Introduction to the Pritzker Prize in Architecture

Pritzker Architecture Prize

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established by the Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Because of its unique authority and influence, it has architectural promise. Bell Prize. The annual award is presented and delivered by the President of the United States. In 1983, the Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei received the award from the then President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. This award has always been a benchmark award for contemporary architectural trends, and the architects who have won the award in previous years are all heavyweight representatives. From Philip Johnson in the first class, Ieoh Ming Pei in the fifth class, and later Tadao Ando, ??Frank. O.Gehry, and Norman Foster ) and so on are all contemporary masters. The winner in 2000 was Rem Koolhaas, an architect from the Netherlands.

The origin of the Pritzker Award

The Pritzker Architecture Award was established by the Hyatt Foundation in 1979 to award a living architect every year in recognition of his performance in architectural design. outstanding qualities of ingenuity, imagination and sense of responsibility, as well as making lasting and outstanding contributions to the built environment and humanity through architectural art. The award is named after the Pritzker family. The family's international operations are headquartered in Chicago and are known for supporting education, religion, social welfare, science, medicine and cultural activities.

Jay A. Pritzker and his wife (who passed away on January 23, 1999) initiated the establishment of this award. Their eldest son, Thomas J. Pritzker, is now chairman of the Hyatt Foundation. He said: “The reason why we are interested in architecture is because we have built many hotels in the world and are closely related to planning, design and architectural construction, and we realize that people pay too little attention to the art of architecture. . As a native of Chicago, I live in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city full of buildings designed by architectural greats like Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van de Rohe. It's no wonder we love architecture. In 1967 we bought an unfinished building for our Grand Hyatt Atlanta. Its soaring atrium became a signature of our global hotel group. Design has a significant impact on the emotions of our guests and employees. If Chicago's architecture taught us about the art of architecture, working in hotel design and construction taught us about the power of architecture on human behavior. We thought of honoring some contemporary architects. Mom and Dad believe that setting up a meaningful award can not only encourage and stimulate public attention to architecture, but also stimulate greater creativity in the architectural community. I am proud to represent my mother and. The rest of the family is proud to continue to work hard.”

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is like a machine for selecting architectural masters, with sharp eyes and precise actions, and the vast majority of winners are indeed worthy of their reputation.

It seems to have its own system, starting from the first winner Philip Johnson (1979), to Kevin Roach (1982), Tange Kenzo (1987), Rem Koolhaas (2000), outlining It can create a far-reaching line of architectural thought of modernism and postmodernism; it can break regional prejudices. The selection of three Japanese and two Latin American architects shows the global character of the selection; a woman born in Baghdad The appearance of architect Zaha Hadid (2004) somewhat made up for some of its regrets in gender orientation; and the attention paid to Frank Gehry (1989) was enough to show its foresight and foresight: at that time Gehry Frank Gehry has only done some aesthetically adventurous buildings on the West Coast of the United States. The greatest work in his life, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, has not yet appeared, but later facts have proved that Frank Gehry can indeed create amazing things for the world. of buildings.

An award becomes great because the winner is great enough, and this first requires that the judges are wise enough and the selection process is fair enough. In just 27 years, the Pritzker Architecture Prize has risen rapidly, with 29 winners shining brightly like stars. Its momentum has surpassed the century-old "Royal British Architect Gold Medal" (RIBA), the more generous "Japan National Art Award" and the Danish "Carlsberg" Award, as well as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) "National Award" which values ??individual works. Authoritative awards such as "Honorary Award" have become the supreme awards recognized by the architectural community.

Awards

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is modeled after the Nobel Prize in many aspects of its procedures and prize money. The winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receives a $100,000 award, a formal award certificate, and, after 1987, a bronze medal. (Before this, each winner was awarded a limited edition sculpture of Henry Moore.) The design of the medal's front pattern is based on the design of the famous Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, known as the "Father of Skyscrapers" Based on the medal, it is engraved with the words "The Pritzker Architecture Prize" (Pritzker Architecture Prize). The name of the winner is engraved in the center of the medal. On the back of the medal is engraved the architecture proposed by Henry Wotton in his book "The Elements of Architecture" in 1624. Three basic conditions: "sturdiness, practicality and pleasure".

Award

Anyone from any country, whether they are government officials, writers, critics, scholars, architects, architectural groups, or industrialists, as long as they are interested in developing architecture, Can be nominated as a candidate. The award is free of any national, racial, religious or ideological bias. The nomination process runs from the beginning to the end of each year and ends in January of the following year. Nominations received after the deadline are automatically considered for the following year. More than 500 candidates from more than 40 countries are nominated each year. Although architecture is not included in the scope of the Nobel Prize, the international jury of the Pritzker Architecture Prize follows the selection method of the Nobel Prize and is composed of world-renowned authoritative architectural designers, writers, artists, scholars, critics, and former IBM The jury composed of international business celebrities such as the chairman carefully considered and finally decided the final selection results through secret ballot.

List of previous Pritzker Prize winners:

Philip Johnson (USA) in 1979

Lewis Barragán (Mexico) in 1980

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1981 James Sterling (UK)

1982 Kevin Roach (USA)

1983 I.M. Pei (USA)

1984 Richard Meyer (USA)

1985 Hans Hollein (Austria)

1986 Gottfried Bohm (Germany)

In 1987, Kenzo Tange (Japan)

In 1988, Gordon Bonchart (USA) and Oscar Niemeyer (Brazil)

1989 Frank Gehry (USA)

1990 Aldo Rossi (Italy)

1991 Robert Venturi (USA)

1992 Albado Cissa (Portugal)

1993 Zhen Fumihiko (Japan)

1994 Christian de Portzambac (France)

1995 Tadao Ando (Japan)

1996 José Rafael Moneo (Spain)

1997 Swiller Fein ( Norway)

1998 Renzo Piano (Italy)

1999 Norman Foster (UK)

2000 Rem· Koolhaas (Netherlands)

2001 Jacques Herzog (Switzerland) and Pierre de Meuron (Switzerland)

2002 Glenn Marku Special (Australia)

2003 John Utzon (Denmark)

2004 Zaha Hadid (UK)

2005 Tom May En (USA)