Los Angeles, CA—Two architects were chosen to share the 2001 Pritzker
Architecture Prize, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland.
The two men, both born in Basel in 1950, have nearly parallel careers,
attending the same schools and forming a partnership architectural firm,
Herzog & de Meuron in 1978. Perhaps their highest profile project was attained with the completion
last year of the conversion of the giant Bankside power plant on the Thames
River in London to a new Gallery of Modern Art for the Tate Museum.
It has been widely praised by their peers and the media.
In the United States, they have completed a winery in the Napa Valley
of California that utilizes a mortarless wall of stones encased in wire
mesh, and are currently building the Kramlich Residence and Media Collection
in that same region. They have three other projects in work in the United
States — the headquarters of Prada in New York, the New de Young Museum
in San Francisco which is scheduled for completion in 2004, and the Extension
for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, scheduled for completion in 2005.
They have projects in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and
Japan, and of course, in their native Switzerland. There they have built
residences, several apartment buildings, libraries, schools, a sports complex,
a photographic studio, museums, hotels, railway utility buildings as well
as office and factory buildings.
Among their completed buildings, the Ricola cough lozenge factory
and storage building in Mulhouse, France stands out for its unique printed
translucent walls that provide the work areas with a pleasant filtered
light. A railway utility building in Basel, Switzerland called Signal
Box has an exterior cladding of copper strips that are twisted at certain
places to admit daylight. A library for the Technical University
in Eberswalde, Germany has 17 horizontal bands of iconographic images silk
screen printed on glass and on concrete. An apartment building on
Schützenmattstrasse in Basel has a fully glazed street facade that
is covered by a moveable curtain of perforated latticework. It is impossible
to list here all of their noteworthy building projects.
While these unusual construction solutions are certainly not the
only reason for Herzog and de Meuron being selected as the 2001 Laureates,
Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented, “One is hard
put to think of any architects in history that have addressed the integument
of architecture with greater imagination and virtuosity”
In announcing the laureates for 2001, Thomas J. Pritzker, president
of The Hyatt Foundation, spoke of the jury's choice, saying, “Only once
before in the history of the prize has the jury seen fit to select two
architects in the same year to share the award. That was in 1988.
The decision was made then that since it was the tenth anniversary of the
prize, we would celebrate two laureates. In this case, the jury felt that
these two architects work so closely together that each one complements
the abilities and talents of the other. Their work is the result
of a long term true collaboration making it impossible to honor one without
the other.”
The formal presentation of what has come to be known throughout the
world as architecture's highest honor was made at a ceremony on May 7,
2001 at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. At
that time, Herzog and de Meuron were presented with a $100,000 grant and
each received a bronze medallion. They are the first Swiss to become
Pritzker Laureates, and the 24th and 25th honorees since the prize was
established in 1979. The only other year that the jury selected two
architects to share the prize was 1988 when the late Gordon Bunshaft of
the United States and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil were chosen. The selection
of Herzog and de Meuron continues what has become a nine-year trend of
laureates from the international community. In fact, architects from
other countries chosen for the prize, now far outnumber the U.S. recipients,
eighteen to seven.
Bill Lacy, who is an architect and president of the State University
of New York at Purchase, spoke as the executive director of the Pritzker
Prize, quoting from the jury citation which states, “The architecture of
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron combines the artistry of an age-old
profession with the fresh approach of a new century’s technical capabilities.
Both architects' roots in European tradition are combined with current
technology in extraordinarily inventive architectural solutions to their
clients' needs.”
Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic and member of the juror,
commented further about Herzog and de Meuron, “They refine the traditions
of modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and
surfaces through the exploration of new treatments and techniques.”
Another juror, Carlos Jimenez from Houston who is professor of architecture
at Rice University, said, “One of the most compelling aspects of work by
Herzog and de Meuron is their capacity to astonish.”
And from juror Jorge Silvetti, who chairs the Department of Architecture,
Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, “...all of their work
maintains throughout, the stable qualities that have always been associated
with the best Swiss architecture: conceptual precision, formal clarity,
economy of means and pristine detailing and craftsmanship.”
The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to honor annually
a living architect (or architects) whose built work demonstrates a combination
of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced
consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment
through the art of architecture.
