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Pritzker Prize winner Riken Yamamoto
Photo: Pritzker Prize / Tom Welsh
The Pritzker Prize goes to the Japanese Riken Yamamoto.
“With the strong, consistent quality of his buildings, he wants to honor, improve and enrich the lives of individuals and their social connections,” the jury explained their decision.
“For him, buildings have a public function, even if they are private.”
The architect is best known for his residential complexes in South Korea, the University of the Future in Hakodate in Japan and The Circle at Zurich Airport.
With his projects he focuses on social interaction and community.
The lines between private and public are blurring.
»One of the things we will need most in the future of cities are conditions – created through architecture – that multiply the opportunities in which people can come together and interact.
By carefully blurring the boundaries between public and private, Yamamoto helps to enable a sense of community," says Alejandro Aravena, who sits on the jury and was a Pritzker Prize winner himself in 2016.
»He is a calming architect who honors everyday life.
Normality becomes extraordinary.
Tranquility becomes splendor.”
For Yamamoto, buildings are closely linked to the community.
“For me, perceiving space means perceiving a community,” says Yamamoto.
»The current architectural approach emphasizes privacy and denies the need for social relationships.
But it is possible to honor the freedoms of each individual while living together in an architectural space that promotes harmony across cultures and life stages.«
The Pritzker Prize is considered the most prestigious award in the architecture industry and is worth $100,000.
Previous winners include Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and Peter Zumthor.
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