# Pritzker Architecture Prize

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects 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." Founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy, the award is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation. It is considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture.

## Criteria and proceedings

The Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury says it is awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology". The recipients receive US$100,000, a citation certificate, and, since 1987, a bronze medallion. The designs on the medal are inspired by the work of architect Louis Sullivan, while the Latin inspired inscription on the reverse of the medallion—firmitas, utilitas, venustas (English: firmness, commodity and delight)—is from Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. Before 1987, a limited edition Henry Moore sculpture accompanied the monetary prize.
The executive director of the prize, Manuela Lucá-Dazio, solicits nominations from a range of people, including past Laureates, academics, critics and others "with expertise and interest in the field of architecture". Any licensed architect can also make a personal application for the prize before November 1 every year. (In 1988 Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself for the award and eventually won it.) The jury, consisting of five to nine "experts ... recognized professionals in their own fields of architecture, business, education, publishing, and culture", deliberates and early in the following year announce the winner. The prize chair is the 2016 Pritzker laureate Alejandro Aravena; earlier chairs were J. Carter Brown (1979–2002), the Lord Rothschild (2003–2004), the Lord Palumbo (2005–2015), Glenn Murcutt (2016–2018) and Stephen Breyer (2019–2020).

## Laureates

Inaugural winner Philip Johnson was cited "for 50 years of imagination and vitality embodied in a myriad of museums, theaters, libraries, houses, gardens and corporate structures". The 2004 laureate Zaha Hadid was the first female prize winner. Ryue Nishizawa became the youngest winner in 2010 at age 44. Partners in architecture (in 2001, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, in 2010, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, in 2020, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, and in 2021, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal) have shared the award. In 1988, Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer were both separately honored with the award. The 2017 winners, architects Rafael Aranda [ca], Carme Pigem, and Ramón Vilalta [es; pt] were the first group of three to share the prize.
Pritzker Architecture Prize winners :
| Year | Laureate(s) | Nationality | Photo | Example work (year completed) | Award ceremony location | Ref. |
| 1979 | Philip Johnson | United States | | Glass House (1949) | Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC | |
| 1980 | Luis Barragán | Mexico | | Cuadra San Cristóbal (1968) | Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC | |
| 1981 | James Stirling | United Kingdom | | Seeley Historical Library (1968) | National Building Museum, Washington DC | |
| 1982 | Kevin Roche | Ireland United States | | Ford Foundation Building (1967) | Art Institute of Chicago | |
| 1983 | I. M. Pei | United States | | National Gallery of Art, East Building (1978) | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City | |
| 1984 | Richard Meier | United States | | High Museum of Art (1983) | National Gallery of Art, Washington DC | |
| 1985 | Hans Hollein | Austria | | Abteiberg Museum (1982) | The Huntington Library, San Marino, California | |
| 1986 | Gottfried Böhm | Germany (West Germany) | | Church of the Pilgrimage (1968) | Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London | |
| 1987 | Kenzō Tange | Japan | | St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo (1964) | Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas | |
| 1988 | Gordon Bunshaft (shared prize) | United States | | Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (1963) | Art Institute of Chicago | |
| 1988 | Oscar Niemeyer (shared prize) | Brazil | | Cathedral of Brasília (1958) | Art Institute of Chicago | |
| 1989 | Frank Gehry | Canada United States | | Gehry Residence (1978) | Tōdai-ji, Nara, Japan | |
| 1990 | Aldo Rossi | Italy | | San Cataldo Cemetery (1978) | Palazzo Grassi, Venice | |
| 1991 | Robert Venturi | United States | | National Gallery, Sainsbury Wing (1991) | Palace of Iturbide, Mexico City | |
| 1992 | Álvaro Siza Vieira | Portugal | | Leça Swimming Pools (1966) | Harold Washington Library, Chicago | |
| 1993 | Fumihiko Maki | Japan | | Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (1991) | Prague Castle | |
| 1994 | Christian de Portzamparc | France | | City of Music (1995) | The Commons, Columbus, Indiana | |
| 1995 | Tadao Ando | Japan | | Church of the Light (1989) | Petit Trianon, Versailles | |
| 1996 | Rafael Moneo | Spain | | National Museum of Roman Art (1986) | Getty Center, Los Angeles | |
| 1997 | Sverre Fehn | Norway | | Norwegian Glacier Museum (1991) | Guggenheim Museum Bilbao | |
| 1998 | Renzo Piano | Italy | | Kansai International Airport (1994) | White House, Washington DC | |
| 1999 | Norman Foster | United Kingdom | | HSBC Building (1985) | Altes Museum, Berlin | |
| 2000 | Rem Koolhaas | Netherlands | | Kunsthal (1992) | Jerusalem Archaeological Park | |
| 2001 | Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron | Switzerland | | Tate Modern (2000) | Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia | |
| 2002 | Glenn Murcutt | Australia | | Berowra Waters Inn (1983) | Campidoglio, Rome | |
| 2003 | Jørn Utzon | Denmark | | Sydney Opera House (1973) | Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid | |
| 2004 | Zaha Hadid | Iraq United Kingdom | | Bergisel Ski Jump (2003) | Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg | |
| 2005 | Thom Mayne | United States | | Caltrans District 7 Headquarters (2004) | Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago | |
| 2006 | Paulo Mendes da Rocha | Brazil | | Saint Peter Chapel, Campos do Jordão, São Paulo (1987) | Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul | |
| 2007 | Richard Rogers | Italy United Kingdom | | Lloyd's building (1986) | Banqueting House, Whitehall, London | |
| 2008 | Jean Nouvel | France | | Torre Agbar (2005) | Library of Congress, Washington DC | |
| 2009 | Peter Zumthor | Switzerland | | Therme Vals (1996) | Legislative Palace of the City Council, Buenos Aires | |
| 2010 | Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa | Japan | | 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2003) | Ellis Island, New York City | |
| 2011 | Eduardo Souto de Moura | Portugal | | Estádio Municipal de Braga (2004) | Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington DC | |
| 2012 | Wang Shu | China | | Ningbo Museum (2008) | Great Hall of the People, Beijing | |
| 2013 | Toyo Ito | Japan | | Sendai Mediatheque (2001) | John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston | |
| 2014 | Shigeru Ban | Japan | | Centre Pompidou-Metz (2010) | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam | |
| 2015 | Frei Otto | Germany | | Olympic Stadium, Munich (1972) | New World Center, Miami | [45][46] [†] |
| 2016 | Alejandro Aravena | Chile | | Siamese Towers, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (2005) | United Nations Headquarters, New York City | |
| 2017 | Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta | Spain | – | Sant Antoni Library, Barcelona (2008) | Akasaka Palace, Tokyo | |
| 2018 | B. V. Doshi | India | | Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (1977–1992, multiple phases) | Aga Khan Museum, Toronto | |
| 2019 | Arata Isozaki | Japan | | Art Tower Mito (1990) | Palace of Versailles | |
| 2020 | Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara | Ireland | | The Grafton Building of Bocconi University (2007) | Online | |
| 2021 | Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal | France | | National School of Architecture, Nantes (2009) | Online | |
| 2022 | Diébédo Francis Kéré | Burkina Faso Germany | | Centre for Earth Architecture, Mopti, Mali (2010) | London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Marshall Building, London | |
| 2023 | David Chipperfield | United Kingdom | | Neues Museum, Berlin (1997–2009) | Ancient Agora of Athens | |
| 2024 | Riken Yamamoto | Japan | | Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan (2007) | Art Institute of Chicago | |
| 2025 | Liu Jiakun | China | | West Village, Chengdu, China (2015) | Louvre Abu Dhabi | |