The distinguished jury that selected Herzog and de Meuron as the
2001 Laureates consists of its founding chairman, J. Carter
Brown, director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art, and chairman
of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; and alphabetically: Giovanni Agnelli,
chairman emeritus of Fiat from Torino, Italy; Ada Louise Huxtable,
author and architectural critic of New York; Carlos Jimenez, Professor
at Rice University School of Architecture, and Principal, Carlos Jimenez
Studio Houston, Texas; Jorge Silvetti, chairman, department of architecture,
Harvard University Graduate School of Design; and Lord Rothschild, former
chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund of Great Britain and formerly
the chairman of that country's National Gallery of Art.
The prize presentation ceremony moves to different locations around
the world each year, paying homage to historic and contemporary architecture.
As already mentioned, this year's ceremony was held in Thomas Jefferson's
home, Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson, although
best known as the author of the Declaration of Independence, was also an
accomplished architect, designing Monticello, which was his home. Last
year the ceremony was held in Jerusalem in the Archaeological Park
surrounding the Dome of the Rock.
Philip Johnson was the first Pritzker Laureate in 1979. The late
Luis Barragan of Mexico was named in 1980. The late James Stirling of Great
Britain was elected in 1981, Kevin Roche in 1982, Ieoh Ming Pei in 1983,
and Richard Meier in 1984. Hans Hollein of Austria was the 1985 Laureate.
Gottfried Boehm of Germany received the prize in 1986. Kenzo Tange
was the first Japanese architect to receive the prize in 1987; Fumihiko
Maki was the second from Japan in 1993; and Tadao Ando the third in 1995.
Robert Venturi received the honor in 1991, and Alvaro Siza of Portugal
in 1992. Christian de Portzamparc of France was elected Pritzker Laureate
in 1994. The late Gordon Bunshaft of the United States and Oscar Niemeyer
of Brazil, were named in 1988. Frank Gehry was the recipient in 1989,
the late Aldo Rossi of Italy in 1990. In 1996, Rafael Moneo of Spain
was the Laureate; in 1997 Sverre Fehn of Norway; in 1998 Renzo Piano of
Italy, in 1999 Sir Norman Foster of the UK, and last year, Rem Koolhaas
of the Netherlands.
The field of architecture was chosen by the Pritzker family because
of their keen interest in building due to their involvement with developing
the Hyatt Hotels around the world; also because architecture was a creative
endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. The procedures were modeled
after the Nobels, with the final selection being made by the international
jury with all deliberations and voting in secret. Nominations are continuous
from year to year with over 500 nominees from more than 40 countries being
considered each year.
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Citation from the Jury
The architecture of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron
combines the artistry of an age-old profession with the fresh approach
of a new century’s technical capabilities. Both architects' roots
in European tradition are combined with current technology in extraordinarily
inventive architectural solutions to their clients' needs that range from
a modest switching station for trains to an entirely new approach to the
design of a winery.
The catalogue of their work reflects this diversity of interest and
accomplishment. Through their houses, municipal and business structures,
museums and master planning, they display a sure command of their design
talent that has resulted in a distinguished body of completed projects.
The beginnings of most architects’ practices consists by necessity
of small projects with budgets to match. It is these early buildings
with great constraints that test an architect’s talent for original solutions
to often ordinary and utilitarian commissions. In the case of Jacques
Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the railroad signal box was such a project.
They transformed a nondescript structure in a railroad yard into a dramatic
and artistic work of industrial architecture, captivating both by day and
night.
The two architects have created a substantial body of built work
in the past twenty years, the largest and most dramatic in size and scale
being the conversion of a giant power plant on the Thames into the new
Tate Gallery of Modern Art, a widely hailed centerpiece of London’s millennium
celebration.
This kind of ingenuity and imagination continues to characterize
their work, whether it is a factory building in Basel with silk screened
facades or a winery in California with thick medieval walls made of stacked
stones that allow air and light patterns to permeate the building, giving
wine making a hallowed aura.
Students of architecture with keen antennae discovered this duo long
before the rest of the world. Both of the principals have been internationally
sought after as lecturers at prestigious universities where they have followed
the tradition in architecture of passing the experience of one generation
on to another.
The Rudin House in France is yet another representation of their
teaching extended by example. Here, they set themselves the task
of building a small house that would stand for the quintessential distillation
of the word “house;” a child’s crayon drawing, irreducible to anything
more simple, direct and honest. And they set it on a pedestal to
emphasize its iconic qualities.
