A few minutes ago, the Pritzker Award ceremony took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, the prize was awarded to swiss architect Peter Zumthor.
Our correspondent Martin Bravo was there and sent us this photos of the event:
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Gallery with photos and videos of 2009 Pritzker Laureate, Peter Zumthor.
All after the break:
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The Pritzker Prize, nobel-equivalent for architecture, laureate for 2009 has just been announced, and it seems that our readers got it right this time as you can see on our poll.
This year the prize goes to Swiss architect Peter Zumthor (1943). A real “master”, Zumthor has always been a craftsman on architecture, focusing on the atmosphere and details of his works, taking all the time he needs (often several years) at the Swiss mountains to deliver timeless buildings: Brother Klaus Field Chapel, Kolumba Art Museum, Swiss Pavillion Expo Hannover, Therm Vals, and more.
“I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”
Peter Zumthor – Thinking Architecture
The ceremony will take place on May 29th in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In a few moments we will feature some of his works in a separate article.
A few months ago we told you about some changes on the jury of the Pritzker Prize, and some readers started pointing out names for the possible 2009 laureate.
The prize is only a few weeks away (it usually gets announced on March 31st) and we decided to setup a poll with the given names and the possibility that you add your own candidate.
Lets see if the ArchDaily community can guess the next Pritzker. Poll available on the sidebar or after the break:
The Pritzker Prize is the Nobel equivalent for Architecture. It honors “a living architect 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”.
Past laureates include Herzog & de Meuron, Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Thom Mayne, Jean Nouvel, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster, Alvaro Siza… and a long list of prominent architects that you might already know.
But also, we find a selected group of architects in the jury during the past: Shigeru Ban, Renzo Piano, Carlos Jiménez, Charles Correa, Jorge Silvetti, among others.
As of 2008, the jury was: Lord Peter Palumbo (Chair, 2005-present), Shigeru Ban (2006-present), Rolf Fehlbaum (2004-present), Carlos Jimenez (2001-present), Victoria Newhouse (2005-present), Renzo Piano (2006-present), Karen Stein (2004-present), Martha Thorne (Executive Director, 2005-present).
And now, we just got the news that Alejandro Aravena (previously featured on ArchDaily) was appointed as jury of the Pritzker Prize. I think that the inclusion of a young architect that is very into the social aspect of architecture can open the scope of this important award.
We´ll have to wait until March, 2009 to see the next awarded architect. Any bets?
