The Nobel of Architecture

Every year at the beginning of March, a piece of news makes waves across the globe: the announcement of that year’s recipient of the Pritzker Prize. In common parlance, this prestigious award is to architecture what the Nobel is to literature, medicine or peace. The chosen few of their discipline thus find themselves ranked foremost among human geniuses. In recent years, this elite celebration has gained in momentum, becoming a truly global phenomenon.

Prestige and buildings

Tell me which architect you choose, and I’ll tell you what level of prestige you enjoy…This is how Qatar came to commission museums from I.M. Pei (Pritzker 1983), Jean Nouvel (Pritzker 2008) (See here an interview of Jean Nouvel) and Alejandro Aravena (Pritzker 2016) (See here an interview of Alejandro Aravena), while Rem Koolhaas (Pritzker 2000) (See here an interview of Rem Koolhaas) was entrusted with its national library. Abu Dhabi is not far behind, having engaged the same Jean Nouvel for the Louvre and Frank Gehry (Pritzker 1989) (See here an interview of Frank Gehry) for the Guggenheim. In France, it was Gehry who designed the Fondation Vuitton in Paris and Luma in Arles, while Tadao Ando (Pritzker 1995) reimagined the Bourse de Commerce (See here an interview of Tadao Ando), home to the Pinault Collection, but also museums in Naoshima and Teshima, Japan. The list could go on and on.

“If the Pritzker Prize didn’t exist, it would have to be invented. It’s one of the rare moments when architecture makes the front pages of newspapers,” observes Edwin Heathcote, the famous architecture critic for the Financial Times.

Phyllis Lambert

Phyllis Lambert, the Canadian grande dame of architecture and founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal—who is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris—agrees: “The Pritzker has changed attitudes toward us. Now, people follow key architects. It demonstrates a major shift in society’s perception of the field.”

Gustave Eiffel

This transformation did not happen overnight. The move to elevate the author of a given building can be traced back to a specific date: March 31, 1889. On that day, an engineer and entrepreneur unveiled his most extraordinary creation: He succeeded in transforming a utopian vision into a metal reality, planted right in the heart of Paris. The world over knows the story of the Eiffel Tower, but we often forget that this was the first time a remarkable construction would bear the name of its creator. Until then, from the Taj Mahal to the Château de Versailles, history had primarily remembered the illustrious patrons behind great works. In effect, Gustave Eiffel was the first architect to become a global star.

Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer

Open Hand, Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier would later follow in this path, paving the way for other celebrity architects, and Oscar Niemeyer further amplified the movement, especially in Brazil. But it would take many more years before a specific term was coined, “starchitect,” to name the phenomenon. This Anglo-Saxon portmanteau, now in common usage, elevates the most exceptional among them to the status of global cultural icons.

Guggenheim Bilbao

The Guggenheim Bilbao

Arguably, the idea of the superstar architect truly took off with the extraordinary impact of a single building—one with metallic reflections and unprecedented, swirling forms: the Guggenheim Bilbao. Designed like a sculpture by Frank Gehry and inaugurated in 1997, it even gave rise to a new concept, the “Bilbao effect,” to describe how a museum’s remarkable design could transform an entire city.

Jay  Pritzker

But let’s return to the origins of the Pritzker Prize. It was Jay A. Pritzker (1922-1999) who invented its concept in 1979. The owner of the Hyatt hotel chain, who had a keen sense of the zeitgeist, never hid the fact that he modeled the award after the Nobel. In fact, this great idea was born in Atlanta, as Jay  himself recounted: “We acquired an unfinished building which was to become the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. Its soaring atrium was wildly successful and became the signature piece of our hotels around the world. It was immediately apparent that this design had a pronounced effect on the mood of our guests and attitude of our employees.” This realization ultimately led to the creation of the prize.

$100,000

From the outset, it was decided that the award would be granted to an individual and not a firm—an approach that has become more contestable today, given the vast scale of contemporary architecture firms. The prize money was set at $100,000, a sum which has surprisingly never increased since its inception. The laureate also receives a certificate, and a bronze medal inscribed with a phrase inspired by the Roman architect Vitruvius: “firmness, commodity, and delight.”

Manuela Luca d’Azio

Each year, the award ceremony takes place in a different architecturally significant city. It is preceded by a lecture from the recipient—not a masterclass, but rather a personal narrative mediated by the prize’s director, Manuela Luca d’Azio, former executive director of the Venice Biennale.

Frei Otto

One of the Pritzker Prize’s immutable rules is that it be awarded to a living architect. However, an exceptional event occurred in 2015. The German Frei Otto had been chosen for his work benefiting underprivileged communities, among other things. The laureate was informed in strict secrecy and was delighted by the news. The official announcement was set for March 26. But on March 9, a dramatic turn of events occurred: Otto passed away at the age of 89. A few weeks later, his work was posthumously celebrated in grand fashion—the only time the Pritzker Prize has made such an exception.