These two architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, with their
intensity and passion for using the enduring palette of brick, stone, glass
and steel to express new solutions in new forms. The jury is pleased to
award the 2001 Pritzker Architecture Prize to them for advancing the art
of architecture, a significant contribution to furthering the definition
of architecture as one of the premier art forms in this new century and
millennium.
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The 2001 Jury
Chairman
J. Carter Brown
Director emeritus, National Gallery of Art
Chairman, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
Washington, D.C.
Giovanni Agnelli
Chairman emeritus, Fiat
Torino, Italy
Ada Louise Huxtable
Author and Architectural Critic
New York, New York
Carlos Jimenez
Professor, Rice University School of Architecture
Principal, Carlos Jimenez Studio
Houston, Texas
Jorge Silvetti
Chairman, Department of Architecture
Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Lord Rothschild
Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery
Former Chairman, National Heritage Memorial Fund
London, England
Executive Director
Bill Lacy
President, State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase, New York
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Additional Comments from Individual
Pritzker Prize Jurors
"One is hard put to think of any architects in history that have
addressed the integument of architecture with greater imagination and virtuosity."
J. Carter Brown
Chairman, Pritzker Jury
“In each of the buildings by Herzog and de Meuron, there is clear
evidence of two very talented architects collaborating in an unusual design
dialogue. The result is an impressively original joint body of work.”
Bill Lacy
Executive Director
"The work of Herzog and de Meuron is at once new and timeless, subtle
and radical, understated and experimental. They refine the traditions of
modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and surfaces
through the exploration of new treatments and techniques. This is an art
of reduction and enrichment that moves architecture to new levels of experience
and effect."
Ada Louise Huxtable
Pritzker Juror
"One of the most compelling aspects of work by Herzog and de Meuron
is its capacity to astonish. They are able to transform what might otherwise
be an ordinary shape, condition or material, into something truly extraordinary.
Their relentless pursuit and investigation into the nature of architecture
results in works charged by memory and invention, reminding us of the familiarity
of the new."
Carlos Jimenez
Pritzker Juror
"Herzog and de Meuron's work has infused architecture with an aesthetic
energy that engages the beholder through both sensorial and intellectual
pleasure. They have done this in a continuously evolving and inspired search
that has lasted almost two decades and which has never succumbed
to the comforts of success. Thus, while in their earlier work they achieved
such richness by redeploying with restraint simple geometries and timeless
materials by subtly manipulating surface and texture, in their recent projects
they have opened up new and radical avenues of research with their audacious
spatial propositions. It appears as if as soon as they seem
to perfect one vocabulary, they reposition themselves by asking surprising
new questions to old problems and presenting innovative avenues for architecture.
And still underneath all these fluid panorama of design inquiries it is
as impressive to notice that all of their work maintains throughout, the
stable qualities that have always been associated with the best Swiss architecture:
conceptual precision, formal clarity, economy of means and pristine detailing
and craftsmanship".
Jorge Silvetti
Pritzker Juror
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About Thomas Jefferson's Monticello,
the Setting for the
2001 Pritzker Award Ceremony
"Had the Pritzker Architecture Prize been in existence in the 18th
Century, Thomas Jefferson would most assuredly have been a recipient,"
says J. Carter Brown, chairman of the jury that selects the winner each
year. "Since we were not around then, but some of Thomas Jefferson's
work still survives, and gloriously I might add, we can at least pay homage
to this great architect and designer, who also just happened to be instrumental
in fashioning our great republic."
The 2001 presentation on May 7 of the $100,000 Pritzker Architecture
Prize to Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron was held
at Jefferson's architectural masterpiece, Monticello, in the Blue Ridge
Mountains of Virginia. Just a two hour drive from Washington, D.C., the
home, which is just outside of Charlottesville, is the remarkable integration
of Jefferson's love of classical architecture and his passion for what
were in his time, modern innovations. The latter included louvered Venetian
enclosures on the south side of the house, wine dumbwaiters built in the
dining room fireplace, and double-acting glass-paneled doors into the parlor.
