“Few have risen to the demands of practicing architecture as an artful endeavor, as well as meeting today’s social and economic challenges,” the Prize’s nine-member jury—which included Pritzker laureates Glenn Murcutt and Richard Rogers, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer—wrote in its citation. “[Aravena] has achieved both, and in doing so has meaningfully expanded the role of the architect.”
Aravena’s projects range from a sustainable reconstruction plan for Constitución, the Chilean city devastated by an earthquake and ensuing tsunami in 2010, to delivering some 2,500 units of housing in urban slums. He has also designed scores of institutional, civic, and cultural works, spanning the globe, from Chile to China.
The architect will receive the $100,000 prize and the iconic Louis Sullivan-inspired bronze medallion in a ceremony at the United Nation Headquarters April 4th. Read about Alejandro here.
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