"Jean Nouvel, the bold French architect known for such wildly diverse projects as the muscular Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and the exotically louvered Arab World Institute in Paris, has received architecture�s top honor, the Pritzker Prize." His selection is to be announced Monday. - NYT; LAT ; TIME ; Pritzker
34 Comments
u'll know he deserved it
if u have visited his architecture
paris opera, ok. institut monde arabe, ok.
condo in soho new york- piece of shit.
proposed thing next to moma nyc- piece of shit.
if the pritzker was given to zumthor, all these architects would really hang their head in shame. except perhaps former pritzker winners luis barragan and ando (at least his early work)
Congrats to Nouvel! He has earned it.
I agree with raymonde that Zumthor should be recognized for his work, but perhaps it is not his time quite yet.
zumthor should have taken that prize down before mayne or hadid.
"condo in soho new york- piece of shit.
proposed thing next to moma nyc- piece of shit."
Maybe that says more about the level of architecture in NYC or how difficult it is to make anything decent in NYC anymore than the quality of the architect.
"piece of shit"
a very constructive way of convincing us of your opposition. well done and very well thought out. i'm totally on board with you.
WTF!!! I respect everyone who works in this field. I love architecture and until today I respected the fine people of the Pritzker Prize. I completely agree with the Zumthor comments especially that which was said about Mayne and Hadid. Nouvel's work has never impressed me, and feel that several other designers are being cheated out of this prize. My vote beyond Zumthor would be for Steven Holl. The man had one of the best years in architecture (Nelson-Atkins is one of the finest builidings I have ever had the opportunity to experience.) The only good thing I can take from this is that after today I won't think about Nouvel ever again.
Nouvel himself said in an interview after the news of the prize came out that if he had to choose a winner he would have awarded Zumthor. Maybe next year.
But why are you so harsh on him? Haven't you seen Nemausus?
I did say that I respect everyone in this field I just have problems with certain characters because it is not what I consider good architecture. I respected Phil Jo, but most of his work was awful. Same thing goes for Mario Botta or any of the post-modernists. I am just saying I feel cheated as an aspiring Pritzker Prize winner. Thanks for responding back.
zumthor also had a good year, with the kolumba and the bruderklaus.
It was a plural "you", one of the things I dislike from the english language is that it makes no distinctions between the second person of singular and plural.
Back to the topic. The Pritzker are often called the Nobel's of Architecture. I think that's a misconception, they are much closer to the oscars. Nouvel is another of the so-called star-chitects, and stars win oscars. Although lesser known architects (Mendes da Rocha) or even totally unknown ones (Murcutt) have also received it, which also shows a certain misorientation of the jury.
If you consider workload, reach and realized projects, Nouvel certainly would win over Zunthor or Holl.
There are plenty of architects out there who would deserve a Pritzker.
One of them is Nouvel. However you might call his architecture, questionworthy, brilliant, fashionable or shining, I firnly believe that his body of work does feature some very astonishing buildings that have are important.
Afterall, one might even argue he re-invented night visualizations and a light-architecture.
Considering all above I suppose Nouvel is agood choice, although I am not much of a capacity to judge on that myself.
Comparing to that, claims that Zumthor should have gotten it, I must say yes, but Zumthor's body of work is not as extensive. Zumthor's building have a more regional appeal, because he only has built a small number of buildings. The interest in his architecture though on the otherhand is global, but compared to Nouvel's work unproportional regarding built projects.
Yes Zumthor had a good year, but I hope the Pritzker is not fashionable, meaning is given away like an Oscar for this year's film, äh, I mean building, but rather for the lifetime achievment, perhaps we need to see one ore two more buildings by Zumthor until he receives the Pritzker (Despite as a Swiss myself I'd love to see him getting one).
So congratulations Jean Nouvel!