The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living
architect for lifetime achievement, was established by the Pritzker family
of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Often referred to as
“architecture’s Nobel” and “the profession’s highest honor,” the Pritzker
Prize has been awarded to seven Americans, and (including this year) eighteen
architects from twelve other countries. The presentation ceremonies move
around the world from year to year paying homage to the architecture of
other eras and/or works by laureates of the prize.
Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, in expressing
gratitude to Daniel P. Jordan, president of the Thomas Jefferson
Foundation, for making it possible to hold the event in this remarkable
setting, stated, “Just three years ago, we were in Berlin in Karl
Friedrich Schinkel’s Altes Museum which is considered a masterpiece by
the father of modern architecture. Now we are going to be in the rooms
designed by and lived in by one of the fathers of our country. It is very
humbling to realize just how much this man who is remembered primarily
as the author of the Declaration of Independence accomplished in his lifetime.
He could read in seven languages, and his commitment to learning led him
to found the University of Virginia. It was his initiative for the Louisiana
Purchase that doubled the size of the country. His architectectural talents
and abilities are widely known, and we shall experience some of that first
hand when we hold the ceremony at his home."
Guests arrived at the mansion's East Front, and were welcomed with
a reception on the north and south terraces, during which time they had
an opportunity to walk through the interior of the house. It was
a clear evening allowing the University of Virginia to be seen from the
north terrace. The presentation of the award was held on the steps of the
West Portico, with the famous dome, the first ever built on an American
house, in the background. A tent was erected on the expansive west lawn
where dinner was served.
Thomas Jefferson himself, described his mountaintop home as his "essay
on architecture." He was involved in every aspect of its design, construction
and remodeling. His drawings of the first version of the house from
the 1770s show that he largely rejected the Georgian architectural tradition
that was then popular in Virginia. He returned to a purer expression of
classical form based primarily on examples found in I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura
by Andrea Palladio, the 16th century Italian architect. Before he
became president, while serving in France on a diplomatic mission from
1784 to 1789, he studied the plans of the newest neoclassical townhouses,
and observed the construction of one in particular, the Hôtel de
Salm with its fine dome. In the south of France, Roman antiquities such
as the temple known as the Maison Carrée inspired him to write,
"Roman taste, genius, and magnificence excite ideas." In 1796 he
began a radical transformation of Monticello, enlarging it from eight to
twenty-one rooms. The upper story was removed and the east walls demolished.
A new entrance front was added, as well as a dome based on the ancient
temple of Vesta at Rome, illustrated in Palladio's book, which became the
central feature of the west front. Work on the house continued through
the years Jefferson served as vice president and president. Finally in
1809, at the conclusion of his presidency and after forty years of building,
his essay was essentially finished.
As Pritzker prize-giving moves into the new millennium, Monticello
became part of a tradition of moving the ceremony to sites of architectural
significance around the world. Buildings by Laureates of the Pritzker
Prize, such as the National Gallery of Art’s East Building designed by
I.M. Pei, or Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, or Richard
Meier’s new Getty Center in Los Angeles have been used. In some instances,
places of historic interest such as France’s Palace of Versailles and Grand
Trianon, or Todai-ji Buddhist Temple in Japan, or Prague Castle in The
Czech Republic have been chosen as ceremony venues. Some of the most beautiful
museums have hosted the event, from Chicago’s Art Institute to New York’s
Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the setting was 1982 Laureate Kevin Roche’s
pavilion for the Temple of Dendur. In homage to the late Louis Kahn, the
ceremony was held in Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum in 1987. California’s
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens was the setting
in l985. The 20th anniversary of the prize was hosted at the White House
since in a way, the Pritzker Prize roots are in Washington where the first
two ceremonies were held at Dumbarton Oaks, designed by yet another Pritzker
Laureate, the very first in fact, Philip Johnson. Last year in Jerusalem,
on the Herodian Street excavation in the shadow of the Temple Mount was
the most ancient of the venues. The ceremonies have evolved over the years,
becoming, in effect, an international grand tour of architecture.
One of the founding jurors of the Pritzker Prize, the late Lord Clark
of Saltwood, as art historian Kenneth Clark, perhaps best known for his
television series and book, Civilisation, said at one of the ceremonies,
“A great historical episode can exist in our imagination almost entirely
in the form of architecture. Very few of us have read the texts of early
Egyptian literature. Yet we feel we know those infinitely remote people
almost as well as our immediate ancestors, chiefly because of their sculpture
and architecture.”
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