Arata Isozaki recipient of 2019 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has been named 2019 laureate of the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most prestigious award. He is the 46th recipient of the Pritzker Prize, and the 8th Japanese architect to receive the honour. The prize will be presented at a ceremony at the Palace of Versailles in May 2019, with a public lecture in Paris. Isozaki is credited with bringing together the East and West in his innovative designs. He is regarded as Japan’s most influential postwar architect and is known for his visionary ideas including an inflatable concert hall. His first international commission was the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which he worked on from 1981 through 1986. Isozaki said that he was inspired by the red sandstone buildings of India. Among Isozaki’s works are the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona for the 1992 Olympics, the Shenzen Cultural Center in China and the Allianz Tower in Milan. His buildings are also found all over Japan, including museums and community centers in Kyushu, Osaka and Tokyo.