ARATA ISOZAKI WINS 2019 PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE
Japanese architect, city planner, and theorist Arata Isozaki has been selected as the 2019 laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field’s highest honor. The lifetime achievement award comes with $100,000 and a bronze medal. The eighty-seven-year-old is the forty-sixth recipient of the prize and the eighth to hail from Japan. He will be celebrated at an award ceremony that will take place in France this May.
Over the course of his more than six-decade career, Isozaki has designed buildings across Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Australia. Among his more than one hundred structures are the Shanghai Symphony Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Qatar National Convention Center.
In an interview, Isozaki, a native of the city of Ōita, said that seeing the devastation of Hiroshima after the United States dropped the first atomic bomb framed how he thinks about the built environment. “It was in complete ruins, and there was no architecture, no buildings and not even a city,” he said. “Only barracks and shelters surrounded me. So, my first experience of architecture was the void of architecture, and I began to consider how people might rebuild their homes and cities.”
Isozaki’s early successes in architecture include buildings he designed for his hometown as the country recovered after the end of World War II. He designed the Ōita Medical Hall and Annex, as well as the Ōita Prefectural Library, which was renamed Ōita Art Plaza in 1996.
In a statement, the prize’s jury praised Isozaki for “possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and embracing the avant-garde.” “He never merely replicated the status quo, but his search for meaningful architecture was reflected in his buildings that to this day, defy stylistic categorizations, are constantly evolving, and always fresh in their approach.” The jury also noted his “spirit of generosity” for his willingness to promote architects at the onsets of their careers.
Tom Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation, added: “Isozaki was one of the first Japanese architects to build outside of Japan during a time when western civilizations traditionally influenced the East, making his architecture—which was distinctively influenced by his global citizenry—truly international. In a global world, architecture needs that communication.”
Among Isozaki’s other notable buildings are the Ceramic Park Mino in Gifu, Japan, a ceramics museum that serves as an extension of the topography through its outdoor terraces, observation decks, and overlooks; Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, which was designed for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games; and Art Tower Mito, an arts complex in Mito, the capital of Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture.
