David Chipperfield has been selected as the 2023 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize – an award regarded internationally as architecture’s highest honour.
Founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, the honour is awarded annually to a living architect whose built work has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.
In its citation, the jury states that “[David Chipperfield’s] commitment to an architecture of understated but transformative civic presence and the definition – even through private commissions – of the public realm, is done always with austerity, avoiding unnecessary moves and steering clear of trends and fashions, all of which is a most relevant message to our contemporary society. Such a capacity to distil and perform meditated design operations is a dimension of sustainability that has not been obvious in recent years: sustainability as pertinence, not only eliminates the superfluous but is also the first step to creating structures able to last, physically and culturally.”
In response to his selection, David Chipperfield states, “I take this award as an encouragement to continue to direct my attention not only to the substance of architecture and its meaning but also to the contribution that we can make as architects to address the existential challenges of climate change and societal inequality. We know that, as architects, we can have a more prominent and engaged role in creating not only a more beautiful world but a fairer and more sustainable one too. We must rise to this challenge and help inspire the next generation to embrace this responsibility with vision and courage.”
The 2023 Pritzker Prize ceremony will be held in Athens, Greece this May.
Image © Adrian Capelo