The 2024 Pritzker Prize has been awarded to Japanese architect and social advocate Riken Yamamoto for “creating awareness in the community in what is the responsibility of the social demand, for questioning the discipline of architecture to calibrate each individual architectural response, and above all for reminding us that in architecture, as in democracy, spaces must be created by the resolve of the people,” said the jury.
Yamamoto is the 53rd Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the ninth to hail from Japan. His architecture career spans five decades with a vast project portfolio that includes private residences, public housing, educational facilities, cultural institutions, civic spaces, as well as city planning ventures.
Yokosuka Museum of Art.
Image: Courtesy of Tomio Ohashi
The Nagoya Zokei University (Nagoya, Japan, 2022), the Circle at Zurich Airport (Zurich, Switzerland, 2020), Tianjin Library (Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, 2012), Jian Wai SOHO (Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 2004), Ecoms House (Tosu, Japan, 2004), Shinonome Canal Court CODAN (Tokyo, Japan, 2003), Future University Hakodate (Hakodate, Japan, 2000), Iwadeyama Junior High School (Osaka, Japan, 1996) and Hotakubo Housing (Kumamoto, Japan, 1991) are among Yamamoto’s most notable projects.
Yamamoto is celebrated for his assertion that members of a community should sustain and support one another. He challenges longstanding notions that have reduced housing to a commodity detached from neighbours, and instead reconsiders the boundaries of private and public realms as spaces for social interaction and chance encounters.
Yokosuka Museum of Art.
Image: Courtesy of Tomio Ohashi
“One of the things we need most in the future of cities is to create conditions through architecture that multiply the opportunities for people to come together and interact. By carefully blurring the boundary between public and private, Yamamoto contributes positively beyond the brief to enable community,” said jury chair and 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Alejandro Aravena.
“He is a reassuring architect who brings dignity to everyday life. Normality becomes extraordinary. Calmness leads to splendor.”
Yamakawa Villa.
Image: Courtesy of Tomio Ohashi
Tom Pritzker, chairman of award sponsor the Hyatt Foundation, said, “Yamamoto develops a new architectural language that doesn’t merely create spaces for families to live, but creates communities for families to live together,” he said. “His works are always connected to society, cultivating a generosity in spirit and honoring the human moment.”
The 2024 Laureate Lecture will be held in Chicago on 16 May and will be open to the public in-person or available to view online.
