Sydney Modern architect SANAA has been named the recipient of 2022 Praemium Imperiale award for architecture by the Japan Art Association.
Inaugurated in 1988, the Praemium Imperiale art prize is today one of the world’s largest and most prestigious art prizes.
The award honours “individuals or groups from around the world for outstanding contributions to the development, promotion, and progress of the arts”, the committee said. Laureates are awarded in five fields – painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and film – and each received a prize of 15 million Japanese Yen (A$156,000).
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Japanese architecture practice SANAA were awarded the prize for architecture in recognition of their contribution to the profession. Past architecture laureates including Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster. In 2021, Australian Glenn Murcutt was named the architecture laureate.
“There are five senior Japanese architects who have received the Praemium Imperiale, including Kenzo Tange, Tadao Ando, Fumihiko Maki, YoshioTaniguchi and Toyo Ito, and we are truly honored to join them,” said Sejima and Nishizawa.
Sydney Modern render by SANAA, set to open December 2022.
Image: SANAA
The duo founded their Tokyo-based studio in 1995. They have built a body of work that includes the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in the USA, the Louvre-Lens Museum in France, and the Bocconi University New Urban Campus in Italy.
SANAA also designed the extension of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Modern which has completed major construction is due to open on 3 December.
The practice also received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010 and the Architectural Institute of Japan Award in 2006.
Other laureates of the 2022 Praemium Imperiale include Ai Weiwei for sculpture, Giulio Paolini for painting, Krystian Zimerman for music and Wim Wenders for theatre/film.
In 2022, the Japan Art Association appointed former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as International Advisor to the Praemium Imperiale.
