The Oscar is for film makers, the Nobel Prize is for scientists, the Pulitzer Prize is for journalists, musicians, and writers. Architects at all times also received awards. She became the prestigious Pritzker Prize.
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This major global award was the best evidence of the success of the architect. Her presentation began in 1979, and the millionaire Jay A. Pritzker became the founder of this award. With his wife, they felt that the absence of architects among the Nobel Prize winners was a blatant injustice. It was decided to create their own world award, which architects from all over the world would seek.
Already 37 architects have received their prizes for their tremendous talent, gift and creative aspirations. Each of them did not depart from their personal creative canons, thereby making an extraordinary contribution to world architecture, leaving behind vivid and memorable art structures.
Award and ceremony
The Pritzker Prize winners for all time received commemorative bronze medallions. They are engraved with the main words that should characterize the work of the winner: “Strength. Benefit. Beauty". In addition, each of the laureates without fail received a financial award in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars.
Each ceremony always takes place in the best traditions of the Oscars or the Nobel Prize. The Pritzker Prize winners come to the ceremonial hall, in anticipation of their own victory. In general, even being a nominee for this award is honorable. This motivates each creator to take another step towards victory, which will be remembered throughout the world.
The Pritzker Family
American millionaires, who have allowed architects from all over the world to prove themselves and be awarded for it, are now one of the richest families of the 20th century. It is worth noting that almost every member of this huge family is now on the Forbes list.
The life of their family is shrouded in secrets. There is a legend that at one time the founder of the dynasty fled from Ukraine during the Jewish pogroms. He arrived in America without money. All that he was able to earn, he, first of all, invested in law school, after which he was able to organize a law office.
After getting up on his feet, Pritzker began to purchase real estate, and his adult sons continued the work of his father. So, it turned out that architecture is much more important than advocacy. Now Thomas Pritzker is the president of the Hyatt Foundation, which has a hotel business worldwide.
Laureates
The Pritzker Prize laureates for all time every year amazed with their work in the field of architecture. They elevated elaborate buildings, which became ordinary structures: firefighters, stadiums, residential buildings or business centers.
Each of the nominees and laureates created not just an unusual architectural structure. Each of them did something ergonomic, comfortable, spacious and cozy. Every year, the Pritzker Prize was awarded to architects from anywhere in the world, any ideology, nationality and political views.
The largest number of winners of the architectural award among citizens of the USA, Japan, Great Britain. In 2012, the Chinese architect Wang Shu was first awarded. In 2004, the woman Zaha Hadid became the winner for the first time.
2016 year
Usually the award ceremony takes place in March. Cities choose different, depending on the features of the architecture. The award was held already in Versailles, Jerusalem, Bilbao, Prague, St. Petersburg and other architectural cities-masterpieces.
This year, the nominees were well-known architects Peter Eisenman with the Berlin Memorial to the Jews of Europe, David Chipperfield with the Volkwang Museum and others. The winner was 48-year-old Chilean Alejandro Aravena.
The jury members highlighted, first of all, that for his work, the financial component has never been a privilege. The main feature is the care of guests, low energy consumption, and, most importantly, the relief of natural disasters.
The famous works of Araven became the campus of the Catholic University. The building is made in cubic form, it has 14 floors, monolithic. For all its difficult appearance, inside it is very light and friendly. This is because Aravena took care of the holes in the facade, which allowed to reduce energy costs by 2/3.
Attempts by Zaha Hadid
Of course, every award-winning architect deserves attention. But the first woman to win in 2004 was Zaha Hadid. The Pritzker Prize was the impetus for the creative achievements of women. Before receiving the prize, she had only a few ordinary projects in her arsenal.
The victory became a real motivation for her, which led her architectural firm to a tremendous amount of work. Already after the award in one decade, 950 projects were created under the leadership of Hadid. They were scattered in 44 countries of the world.
Zaha created her first failed project in 1982 and won her first competition with him. The sports club on top of the mountain has interested many experts. But the reason for the rejection of the construction was political tensions, which influenced the future fate of women. She returned to London and opened an office.
Further attempts to return to architecture were rather timid and uncertain. Fire Station, an opera in Cardiff that was never built, Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. This building was the last project before the award, which divided its life into "before and after." The Pritzker Prize was presented at the Hermitage. In St. Petersburg, a woman received the coveted bronze medal and financial support for future projects.
And so, already in 2014, Zaha opened her new building in Hong Kong, which was similar to either a rock or a spaceship. This Technical University Innovation Tower has become like a “voice” from the future. A piece that was pulled out of there, and inserted here, into an imperfect world. Despite the fact that Hong Kong became the destroyer of her talent in the distant 1980s, now he is her fan and place for creative solutions. On March 31, 2016, Hadid caught a heart attack, which became her death sentence.
Future projects
The world needed an architectural award. The Pritzker Prize was for many not just a recognition of his talent, but also the best motivation for creating great projects. Norman Foster from the UK received the award in 1999. He became famous thanks to the London skyscraper, "cucumber." Since 2014, his project is being implemented in Pennsylvania. By 2017, a tower with a height of 336 meters on 60 floors should be built.
In 2008, the prize was awarded to the French architect Jean Nouvel. Famous architects have long honored his extraordinary decisions and the expansion of public consciousness, so the presentation of the prize seemed belated. Nevertheless, it was impossible not to reward Nouvel. His projects were striking: residential buildings, public buildings, shopping malls, cultural institutions, various social facilities and much more. Behind Nouvel is a huge number of technologically impeccable objects.
Now Nouvel is working on the construction of two museums in Rio de Geneiro and Tokyo, on the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, on the entertainment centers of Dubai and Kuwait and on a couple of skyscrapers in New York and Paris.
The Pritzker Prize for many became an assistant in the development of a future career. Laureates who have survived to our time are now involved in major projects that will undoubtedly be able to conquer every person.