Unpredictable choices

The most intriguing aspect of the Pritzker Prize lies in its selection criteria. “Unlike in the past, choices have become unpredictable,” notes Edwin Heathcote. So, unlike in Anglo-Saxon academic circles which tend to favor women and professionals from the Global South, one can be a white man from a Western country and still win it. Such was the case in 2023 with the prolific British architect David Chipperfield. However, in 2022, the laureate was Francis Kéré, born in Burkina Faso and practicing in Berlin. In 2024, it was Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto.

For the record, Japan has received the most Pritzker Prizes, with six laureates to date.

Nine members

So, what’s the formula for winning the “Nobel of Architecture”? The most daring candidates might try submitting an application via the Pritzker Prize website, which even has a dedicated tab for this purpose. It is up to Manuela Luca d’Azio to relay the nominations to the jury, compiling all potential candidates suggested by jury members, as well as spontaneous applications.

To avoid conflicts of interest, it must be said that the Pritzker family has completely withdrawn themselves from the selection process, on principle. They do not vote, nor does the director. The jury is independent. It is currently made up of nine members who are replaced at irregular intervals. The miracle of this operation is that decisions are made unanimously.

Impact on humanity

“Two criteria have always guided the jury,” explains Luca d’Azio. “The laureate must be an architect who has had a beneficial impact on humanity and the built environment. They must also meet artistic considerations related to the discipline.”

A former US Supreme Court justice member

Members of the jury include past laureates such as Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena and Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, as well as experts like former MoMA architecture curator Barry Bergdoll and architect Deborah Berke. More surprisingly, it also includes figures like Stephen Breyer, a former US Supreme Court justice who joined in 2011.

A family

“The idea is to create a well-balanced group, a kind of community or family, capable of discussing and exchanging ideas to reach a unanimous decision,” says Luca d’Azio. To foster cohesion, “we sometimes travel together, visit architectural sites. We also of course hold discussions via video conference. The prize is awarded to an architect whose work the jury has seen in person.”

The rest of the discussions are inaccessible to us: They remain top secret.

In 2025?

One question remains, as it does every year: Who will be the Pritzker Prize laureate for 2025?

The answer will be revealed in just a few days.

How the Pritzker Prize Changed Their Lives

Renzo Piano (Pritzker 1998)

It was obviously very important to me to receive the Pritzker Prize. This award was the confirmation that I had taken the right path, that I had found the right direction in my choice of projects to accept and develop, and in the type of architecture I wished to practice with my teams.It was a true boost of confidence, for me as well as for all my collaborators, an incredible momentum that allowed us to approach the work ahead with renewed enthusiasm. I am therefore very grateful to the jury for counting me among the recipients, and I sought to give back by later serving for five years as a member of the jury responsible for awarding this distinction. That too was a beautiful and enriching experience.

Norman Foster (Pritzker Prize 1999)

In 1999, I was awarded the Pritzker Prize in Berlin. The honorarium of $100,000 was the seed money that started the Norman Foster Foundation and its Institute. Over the many years since, that has been life-changing for me and the countless number of young graduates whose lives have similarly been changed for the good.

Yvonne Farrell et Shelley McNamara (Pritzker Prize 2020)

We feel part of a wider community of architects, where so many colleagues believe in the power of architecture, and devote their working lives to protecting the values embedded in this wonderful, useful and meaningful discipline.

Francis Kéré (Pritzker 2022)

My life has totally changed after receiving the Pritzker in 2022. Because of the high exposure, I feel a sort of constant pressure but it also brings positive stress. In the pursuit of creating architecture I have always been pushing to do things differently and it was not always easy. Now the prize has given me a strong voice and credibility as well as courage to push the things that matters the most. The requests that come in are different now, more global, and I see that more people are discovering my work. In the past I had an easy life, but now many more people take me seriously! So I need to be more disciplined. People respect the prize a lot. You are elevated. For me, it was the true breakthrough. In the perception of people I look like a hero, especially in Africa, and it feels like hundreds of thousands of young people there now want to become architects. And that brings a lot of responsibility because people now expect a lot from me. For example, people are constantly asking me when I will open an architecture school in Africa.

 David Chipperfield (Pritzker 2023)

“It’s obviously a great honour to receive the Pritzker Prize. It has managed to maintain its importance as a measure of professional achievement and so to join the ‘family’ of laureates I have long admired and respected was both humbling and encouraging. Without doubt it gives me and my teams considerable pride, and it reconfirms the values and principles of our work and of our practice. It came at a time when I started to develop our foundation in Galicia, which is committed to the planning and protection of the built and natural environment. The credibility of the prize and its direct citation of our research work there has given everyone added confidence in me and my team, enabling us to expand our reach and access. This has been particularly useful as we opened our building in Santiago de Compostela last year and now host a public programme of lectures, exhibitions, and residential research exchanges.”