Japanese Architect Arata Isozaki wins the Pritzker Prize 2019
newsdepo.com
The Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has been named 2019 laureate of the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most prestigious award. “The Japanese architect, born in 1931, is known for his style that combines Postmodernism and metabolism with technology.Japanese Architect Arata Isozaki wins the Pritzker Prize 2019
The Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has been named 2019 laureate of the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most prestigious award. “The Japanese architect, born in 1931, is known for his style that combines Postmodernism and metabolism with technology. His work has shaped public life across the world through a focus on cultural architecture from concert halls in Kyoto, Barcelona, and Thessaloniki, to museums and art galleries such as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles. Isozaki is the 46th laureate and eighth architect from Japan to win the Pritzker Prize,” reports Wallpaper. The Pritzker jury describes him as “a versatile, influential, and truly international architect. Possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and embracing the avant-garde, he never merely replicated the status quo but challenged it.” A highly decorated architect, city planner, and theorist, Isozaki also won the RIBA Gold Medal for architecture in 1986 and was awarded the Leone d’Oro at the Venice Architecture Biennale 1996. Isozaki began working for fellow Pritzker Prize-winner and Japanese architect Kenzo Tange in 1954, after graduating from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Architecture and Engineering. In a career spanning six decades, his portfolio features over a hundred buildings spread over Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Australia. However, his tryst with architecture began through the experiences of war and destruction on the scale of entire cities. Isozaki witnessed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a teenager and grew up in a Japan that was trying to recover from the effects of World War II. This defined his architectural aesthetic and practice. In the architect’s own words, “When I was old enough to begin an understanding of the world, my hometown was burned down...It was in complete ruins, and there was no architecture, no buildings, and not even a city. So, my first experience of architecture was the void of architecture, and I began to consider how people might rebuild their homes and cities.” As a consequence of these influences, his 1962 conceptual project, “City in the Air (Joint Core System),” imagined a new layout for Tokyo where rapid urban expansion would be facilitated by multi-layered buildings over the city’s existing layout and waterways. According to the Wallpaper report, in 1963, he founded Arata Isozaki & Associates, as the Allied occupation ended and the rebuilding process began in earnest. The firm later expanded to open a branch in Italy. Isozaki has worked extensively across continents, successfully bridging cultures through architecture. His avant-garde style is well known for being tailored to the context of its site. Some of his most significant works include Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (1974); the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Los Angeles (1986); Team Disney Building (1990), in Florida; the Shenzhen Cultural Centre (2007); Central Academy of Fine Arts, Art Museum, Beijing (2008); Milan’s Allianz Tower (2014); Doha’s Qatar National Convention Centre (2011); the Shanghai Symphony Hall (2014); and Hunan Provincial Museum, in Changsha (2017). https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more