It is now 20 years since a solo girl received the Pritzker Structure Prize. The career’s most prestigious award should do higher, writes Tom Ravenscroft.
It’s 20 years since Zaha Hadid received the Pritzker Structure Prize, but by some means she stays the one solo girl to have received the accolade.
Simply days earlier than Worldwide Ladies’s Day at this time, the Pritzker jury once more named a person – this time Riken Yamamoto – as this yr’s laureate. It’s the third yr in a row {that a} solo man has been given the award. For Pritzker, that is very a lot enterprise as traditional.
Since Hadid’s victory twenty years in the past, the prize has been awarded to particular person males on 16 events. All the girls which were awarded the honour, other than Hadid, have been in partnerships – practically all the time with males. Are there actually no extra girls deserving of structure’s highest prize?
      ‘Yamamoto takes the tally of Japanese male winners to eight’
After a quick dabble in recognising the work of ladies architects – Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara profitable in 2020 and Lacaton & Vassal in 2021 – it appears to be like just like the Pritzker Prize has now reverted to kind, once more presenting the award to a really established Japanese architect. Yamamoto takes the tally of Japanese male winners to eight, pulling two away from the full variety of feminine winners within the world award’s 45-year historical past.
The Pritzker jury’s ongoing recognition of male architects from the International North is both a damning reflection of the state of structure or a damning reflection of Pritzker’s view of what’s important structure.
The prize is awarded annually to a dwelling architect who has “produced constant and important contributions to humanity and the constructed setting by way of the artwork of structure”. For its first 25 years, the prize recognised the main, best-known, worldwide starchitects – all of whom, in fact, had been males. The bulk had been from conventional, western architectural strongholds – the USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy, and so forth.
Nonetheless, lately, its emphasis has modified, recognising a broader vary of individuals contributing to the career: RCR Arquitectes’s small-scale work, Alejandro Aravena’s community-driven observe and quite a few partnerships celebrating collaboration – Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, Farrell and McNamara, and Lacaton & Vassal.
The RIBA Royal Gold Medal is proving that gender steadiness and correction for historic neglect is feasible
And, in fact, variety will not be solely about gender – Diébédo Francis Kéré’s victory was virtually universally welcomed when he grew to become the primary African architect to win in 2022. Yamamoto’s work, and its clear community-focus, additionally makes him a really worthy winner.
Nonetheless, it appears there may be nonetheless no room for solo girls winners.
Within the UK, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal is proving that gender steadiness and correction for historic neglect is feasible for a lifetime achievement-style award, even for essentially the most conventional of establishments. Over the previous decade, its main award has been introduced to 6 girls – Sheila O’Donnell, Hadid, McNamara, Farrell, Yasmeen Lari and Lesley Lokko, and 6 males – John Tuomey, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Neave Brown, Nicholas Grimshaw, David Adjaye, Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi.
It’s potential!
The male domination of the Pritzker Prize appears virtually wilful
Some could argue that for a lifetime achievement award it’s unimaginable to not recognise those that have had lengthy and very profitable, undeniably influential careers – David Chipperfield for instance.
It is no secret that the highest jobs in structure are dominated by males, so that you may recommend that the Pritzker laureates merely replicate that actuality.
Nonetheless, the male domination of the Pritzker Prize appears virtually wilful. Yamamoto is hardly a family identify; the world may have dealt with ready a few years to provide him the award.
In the meantime, there are such a lot of girls who’ve had lengthy and influential careers within the conventional mode that Pritzker typically celebrates. Contemplate, for instance, Francine Houbine, who has been main one of many world’s largest studios, Mecanoo, for over 20 years; Jeanne Gang, founding father of US powerhouse Studio Gang; or Danish architect Dorte Mandrup. If they’re wanting past the heads of main studios, then Lari, Frida Escobedo or Marina Tabassum are all worthy concerns nonetheless to get a glance in.
Now it seems that these wins had been merely a blip in prize’s historical past
The marketing campaign in 2013 to recognise Denise Scott Brown’s omission from the prize when Robert Venturi received ought to have served as a wake-up name to the Pritzker Prize. Like in 2013, the Pritzker organisation could say that the winner is the selection of an impartial jury, subsequently out of their management, so this can be a easy place to start out. This yr’s jury was made up of 5 males and two girls – a rebalance is totally inside the organisation’s affect.
With Farrell and McNamara, Lacaton & Vassal and Kéré’s victories it felt like change was within the air, with the prize broadening the spectrum of who is taken into account important. Nonetheless, it now seems that these wins had been merely a blip in prize’s historical past, very like Hadid’s win 20 years in the past.
The structure career is slowly altering, and for some time it appeared the Pritzker recognised that and was a part of the change. Illustration is necessary, and it’s important that the world’s most prestigious structure prize remembers to rejoice better variety within the business.
Tom Ravenscroft is the editor of Dezeen.
The picture is courtesy of the Pritzker Structure Prize.
Dezeen In Depth
When you take pleasure in studying Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and options, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Despatched on the final Friday of every month, this text gives a single place to learn concerning the design and structure tales behind the headlines.
