Riken Yamamoto: Japanese the world’s leading architect for 2024 – What makes him special
To the Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto the Pritzker Prize. He was named a top architect for 2024.
The Japanese Riken Yamamoto was awarded today (05/03) the Pritzker Prize, the world’s highest honor in architecture.
This is the man who is famous for architecture with social and sociological concerns, according to what the Chicago-based organization announced.
“Riken Yamamoto, an architect and social activist, works for harmonious societies despite different identities, economies, policies, infrastructures and housing, the organizers of the institution emphasize in a statement.
The Pritzker is the prize that is often called the “Nobel Prize of Architecture”.
“For me the recognition (of the existence) of a place is the recognition of an entire community,” said the Japanese who was born in 1945 in Beijing and immigrated to Yokohama, Japan after World War II.
“Today’s approach to architecture emphasizes privacy, while denying the need for social relationships. We can however continue to respect the freedom of each individual by living together in an architectural space like a Republic that forges harmony between cultures and stages of life,” said Yamamoto.
Yamamoto was chosen “primarily because he reminds us that in architecture, as in democracy, spaces must be created by defining populations,” the grand prize jury said.
Credit to the Japanese architect
“His architecture clearly expresses his belief in modular structures and the simplicity of their forms. (Its architecture) does not dictate anything but allows people to shape their lives into residential complexes with elegance, regularity, poetry and joy,” it was also emphasized.
The Japanese architect is known for his projects in residential and public buildings – schools, libraries, municipal service buildings – whose design favors a friendly atmosphere and social interactions.
Most of Yamamoto’s works and architectural ensembles can be found in Japan (Yokosuka Art Museum dating from 2006) but also in China (Tianjin Library in 2012) and Switzerland (Circle District at Zurich Airport in 2020).
(Source: https://www.reader.gr/kosmos/riken-giamamoto-iaponas-o-koryfaios-arhitektonas-toy-kosmoy-gia-2024-ti-ton-kanei-xehoristo)