Riken Yamamoto wins 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Jian Wai SOHO

(Image credit: courtesy of Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop)

Riken Yamamoto has been revealed as the winner of the 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The prestigious architecture gong was awarded to the respected Yokohama-based architect for his designs and inspirational work in establishing communities, the Prize's jury explained.

'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,' explained Alejandro Aravena, Jury Chair and 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate. 'He is a reassuring architect who brings dignity to everyday life. Normality becomes extraordinary. Calmness leads to splendour.'

Riken Yamamoto portrait — Riken Yamamoto

Riken Yamamoto: 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner

The 2024 jury citation stated, among other things, that the Japanese architect is highlighted especially '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...'

His work spans housing, such as Pangyo Housing (Seongnam, Republic of Korea 2010), civic projects (the Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station in Hiroshima, 2000, is an example), but also culture, including the Yokosuka Museum of Art (Yokosuka, Japan 2006) and Tianjin Library (Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, 2012). Yamamoto's extensive career has spanned five decades.

'For me, to recognise space is to recognise an entire community,' Yamamoto said. 'The current architectural approach emphasises privacy, negating the necessity of societal relationships. However, we can still honour the freedom of each individual while living together in architectural space as a republic, fostering harmony across cultures and phases of life.'

The architect, the 53rd Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, will be presented his honour in a dedicated ceremony in Chicago, USA, this spring.

pritzkerprize.com

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).