The English architect Richard Rogers has been selected as the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate. Rogers, who accepted a life peerage in 1996 and is known as Lord Rogers of Riverside, will be given a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion on June 4, 2007, at a ceremony in Inigo Joness 1691 Banqueting House in London.
Lord Rogers joins his compatriots James Stirling, the 1982 winner; his former partner Norman Foster, who won in 1999; and Zaha Hadid, who took the honor in 2004. He gained early acclaim for his collaboration with Renzo Piano on the 1977 Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and has long been recognized as one of the most accomplished architects practicing today. Rogers was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architectss Gold Medal in 1985 and, last year, the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Biennale.
The Centre Georges Pompidou (1977, top) established both Rogers and his then partner Renzo Piano as formidable talents; Barajas Airport (bottom) in Madrid was completed in 2005 and won the coveted Sterling Prize the following year.
(top) Richard Bryant; (bottom) Katsuhia Kida / Courtesy RRP
In the past he may have been overlooked for the award because he has produced fewer buildings than past Pritzker winners, but the quantity of his production is more than made up for by its remarkable quality. His portfolio ranges from a house for his parents in Wimbledon (1968), which served as a prototype for a portable housing scheme he dubbed the Zip-Up House; the Lloyds of LondonBank (1986);Millennium Dome (1999); the Madrid Barajas Airport (2005); and the Welsh Assembly Hall (2005). Barajas Airport received the Royal Institute of British Architectss Stirling Prize, another of the professionns highest honors. He currently has three projects underway in New Yorkkthe expansion of the Javits Center, a mixed-use development at Silvercup Studios in Queens, and an office tower at the World Trade Center.
Rogerss career has always been marked by a larger public engagement. When Prince Charles began to advocate against modernism in the 1980s, Rogers was at the forefront of the professionns response. More recently, he has served as the London Mayor Ken Livingstonns primary director of city planning, which is an unofficial post. He is also well-known for his collaborative approach to design, and in a recent interview, said that it is one of the things he likes most about being an architect. Architecture is collaborative, and an equation that takes into consideration not only good buildings but social inclusion, public space, and social responsibility,, he said..Today, we must also consider sustainability and climate change..
The prize comes at an auspicious time in the 72-year-old architectts career: His firm, the Richard Rogers Partnership, will soon announce that it is changing its name to Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners in recognition of the work of two longtime collaborators, Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour.
WILLIAM MENKING
