of a sudden.

I thought Mayne would eventually get it, but I didn't think now. Also the Pritzer seems to want to congratulate on a body of work-that is usually public situated, why perhaps they've eliminated the likes of Eisenman etc. I think they don't like paper architects. Again I thought it was Holl's year - he must of pissed someone off in a previous life. But on paper he's the rightful holder - but the PP is unpredictable. Also I think Mayne might of been the first in the last 20 or so years to win, but who's also never been nominated for a Golden Lion

Well there's always next year. Look for someone out of the archinect generation in 2020 onwards by then the Pritzer will probably have numerous coporate sponsership

I agree, its very buddy buddy, boys (+zaha) club

I shoulda won it!

wow, the jealousy is rampant here. face it, the Pritzker is architecture's Noble --- hmmm, I wonder if scientists sit around trashing the Noble committee and winners --- and we should be grateful that such awards exist and are at such a high level of puplic profile.

now, I think Mayne's been doing some incredible work lately -- and a lot of it, but didn't think he was ready to get the Pritzker. agree that Holl seems to have been passed over a couple years running now. still holding out for Eisenman too (if Zaha can win then the no-paper preference seems nul).

regardless, everyone should feel good that someone as progressive as Mayne is getting it as opposed to David Childs or the like --

and by the way -- 3 of the 6 jurors were women --

db? damian? rsf architect?

the prizker has become a measure of how much press an architect can garner in the previos year.


i hope that the PP can soon stop being so easily swayed by the press and go back to the days when the pritzker defined architectural talent to the world and the press followed.

pritzker = blatant self congratulation/old boys club/ etc... yes it does. but architecture is already far too underrepresented in our culture relative to its significance. anything we can do to get ourselves out in peoples minds is definitely good.
i think that if it weren't for good ol boy club awards like the pritzker/etc., the entire profession of architecture would become even more of a good ol boys club than the awards we're criticizing. we've got promote a degree of public transparency, regardless of the inherent ego stroking...

suture -- yet Jorn Utzon got it two years ago -- not much press for him in quite a while previous (or since) -- and Murcutt the year before. I think everyone's criticism of TM is total kneejerk jealousy.

form64 -- no.

While it's easy to condemn the selection of Mayne - he has had a lot of press recently and the 'bad boy' title is getting tired - you have to admit that the GSA work has been a coup for architects, bringing an unconventional design approach to some typically conservative clients.

As noted above, Utzon and Murcutt haven't been the stuff of headlines, so there isn't a consistent scuffling after the rock stars at work here.

Who can resent the choice of Moneo, Herzog/DeMeuron, and Koolhaas? Hadid as the first female honored? They're the ones pushing us ahead. Mayne certainly fits in their camp.

I admire the award and what it does for architecture and only wish that it was more widely publicized. I credit it with making me look closer at Murcutt and at Sverre Fehn, both architects about which I had heard but with which I had little familiarity. Fehn, since I bought the '97 Monacelli monograph, is now one of my favorites.

anybody here knows the address of the ASE Design Center in Taipei? Would like to check it out.

Is the Pritzker ceremony going to be televised?

mvdr

i had heard that one of the other candidates was miralles-- my vote would have been for him, thom could wait another year

true jam-arch. apologies.

Anything that can get my mother to talk about architecture is alright with me. The fact that she knew that Mayne won (not that it means anything to her, but it gave her something to talk to me about) the day after I knew was astonishing, then my father called me that same day around lunch to let me know that Mayne had won.

yup, my mother knew before I did, read the article and everything ('course she knows his name by now). Pretty cool.

pixel - sounds like my folks, apparently it was hot of the press so some TIME subscription holders (and thus Newsweek) in the uk had the mention

Oddly enough they had an associated press article on something like the 2nd or third page of the local paper, which is how my mother found out. And I believe my father said he heard an interview on NPR. The fact that it was even mentioned in the local paper really caught me off guard - unfortunately the area I live in has quite the 'historic' leaning architecturally.

Are you talking about Oscars or Cannes?... Maybe Grammys

I'd never heard of the guy...