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 through architecture. 

Yamamoto was finally joined in Chicago for a special panel discussion from the S.R. Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology that featured fellow past laureates Anne Lacaton, Jean-Philippe Vassal, and Francis Kéré.

Yamamoto ended his speech by saying: "It’s really important for the world—from the architect—the social message. [...] so I’m really proud of this Pritzker Prize."

You can familiarize yourself a bit further with the Pritzker winner’s works here. The announcement of the 47th official Pritzker Prize laureate will take place in March of next year.