Glenn Murcutt has been named the 2021 Praemium Imperiale laureate for architecture by the Japan Art Association, making him the first Australian to be awarded the honor. Announcing the achievement, the Japan Art Association described Murcutt as “an architect ahead of his time; an architect who has spent his career creating modest, environmentally responsible buildings rooted in the climate and tradition of his native Australia.”

“The Praemium Imperiale is a wonderful cultural gift to the arts, internationally,” Murcutt commented on his selection. “Being a 2021 recipient took me by complete surprise. It is simply wonderful for me, but especially for the profession of architecture in Australia. Even at 85, such an award encourages me to continue working for as long as I am able.”

Murcutt entered private practice in 1969 and completed his first work in 1972, the Douglas Murcutt House in Belrose. He has since become one of Australia’s most acclaimed architects, with notable projects including the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Center in 1999, the Australian Islamic Center in 2016, and the MPavilion in 2019.

“Echoing the Aboriginal phrase, 'Touch the land lightly,' his architecture has a poetic beauty and lightness, in harmony with nature while at the same time, allowing the rationality of modernist architecture and ecological wisdom to shine through,” said the Japan Art Association in its citation. “Not only does he work without staff, he also primarily works without computers, preferring to draw by hand, finding solutions to design issues instinctively. As he says, he is not a creator but a discoverer, adding, that every great building is already there but to be discovered. It is not created.”

The Praemium Imperiale is the latest of Murcutt’s many awards and honors. He was the first Australian architect to be awarded the Pritzker Prize (2002), and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (2009). In 1992, he was awarded the Alvar Aalto Medal and the RAIA Gold Medal, while in 1995, he was awarded an AIA Honorary Fellowship and a RIBA International Fellowship. In 2020, Murcutt was appointed an Honorary Professor at the University of New South Wales.

Murcutt is the latest high-profile architect to be awarded the Praemium Imperiale Laureate for architecture. In 2019, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien were given the honor, while 2015’s edition was awarded to Dominique Perrault, who is currently curating the 2021 Seoul Biennale. Other winners of the prize include Zaha Hadid, Peter Zumthor, Henning Larsen, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Steven Holl, and David Chipperfield.

Architecture is one of five categories celebrated in the Praemium Imperiale, a global art prize founded in 1988 with a goal of “enhancing and promoting the cultures and arts of the world.” The other fields are painting, sculpture, music, and theater/film. Each of the five laureates will receive an honorarium of 15 million yen ($140,000), as well as a testimonial letter and medal.