Momoyo Kaijima and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto of Atelier Bow-Wow and Elizabeth Diller are this year’s Architecture laureates of the Wolf Prize, an annual award highlighting scientists and artists for “their achievements in the interest of mankind”. One of Israel’s most prestigious international awards, the prize’s art categories include painting and sculpting, music and architecture, accompanied by the scientific categories of medicine, agriculture, mathematics, chemistry and physics. The jury commended the three architects’ notable work at the confluence of research, pedagogy and practice, influential for advancing the practice of architecture.
Elizabeth Diller received the award in recognition for “her exceptional and influential work connecting architecture to artistic practice, engaged in the public domain”, the jury citing works such as Blur Building, the High Line, and the Mile-Long Opera performance. The co-founders of Atelier Bow-Wow, Momoyo Kaijima & Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, were commended for “their work that highlights the importance to architecture of its ethnographic and inhabitation characteristics, in their writings and practice”. The prize recognized the duo’s human-centred approach to architecture and the focus on the social effects of design.
Conscious of the wider effects of architecture, each recipient embodies the idea of collaboration in varied ways, embracing geographic, cultural and methodological differences to be celebrated: excellence through diversity. With their radical architectural visions, they continue to be meaningful influencers of future architectural generations. They have developed the agency of architecture through an expanded field, in engaging politics, the city as the base for social action, and the imperative of reaching broader audiences. – Wolf Foundation
Past recipients of the Wolf Prize in Architecture include Giancarlo De Carlo, Frank Gehry, Jorn Utzon, Aldo Van Eyck, Frei Otto, Álvaro Siza, Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Peter Eisenman, Eduardo Souto de Mouro and Moshe Safdie.
