arquitectura - glenn murcutt

ThePritzker

ArchitecturePrize

2002GLENN MURCUTT

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established by The HyattFoundation in 1979 to honor annually a living architect whose builtwork demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, visionand commitment which has produced consistent and significantcontributions to humanity and the built environment through the artof architecture

An international panel of jurors reviews nominations from allnations, selecting one living architect each year. Seven Laureateshave been chosen from the United States, and the year 2002 markedthe nineteenth to be chosen from other countries around the world.

The bronze medallion presented to each Laureate is based on designes of Louis Sullivan, famed Chicagoarchitect generally acknowledged as the father of the skyscraper. Shown on the cover is one side with the nameof theprize and space in the center for the Laureate’s name. On the reverse, shown above, three words areinscribed, “firmness, commodity and delight.” The Latin words, “firmitas, utilitas, venustas” were originallyset down nearly 2000 years ago by Marcus Vitruvius in his Ten Books on Architecture dedicated to the RomanEmperor Augustus. In 1624, when Henry Wotton was England’s first Ambassador to Venice, he translatedthe words for his work, The Elements of Architecture, to read: “The end is to build well. Well building hath threeconditions: commodity, firmness and delight.”

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THE PRITZKER

ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

2002

PRESENTED TO

GLENN MARCUS MURCUTT

SPONSORED BY

THE HYATT FOUNDATION

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THE JURY

CHAIRMAN

J. Carter BrownDirector Emeritus, National Gallery of Art

Chairman, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts

Washington, D.C.

Giovanni AgnelliChairman, Fiat

Torino, Italy

Ada Louise HuxtableAuthor and Architectural Critic

New York, New York

Carlos JimenezProfessor, Rice University School of Architecture

Principal, Carlos Jimenez Studio

Houston, Texas

The Lord RothschildFormer Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery

Former Chairman, National Heritage Memorial Fund

London, England

Jorge SilvettiChairman, Department of Architecture

Harvard University, Graduate School of Design

Cambridge, Massachusetts

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Bill LacyProfessor, State University of New York at Purchase

Purchase, New York

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JURY CITATION

Glenn Murcutt is a modernist, a naturalist, an environmentalist,a humanist, an economist and ecologist encompassing all of thesedistinguished qualities in his practice as a dedicated architect whoworks alone from concept to realization of his projects in hisnative Australia. Although his works have sometimes beendescribed as a synthesis of Mies van der Rohe and the nativeAustralian wool shed, his many satisfied clients and the scoresmore who are waiting in line for his services are endorsementenough that his houses are unique, satisfying solutions.

Generally, he eschews large projects which would require himto expand his practice, and give up the personal attention todetail that he can now give to each and every project. His is anarchitecture of place, architecture that responds to the landscapeand to the climate.

His houses are fine tuned to the land and the weather. He usesa variety of materials, from metal to wood to glass, stone, brick andconcrete — always selected with a consciousness of the amount ofenergy it took to produce the materials in the first place. He useslight, water, wind, the sun, the moon in working out the details ofhow a house will work — how it will respond to its environment.

His structures are said to float above the landscape, or in thewords of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia that he isfond of quoting, they “touch the earth lightly.” Glenn Murcutt’sstructures augment their significance at each stage of inquiry.

One of Murcutt’s favorite quotations from Henry DavidThoreau, who was also a favorite of his father, “Since most of usspend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing isto carry them out extraordinarily well.” With the awarding of the2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the jury finds that Glenn Murcuttis more than living up to that adage.

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1979

Philip Johnson of the United States of Americapresented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

1980

Luis Barragan of Mexicopresented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

1981

James Stirling of the United Kingdompresented at the National Building Museum,

Washington, D.C.

1982

Kevin Roche of the United States of Americapresented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

1983

Ieoh Ming Pei of the United States of Americapresented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York, New York

1984

Richard Meier of the United States of Americapresented at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1985

Hans Hollein of Austriapresented at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and

Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California

1986

Gottfried Böhm of Germanypresented at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, United Kingdom

1987

Kenzo Tange of Japanpresented at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

1988

Gordon Bunshaft of the United States of America and

Oscar Niemeyer of Brazilpresented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

1989

Frank O. Gehry of the United States of Americapresented at Todai-ji Buddhist Temple, Nara, Japan

P R E V I O U S L A U R E A T E S

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P R E V I O U S L A U R E A T E S

1990

Aldo Rossi of Italypresented at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

1991

Robert Venturi of the United States of Americapresented at Palacio de Iturbide, Mexico City, Mexico

1992

Alvaro Siza of Portugalpresented at the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, Illinois

1993

Fumihiko Maki of Japanpresented at Prague Castle, Czech Republic

1994

Christian de Portzamparc of Francepresented at The Commons, Columbus, Indiana

1995

Tadao Ando of Japanpresented at the Grand Trianon and the Palace of Versailles, France

1996

Rafael Moneo of Spainpresented at the construction site of The Getty Center

Los Angeles, Calfiornia

1997

Sverre Fehn of Norwaypresented at the construction site of The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

1998

Renzo Piano of Italypresented at the White House, Washington, D.C.