### Table notes

    A. $^a$ Roche was born in Ireland.
    B. $^b$ Pei was born in China.
    C. $^c$ Gehry was born in Canada.
    D. $^d$ Hadid was born in Iraq.
    E. $^e$ Rogers was born in Italy into an Anglo-Italian family.
    F. $^†$ Posthumous award.
    G. $^g$ Ceremony held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    H. $^h$ Kéré was born in Burkina Faso.
    I. $^i$ Yamamoto was born in China to Japanese parents while it was under Japanese occupation.

## Criticism

In 2013, the student organization "Women in Design" at the Harvard Graduate School of Design started a petition arguing Denise Scott Brown should receive joint recognition with her partner, Robert Venturi, who won the award in 1991. The petition, according to The New York Times, "reignited long-simmering tensions in the architectural world over whether women have been consistently denied the standing they deserve in a field whose most prestigious award was not given to a woman until 2004, when Zaha Hadid won". Scott Brown told CNN that "as a woman, she had felt excluded by the elite of architecture throughout her career," and that "the Pritzker Prize was based on the fallacy that great architecture was the work of a 'single lone male genius' at the expense of collaborative work." Responding to the petition, the 2013 prize jury said that it cannot revisit the decisions of past juries, either in the case of Scott Brown or that of Lu Wenyu, whose husband Wang Shu won in 2012. The 2020 Pritzker jury said in its citation awarding the prize to Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara – making them the fourth and fifth women to ever be awarded the prize – that they were, "pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession [and] beacons to others as they forge their exemplary professional path."