Pritzker Architecture Prize

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture." Founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy, the award is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation. It is considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Pritzker Architecture Prize
Current: Liu Jiakun
Medal of the Pritzker Architecture Prize
Awarded for	A career of achievement in the art of architecture
Sponsored by	Hyatt Foundation
Reward(s)	US$100,000
First award	1979; 46 years ago (1979)
Website	www.pritzkerprize.com

Criteria and proceedings

The Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury says it is awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology".^[6] The recipients receive US$100,000, a citation certificate, and, since 1987, a bronze medallion.^[1] The designs on the medal are inspired by the work of architect Louis Sullivan, while the Latin inspired inscription on the reverse of the medallion—firmitas, utilitas, venustas (English: firmness, commodity and delight)—is from Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. Before 1987, a limited edition Henry Moore sculpture accompanied the monetary prize.^[1]

The executive director of the prize, Manuela Lucá-Dazio,^[7] solicits nominations from a range of people, including past Laureates, academics, critics and others "with expertise and interest in the field of architecture".^[6] Any licensed architect can also make a personal application for the prize before November 1 every year. (In 1988 Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself for the award and eventually won it.)^[8] The jury, consisting of five to nine "experts ... recognized professionals in their own fields of architecture, business, education, publishing, and culture", deliberates and early in the following year announce the winner.^[6] The prize chair is the 2016 Pritzker laureate Alejandro Aravena; earlier chairs were J. Carter Brown (1979–2002), the Lord Rothschild (2003–2004), the Lord Palumbo (2005–2015), Glenn Murcutt (2016–2018) and Stephen Breyer (2019–2020).^[9]

Laureates

Inaugural winner Philip Johnson was cited "for 50 years of imagination and vitality embodied in a myriad of museums, theaters, libraries, houses, gardens and corporate structures".^[10] The 2004 laureate Zaha Hadid was the first female prize winner.^[11] Ryue Nishizawa became the youngest winner in 2010 at age 44.^[12] Partners in architecture (in 2001, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, in 2010, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, in 2020, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, and in 2021, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal) have shared the award.^[13] In 1988, Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer were both separately honored with the award.^[14] The 2017 winners, architects Rafael Aranda [ca], Carme Pigem, and Ramón Vilalta [es; pt] were the first group of three to share the prize.^[15][16]

