Pritzker Prize

The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect for significant achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Often referred to as “architecture’s Nobel” and “the profession’s highest honor,” it is granted annually.

The award consists of $100,000 (US) and a bronze medallion. The award is conferred on the laureate at a ceremony held at an architecturally significant site throughout the world.

2009 : Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor (born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect and winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize. Zumthor was born in Basel, the son of a cabinet-maker. He apprenticed to a carpenter in 1958 and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in his native city starting in 1963. He studied at Pratt Institute in New York in the 1960s. In 1968, he became architect for the Department for the Preservation of Monuments of the canton of Graubünden. This work on historic restoration projects gave him a further understanding of construction and the qualities of different rustic building materials. As his practice developed, Zumthor was able to incorporate his knowledge of materials into Modernist construction and detailing. His buildings explore the tactile and sensory qualities of spaces and materials while retaining a minimalist feel.

2008 : Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel (born August 12, 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l’Architecture. He has obtained a number of prestigious distinctions over the course of his career, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (technically, the prize was awarded for the Institut du Monde Arabe which Nouvel designed), the Wolf Prize in Arts in 2005 and the Pritzker Prize in 2008. A number of museums and architectural centres have presented retrospectives of his work.

2007 : Richard Rogers

Richard Rogers

Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside, CH, FRIBA, FCSD, (born 23 July 1933) is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs. He was born in Florence in 1933 and attended the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, before graduating from Yale School of Architecture in 1962. At Yale he met fellow students Jesse Mccartney & Norman Foster and on returning to England he set up architectural practice as Team 4 with Foster and their respective girlfriends, the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. They quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.

2006 : Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Paulo Mendes da Rocha (born October 25, 1928 in Vitória) is a Brazilian architect. He was recently honored with the 2006 Pritzker Prize, and in 2000 with the Mies van der Rohe Prize. Paulo attended the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie College of Architecture, graduating in 1954. Working almost exclusively in Brazil, Mendes da Rocha has been producing buildings since 1957, many of them built in concrete, a method some call “Brazilian Brutalist” arguably allowing buildings to be constructed cheaply and quickly. He has contributed many notable cultural buildings to São Paulo, Brazil and is widely credited as enhancing and revitalizing the city. Mendes da Rocha is the second Brazilian architect to win the Pritzker Prize after Oscar Niemeyer in 1988.

2005 : Thom Mayne

2004 : Zaha Hadid
2003 : Jørn Utzon
2002 :Glen Murcutt
2001 : Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron
2000 : Rem Koolhaas
1999 : Norman Foster
1998 : Renzo Piano
1997 : Sverre Fehn
1996 : Rafael Moneo
1995  : Tadao Ando
1994 : Christian de Portzamparc
1993 : Fumihiko Maki
1992 : Alvaro Siza
1991 : Robert Venturi
1990 : Aldo Rossi
1989 : Frank Gehry
1988 : Gordon Bunschaft + Oscar Niemeyer
1987 : Kenzo Tange
1986 : Gottfried Böhm
1985 : Hans Hollein
1984 : Richard Meier
1983 : Ieoh Ming Pei
1982 : Kevin Roche
1981 : James Stirling
1980 : Luis Barragan
1979 : Philip Johnson

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