Civic architect, urban planner and activist, Sir David Alan Chipperfield CH has been selected as the 2023 Laureate of The Pritzker Architecture Prize, the award that is regarded internationally as architecture’s highest honor.
Subtle yet powerful, subdued yet
elegant, he is a prolific architect
who is radical in his restraint,
demonstrating his reverence for
history and culture while honoring
the preexisting built and natural
environments, as he reimagines
functionality and accessibility of
new buildings, renovations and
restorations through timeless modern
design that confronts climate
urgencies, transforms social
relationships and reinvigorates
cities.
His built works, spanning over four
decades, are expansive in typology
and geography, including over one
hundred works ranging from civic,
cultural and academic buildings to
residences and urban masterplanning
throughout Asia, Europe and North
America.
Chipperfield calculates the
environmental and historical impacts
of permanence, embracing the
preexisting, designing and
intervening in dialogue with time
and place to adopt and refresh the
architectural language of each
locale. James-Simon-Galerie (Berlin,
Germany, 2018) situated on a narrow
island along the Kupfergraben canal
and accessible by the Schlossbrücke
bridge, serves as the gateway to
Museum Island. Commanding, though
discreet, colonnades with grand
scale enclose a terrace, a wide
expansive staircase and a manifold
of open spaces allow abundant light
into the large entryway of the
building. The design enables
generous views from within and
beyond, even through to adjacent
buildings and the surrounding urban
landscape.
“He is assured without hubris,
consistently avoiding trendiness to
confront and sustain the connections
between tradition and innovation,
serving history and humanity,”
comments Tom Pritzker, Chairman of
the Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors
the award. “While his works are
elegantly masterful, he measures the
achievements of his designs by
social and environmental welfare to
enhance the quality of life for all
of civilization.”
The Neues Museum (Berlin, Germany,
2009), originally constructed in the
mid-19th century and left devastated
and inhabitable during World War II,
demonstrates Chipperfield’s
discernment between preservation,
reconstruction and addition. The
novel is in conversation with the
old, as architecture of the past is
brought to the foreground, yielding
moments of modernity such as a
striking new main stairwell flanked
by walls revealing traces of
original frescoes and repurposed
materials, even those that were
marred by wartime blemishes.
Generous outdoor space makes it a
connector for all, even for those
who never enter the galleries.
Alejandro Aravena, Jury Chair and
2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate,
elaborates, “In a world where many
architects view a commission as an
opportunity to add to their own
portfolio, he responds to each
project with specific tools that he
has selected with preciseness and
great care. Sometimes it requires a
gesture that is strong and
monumental, while other times, it
requires him to almost disappear.
But his buildings will always stand
the test of time because the
ultimate goal of his operation is to
serve the greater good. The
avoidance of what’s fashionable has
allowed him to remain permanent.”
Every work becomes a civic
undertaking serving society, such as
the America’s Cup Building ‘Veles e
Vents’ (Valencia, Spain, 2006),
intended primarily as a temporary
hospitality venue for offshore teams
and sponsors. Exterior space exceeds
interior and the cantilevered
viewing decks are miradors, generous
in size, some spanning 15 meters in
width around the perimeter of each
overlapping level. Chipperfield
infuses a program for the public,
through first-floor retail spaces
and an accessible deck that offers
unrestricted views of the canal and
city below. A ramp from this level
creates a direct pathway to a park
just north of the site. His
restoration and addition of Morland
Mixité Capitale (Paris, France,
2022) revitalizes the neighborhood
with affordable and luxury housing,
retail and restaurant venues, a
hotel and youth hostel, an
installation space and an urban
rooftop garden. By raising the new
volumes on vaulted load-bearing
arcades which continue along at the
base of the original building, the
architect creates a space to gather,
inviting those to pass by or pass
through the new visual and physical
passageway to the Seine River from
the Boulevard Morland.
Whether through public or private
buildings, he bestows unto society
the opportunity for coexistence and
communion, protecting individuality
while fostering a societal sense of
belonging. The headquarters for
Amorepacific (Seoul, Republic of
Korea, 2017) harmonize the
individual and the collective, the
private and the public, work and
respite. Vertical aluminum fins
across the glass façade provide
solar shading to aid thermal
conditions and natural ventilation,
and create a translucency,
encouraging a rapport between the
building’s occupants, its neighbors
and observers. Office space is
equipoised by a public atrium,
museum, library, auditorium and
restaurants. A central courtyard
allows views through to nearby
buildings and hanging gardens
further engage the community inside
with the elements outside. At the
Inagawa Cemetery Chapel and Visitor
Center (Hyogo, Japan, 2017),
situated in the Hokusetsu Mountains,
the physical and spiritual coexist,
with places of solitude and
gathering, for peace and seeking.
These interconnected expressions are
mirrored in the earth-toned
monolithic buildings, stairs and
pathways residing amidst the sloped
terrain, and the secluded
non-denominational chapel and
visitor center that are juxtaposed
diagonal from one another.
“We do not see an instantly
recognizable David Chipperfield
building in different cities, but
different David Chipperfield
buildings designed specifically for
each circumstance. Each asserts its
presence even as his buildings
create new connections with the
neighbourhood,” continues the 2023
Citation. “His architectural
language balances consistency with
the fundamental design principles
and flexibility towards the local
cultures…The work of David
Chipperfield unifies European
classicism, the complex nature of
Britain, and even the delicateness
of Japan. It is the fruition of
cultural diversity.”
Significant works also include the
River and Rowing Museum (Henley-on-Thames,
United Kingdom, 1997), BBC Scotland
headquarters (Glasgow, United
Kingdom, 2007), Turner Contemporary
(Margate, United Kingdom, 2011),
Campus Saint Louis Art Museum
(Missouri, United States of America,
2013), Campus Joachimstraße (Berlin,
Germany, 2013), Museo Jumex (Mexico
City, Mexico, 2013), One Pancras
Square (London, United Kingdom,
2013), Royal Academy of Arts
masterplan (London, United Kingdom,
2018), Hoxton Press (London, United
Kingdom, 2018) and Kunsthaus Zürich
(Zurich, Switzerland, 2020).
Release The Hyatt Foundation
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March 13, 2023 |