Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Pritzker goes to a Brazilian

chitPaulo Mendes da Rocha has won the Pritzker Prize for 2006.

I don't know . . . . I am kind of underwhelmed by the presented portfolio.

Maybe it is my recent leanings away from Corbusian inspired architecture, or the really bad Pritzker website.

This almost feels like the Pritzker Jury felt the need to present the award to someone from South America this year, or at least from the "margins" of architectural practice.

I can be convinced otherwise--- this is just my first gut reaction.

UPDATE: to the anonymous commenter who ask why a Cleveland architect did not get the Pritzker . . . touche! Nice touch of wit and cutting sarcasm.

3 comments:

Stan said...

Pritzker seems hit or miss as of recent. The timing of the Pritzker going to the Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid seemed to correlate more with the onset of the Iraqi war than actually with her work.

Anonymous said...

"Increasingly the future of the world is being seen in terms of the mega-city, the huge semi-slums that already house most of the urban population of the southern hemisphere. Perhaps this year’s Pritzker award implicitly recognises that awkward inevitability. Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s adherence to a city that demonstrates that the most vibrant culture can emerge where extreme urban poverty coexists with wealth and bourgeois values seems to offer hope. He has taught, campaigned, built and contributed to the public realm and the results should encourage us that the megalopolis does not have to be entirely dystopian."

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/46c2c0e6-c97c-11da-94ca-0000779e2340.html


Heavy notion. If the the above speculation were true, it would definitely be a departure from the Zaha Mayne's in recent years. I'll have to read up a bit more than what the Pritzker has to say, but I wonder if this year's choice is similar to Murcutt's award a few years back - surprise the design community with a nationally practicing 'fringe' architect instead of the "starchitects" that we've come to expect.

Anonymous said...

Why didn't they pick someone from Cleveland?