The Pritzker Prize is the most important award in the field of architecture, awarded to a living architect whose built work "has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture." The Prize rewards individuals, not entire offices, as took place in 2000 (when the jury selected Rem Koolhaas instead of his firm OMA) or in 2016 (with Alejandro Aravena selected instead of Elemental); however, the prize can also be awarded to multiple individuals working together, as took place in 2001 (Herzog & de Meuron), 2010 (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA), and 2017 (Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta of RCR Arquitectes).

The award is an initiative funded by Jay Pritzker through the Hyatt Foundation, an organization associated with the hotel company of the same name that Jay founded with his brother Donald in 1957. The award was first given in 1979, when the American architect Philip Johnson, was awarded for his iconic works such as the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.

The Pritzker Prize has been awarded for almost forty straight years without interruption, and there are now 18 countries with at least one winning architect. To date, half of the winners are European; while the Americas, Asia, and Oceania share the other twenty editions. So far, no African architect has been awarded, making it the only continent without a winner.

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• Architects

  Maki and Associates

• Location

  1187 Wanghai Rd., Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

• Architect in Charge

  Fumihiko Maki

• Design Team

  Tomoyoshi Fukunaga, Tatsutomo Hasegawa, Yasuko Okuyama, Yoshihiko Taira, Kazuo Sato, Kei Ito, Michael Sypkens*, Hiromi Kouda* (*former staff)

• KMDW

  Hiroto Kobayashi, Yiqing Wang, Taishi Kawada

• Area

  73918.08 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Shuixiang, Studio Onsite

China’s first dedicated cultural design center, Design Society, has opened to the public in Shenzhen. Designed by legendary Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, the center’s brand new building on the harborfront of Shekou will serve as a platform for the museum’s innovative program highlighting all realms of design while creating a “thought-provoking experience” for visitors.

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Pritzker Prize laureate and 67th AIA Gold Medalist Fumihiko Maki (born September 6, 1928) is widely considered to be one of Japan's most distinguished living architects, practicing a unique style of Modernism that reflects his Japanese origin. Toshiko Mori has praised Maki's ability to create "ineffable atmospheres" using a simple palette of various types of metal, concrete, and glass. His consistent integration and adoption of new methods of construction as part of his design language contribute to his personal quest to create "unforgettable scenes."

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A series of new photographs of China’s “first major design museum” has been unveiled by Design Society, showing Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki’s design nearing completion in the Shekou district of Shenzhen. Commissioned by the duo of China Merchants Group (CMG) and the V&A Museum in London back in 2014, the project was envisioned as a catalyst for development in the city, given Shenzhen’s bustling creative sector of over 6,000 companies. 

As the photos display, the building is formed through three separate cantilevering volumes, which sit atop a plinth overlooking the waterfront. An exterior corner staircase leads to a number of publicly accessible rooftop terraces, inviting the public to engage with the building at various levels. Finishing touches are being added to the construction with the envelope already complete, while interior spaces and the site landscaping are still undergoing further polish and are yet to be fully resolved. Check out all the photographs of the building below, which will be occupied by Design Society upon completion.

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Last week, it was reported that Foster + Partners had been selected to design the capitol complex of Amaravati, a new capital city for the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeastern India. The commission, however, has not come without controversy. As revealed by Indian news company The Wire, the project had earlier been awarded through invited competition to Japanese firm Maki and Associates, who were later removed from the project under uncertain circumstances.

In a letter sent a few weeks ago to India’s Council of Architecture, principal Fumihiko Maki has questioned the motivations of the Andhra Pradesh government committee, alleging unfair practice, lack of transparency and his firm’s ‘fraudulent’ removal from the project.

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The Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki has revealed early designs for China's "first major design museum", a project in the Shekou district of Shenzhen commissioned by China Merchants Group (CMG) in collaboration with London's V&A Museum. The design model was unveiled yesterday at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London, where representatives of CMG and the V&A signed a collaboration agreement to deliver the museum, which is hoped to open at the end of 2016.

Maki's design for the Shekou Museum features three severely cantilevered volumes atop a deconstructed plinth; a staircase at the corner of the building also leads to the green public space on the roof.

More on the project after the break

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Though it seemed a compromise was met last October, when Japan’s minister of education, Hakubun Shimomura announced plans to reduce the cost and scale of the Zaha Hadid-designed Tokyo Olympic Stadium, the debate rages on.  

Pritzker laureates Toyo Ito and Fumihiko Maki have launched an online petition to “defend the ginko tree-lined landscape of blue sky and Jingu Outer Gardens” from the construction of Hadid’s “oversized” stadium. 

The petition (now with more than 13,000 signatures) urges the Japan Sports Council, who hand selected Hadid’s winning design alongside Tadao Ando, to reconsider upgrading the existing Meiji Jingo Gaien Stadium and the gardens surrounding it. This solution, they believe, is a more affordable and sustainable alternative that would prevent the relocation of nearby residents. 

Take a tour though Zaha Hadid’s 2020 Olympic Stadium and share your thoughts about the design (and petition), after the break...

UPDATE: The Washington Post reports that Japan's minister of education, Hakubun Shimomura, has announced a plan to trim the budget proposed for the Olympic stadium (now expected to cost $3 billion) designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. While he did not reveal the details of the scale-down, he maintained that the "design concept will be kept." 

Pritzker Prize laureate Fumihiko Maki has rallied together a number of Japanese architects - including Sou Fujimoto, Toyo Ito and Kengo Kuma - to oppose the massive scale of Zaha Hadid’s competition-winning National Stadium. Planned to be Tokyo’s main venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games, Hadid’s 290,000 square meter stadium is accused of being “too big and too artificial” for the surrounding context. 

Almost sixty years after Wallace K. Harrison was invited to design the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York City, plans have been unveiled for another UN skyscraper designed by Fumihiko Maki which would "consolidate currently scattered operations into a single structure that would rise on the western portion of the Robert Moses Playground, on First Avenue between East 41st and 42nd streets."