This breaking news story has been updated with additional information.
The 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to Spanish architects Rafael Aranda, Hon. FAIA, Carme Pigem, Hon. FAIA, and Ramon Vilalta, Hon. FAIA. The trio founded RCR Arquitectes in 1988 as well as the RCR BUNKA Foundation in 2013.
The jury citation notes: “Their works admirably and poetically fulfill the traditional requirements of architecture for physical and spatial beauty along with function and craftsmanship, but what sets them apart is their approach that creates buildings and places that are both local and universal at the same time.”
The trio’s practice is based in their hometown of Olot in Catalonia. Only a few years apart in age, they attended Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès in Barcelona, and their work includes: the Bell–Lloc Winery in PalamĂłs, Spain (2007); the Sant Antoni – Joan Oliver Library, Senior Citizens Center and Cándida PĂ©rez Gardens in Barcelona (2007); the La Cuisine Art Center in Nègrepelisse, France (2014); and the Soulages Museum in Rodez, France (in collaboration with G. TrĂ©gouĂ«t, 2014).
Courtesy Hisao Suzuki
Hisao Suzuki
“The collaboration of these three architects produces uncompromising architecture of a poetic level, representing timeless work that reflects great respect for the past, while projecting clarity that is of the present and the future,” said jury chair Glenn Murcut in the announcement.
While the prize has been awarded to pairs of architects—Jacques Herzog, Hon. FAIA, and Pierre de Meuron, Hon. FAIA, in 2001 and Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010—this year marks the first time in the prize’s history that the award is shared three ways. Last year’s Pritzker went to Alejandro Aravena.
“For us, to win the Pritzker Prize in 2017, it’s something that it’s very difficult to express in words,” Pigem said in a video announcing the win (embedded below). “It’s a feeling that we have inside. We can say it’s to wake up, because the dream is done.”
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