Pritzker Architecture Prize winners

Year	Laureate(s)	Nationality	Photo	Example work (year completed)		Award ceremony location	Ref.
1979	Philip Johnson	United States			Glass House (1949)	Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC	[17]
1980	Luis Barragán	Mexico			Cuadra San Cristóbal (1968)	Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC	[4]
1981	James Stirling	United Kingdom			Seeley Historical Library (1968)	National Building Museum, Washington DC	[18]
1982	Kevin Roche	Ireland United States			Ford Foundation Building (1967)	Art Institute of Chicago	[2][A]
1983	I. M. Pei	United States			National Gallery of Art, East Building (1978)	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City	[19][B]
1984	Richard Meier	United States			High Museum of Art (1983)	National Gallery of Art, Washington DC	[2]
1985	Hans Hollein	Austria			Abteiberg Museum (1982)	The Huntington Library, San Marino, California	[2]
1986	Gottfried Böhm	Germany (West Germany)			Church of the Pilgrimage (1968)	Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London	[2]
1987	Kenzō Tange	Japan			St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo (1964)	Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas	[20]
1988	Gordon Bunshaft (shared prize)	United States			Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (1963)	Art Institute of Chicago	[2][21]
	Oscar Niemeyer (shared prize)	Brazil			Cathedral of Brasília (1958)		[2][21]
1989	Frank Gehry	Canada United States			Gehry Residence (1978)	Tōdai-ji, Nara, Japan	[22][C]
1990	Aldo Rossi	Italy			San Cataldo Cemetery (1978)	Palazzo Grassi, Venice	[23]
1991	Robert Venturi	United States			National Gallery, Sainsbury Wing (1991)	Palace of Iturbide, Mexico City	[24]
1992	Álvaro Siza Vieira	Portugal			Leça Swimming Pools (1966)	Harold Washington Library, Chicago	[25]
1993	Fumihiko Maki	Japan			Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (1991)	Prague Castle	[20]
1994	Christian de Portzamparc	France			City of Music (1995)	The Commons, Columbus, Indiana	[26]
1995	Tadao Ando	Japan			Church of the Light (1989)	Petit Trianon, Versailles	[27]
1996	Rafael Moneo	Spain			National Museum of Roman Art (1986)	Getty Center, Los Angeles	[28]
1997	Sverre Fehn	Norway			Norwegian Glacier Museum (1991)	Guggenheim Museum Bilbao	[29]
1998	Renzo Piano	Italy			Kansai International Airport (1994)	White House, Washington DC	[30]
1999	Norman Foster	United Kingdom			HSBC Building (1985)	Altes Museum, Berlin	[19]
2000	Rem Koolhaas	Netherlands			Kunsthal (1992)	Jerusalem Archaeological Park	[31]
2001	Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron	Switzerland			Tate Modern (2000)	Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia	[32]
2002	Glenn Murcutt	Australia			Berowra Waters Inn (1983)	Campidoglio, Rome	[33]
2003	Jørn Utzon	Denmark			Sydney Opera House (1973)	Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid	[34]
2004	Zaha Hadid	Iraq United Kingdom			Bergisel Ski Jump (2003)	Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg	[19][D]
2005	Thom Mayne	United States			Caltrans District 7 Headquarters (2004)	Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago	[35]
2006	Paulo Mendes da Rocha	Brazil			Saint Peter Chapel, Campos do Jordão, São Paulo (1987)	Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul	[36]
2007	Richard Rogers	Italy United Kingdom			Lloyd's building (1986)	Banqueting House, Whitehall, London	[37][E]
2008	Jean Nouvel	France			Torre Agbar (2005)	Library of Congress, Washington DC	[19][38]
2009	Peter Zumthor	Switzerland			Therme Vals (1996)	Legislative Palace of the City Council, Buenos Aires	[19][39]
2010	Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa	Japan			21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2003)	Ellis Island, New York City	[40]
2011	Eduardo Souto de Moura	Portugal			Estádio Municipal de Braga (2004)	Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington DC	[41]
2012	Wang Shu	China			Ningbo Museum (2008)	Great Hall of the People, Beijing	[42]
2013	Toyo Ito	Japan			Sendai Mediatheque (2001)	John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston	[43]
2014	Shigeru Ban	Japan			Centre Pompidou-Metz (2010)	Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam	[44]
2015	Frei Otto	Germany			Olympic Stadium, Munich (1972)	New World Center, Miami	[45][46] [†]
2016	Alejandro Aravena	Chile			Siamese Towers, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (2005)	United Nations Headquarters, New York City	[47][48]
2017	Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta	Spain	–		Sant Antoni Library, Barcelona (2008)	Akasaka Palace, Tokyo	[49]
2018	B. V. Doshi	India			Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (1977–1992, multiple phases)	Aga Khan Museum, Toronto	[50][51]
2019	Arata Isozaki	Japan			Art Tower Mito (1990)	Palace of Versailles	[52]
2020	Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara	Ireland			The Grafton Building of Bocconi University (2007)	Online[53][54][55]	[13][G]
2021	Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal	France			National School of Architecture, Nantes (2009)	Online[56]	[57][G]
2022	Diébédo Francis Kéré	Burkina Faso Germany			Centre for Earth Architecture, Mopti, Mali (2010)	London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Marshall Building, London	[58][H]
2023	David Chipperfield	United Kingdom			Neues Museum, Berlin (1997–2009)	Ancient Agora of Athens	[59]
2024	Riken Yamamoto	Japan			Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan (2007)	Art Institute of Chicago	[I]
2025	Liu Jiakun	China			West Village, Chengdu, China (2015)	Louvre Abu Dhabi	[60]

Table notes

A. ^a Roche was born in Ireland.^[61]

B. ^b Pei was born in China.^[62]

C. ^c Gehry was born in Canada.^[63]

D. ^d Hadid was born in Iraq.^[64]

E. ^e Rogers was born in Italy into an Anglo-Italian family.^[65]

F.  ^† Posthumous award.

G. ^g Ceremony held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

H. ^h Kéré was born in Burkina Faso.^[66]

I. ⁱ Yamamoto was born in China to Japanese parents while it was under Japanese occupation.^[67]

Criticism

In 2013, the student organization "Women in Design" at the Harvard Graduate School of Design started a petition arguing Denise Scott Brown should receive joint recognition with her partner, Robert Venturi, who won the award in 1991.^[68] The petition, according to The New York Times, "reignited long-simmering tensions in the architectural world over whether women have been consistently denied the standing they deserve in a field whose most prestigious award was not given to a woman until 2004, when Zaha Hadid won".^[69] Scott Brown told CNN that "as a woman, she had felt excluded by the elite of architecture throughout her career," and that "the Pritzker Prize was based on the fallacy that great architecture was the work of a 'single lone male genius' at the expense of collaborative work."^[70] Responding to the petition, the 2013 prize jury said that it cannot revisit the decisions of past juries, either in the case of Scott Brown or that of Lu Wenyu, whose husband Wang Shu won in 2012.^[71] The 2020 Pritzker jury said in its citation awarding the prize to Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara – making them the fourth and fifth women to ever be awarded the prize – that they were, "pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession [and] beacons to others as they forge their exemplary professional path."^[72]

See also

• Architecture portal

• Driehaus Architecture Prize
• List of architecture awards
• List of prizes known as the Nobel of a field or the highest honors of a field