My two cents for next year's contenders: P. Eisenman (long overdue).
oh god, eisenman deserves the pritzker?!?
the pritzker does favors regionalists...
murcutt
siza
utzon
mendes da rocha
sverre fehn
rossi
barragan
zumthor's pretty prolific for someone who doesn't whore himself out for every comission... his last 6 have won several awards. also, his built works aren't leaky pieces of piled doo doo.
elementary school in churwalden
house raeth
archaeological shelter welschdoerfli
atelier zumthor
kapelle sogn benedetg
kunstmuseum chur
elderly home masans
gugalun house
spittelhof housing
therme vals
swiss pavilion 2000 expo
kunsthaus bregenz
haus zumthor
kolumba
bruder klaus
how come siza is a portuguese regionalist or zumthor a swiss one and eisenman is not a "northamerican regionalist"?
anyway, the Pritzker doesn't award "good years"... it awards a whole career, and Nouvel's career deserves a couple Pritzkers more, from Cartier's and Monde Arab to nemasus to the proposed abu dhabi's louvre
Hey Medit, how can you forget the Eiffel tower of Barcelona, namingly the Agbar tower? There's not a lot of landmarks like that one in the past ten years of architecture history ...
I don.t understand such admiration towards Zumtor work. All he does are VERY EXPENSIVE boxes
I think the Agbar tower would come after those (amb maybe a couple more) I mentioned in a list of his built merits but maybe because I have seen/heard about the tower ad nauseam I'm a little bit tired with it... a Barcelona landmark for sure anyway (but not quite a barcelonian "Eiffel Tower" at all... remember the Sagrada Familia.. that's our Eiffel, symbolically speaking.. the souvenir most tourists buy)
truth, but they are very sexy boxes.. phenomenological sexyness.. all skin and light and "atmospheres"...
I think he'll get the "Nobel" in a couple or three years.. the next year it will go to some "unknown regionalist" .. it's time to go back to Asia
ok, ok, I just wonder how these "sexi" boxes would look like with cheap material; like any other austo-swiss arch..and zumthor so likes to talk about ethics and morality
okay save it for next year..>Zumthor will win a Pritzker but Nouvel deserves this particularly since he's recently completed some significant civic buildings over the last 3-5 years.
The beauty about having an annual prize such as this, is that almost all the (st)architects that we admire will likely recieve the award in their/our life time.
props to nouvel. sure, his work is all over the place...from great to odd, from restrained to exuberant (and absolutely over the top in some cases)...but his career certainly seems worthy of this recognition.
cartier and monde arab are great, elegant buildings. agbar is decent as an object...seems cheap once you look closely, but i it's successful in its own right.
leave zumthor out of this...no prizes neccessary...
congrats to nouvel!
zumthor will get his day...
i think they should start rewarding architects whom never had the chance to win the prize... sort of a posthumous mormon nomination process... this way the money can be used to save their buildings.
^ that's a good idea.. but if there are dozens of living architects deserving the prize, how many dead architects deserve it?
from Brunelleschi to Miralles, they should give 20 Pritzkers each year
Nouvel does deserve it...
Zumthor might be above it...
Zaha is still 10 years away from deserving hers
it's amusing how worked up we get over a beauty pageant.
Zumthor doesn't want it. He cares about buildings, not fame. He's post-starchitect.
Nouvel does arguably deserve it. Zumthor is not a god. He does have some nice buidlings; and he or Holl will probably get the Pritzker next. I'd say Toyo Ito should also be high on the list (if not higher than those two).
exactly...Zumthor and his holy believers think that he is god; that was all point what I was saying; and I also agree with John Jourden about the prize...but when you remember some past tragic figures ( gaudi, kahn and co)..they would really deserve recognition during their lifetime and they would not dye poor and forgotten. We should think of it. Maybe Mendes da Rocha was nice choise.,,
i believe its foolish for those such as silence to bash architects of whom they know evidently nothing. you are turning this discussion into a debate over professions; you simply can not be considered a conscious designer spitting such foolish jibe.
nouvel looks like an old brando...
I'd say he looks rather like Dr. Evil's cool brother.
Co’mon people, it is just a circle of superstar architects giving each other handjobs. And a mega-marketing strategy.
I can hear them taking in private, “Now we do you.” “No, you.” “No, you.” “No, you.” “No, you.” “No, you.” “No, you.” “No, you.”“No, you.”“No, you.”
“Ok, me.” “But next year you and then Johnny.”
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