1999

Sir Norman Foster of the United Kingdompresented at the Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany

2000

Rem Koolhaas of the Netherlandspresented at the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel

2001

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Switzerlandpresented at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Virginia

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FORMAL PRESENTATION CEREMONY

Michelangelo’s Campidoglio

Rome, Italy

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

BILL LACYEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

THE PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

THE HONORABLE WALTER VELTRONITHE MAYOR OF ROME

THOMAS J. PRITZKERPRESIDENT, THE HYATT FOUNDATION

GLENN MARCUS MURCUTT2002 PRITZKER LAUREATE

THE HONORABLE PROFESSOR VITTORIO SGARBIUNDER-SECRETARY OF THE

MINISTER OF FINE ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS

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"Michelangelo is often thought of principally as a sculptor and painter, rather than as an architect," saidJ. Carter Brown, chairman of the jury that selects the Pritzker Laureate each year. "But right in the religiousand political center of Rome, he was commissioned to design a remarkable architectural project at the top ofthe Capitoline Hill, the Campidoglio, Rome's ancient Capitol Hill. It is a place spanning more than 2000 years ofhistory. In 1471, Pope Sixtus IV donated large bronze statues to the Campidoglio, creating what is now arguablythe oldest public museum in the world. The She-wolf suckling the two traditional founders of Rome, Romulusand Remus, was placed inside the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and became the symbol of the city. With Papal authority,Michelangelo moved the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius to the center of the plaza, and created a magicallybeautiful star-shaped pavement design. (His design was not in fact actually completed until 1940; and to conservethe statue, one of the great monuments of antiquity, the original has been moved into the adjoining museum,and a faithful replica installed in the center of the plaza, following Michelangelo's design.)"

The guests assembling from around the world for the Pritzker Prize walked up the monumental ramp(cordonata) to the top of the Capitoline Hill, to sit in chairs placed on the piazza facing the central building (thePalazzo Senatorio which today houses the offices of the mayor and the city council chambers). There, in front ofthe fountain, the ceremony took place to present the $100,000 Pritzker Architecture Prize to Australian architectGlenn Murcutt. On either side of the piazza is the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo, both of which

comprise the Capitoline Museum.Following the ceremony, guests were transported to

the Palazzo Colonna for a reception and dinner. The firsthistorical information on the Colonna family residence datesfrom the 13th century. Since that time, the family hasprovided numerous princes of the Catholic Church, includingseveral Cardinals and Popes. Today, the family home doublesas a private art gallery for the art collections that span sixcenturies.

The presentation ceremonies move around the worldeach year paying homage to the architecture of other erasand/or works by previous laureates of the prize. The 2002ceremony marks the second time the prize has been presentedin Italy, the first being in 1990 at the Palazzo Grassi inVenice when the late Aldo Rossi received the prize. As thesites are chosen each year before the laureate, there is nointended connect ion beyond celebrat ing architecturalexcellence. Retrospectively, buildings by Laureates of thePritzker Prize, such as the National Gallery of Art’s EastBuilding designed by I.M. Pei, or Frank Gehry’s GuggenheimMuseum in Bilbao, Spain, or Richard Meier’s new GettyCenter in Los Angeles have been used. In some instances,places of his tor ic interest such as France’s Palace ofVersailles and Grand Trianon, or Todai-ji Buddhist Templein Japan, or Prague Castle in The Czech Republic have beenchosen as ceremony venues. Some of the most beautifulmuseums have hosted the event, including the alreadymentioned Palazzo Grassi: Chicago’s Art Institute (using theChicago Stock Exchange Trading Room designed by LouisSullivan and his partner, Dankmar Adler, which was preservedwhen the Stock Exchange building was torn down in 1972.The Trading Room was then reconstructed in the museum'snew wing in 1977). New York’s Metropolitan Museum ofArt provided the setting of 1982 Laureate Kevin Roche’spavilion for the Temple of Dendur. In homage to the lateLouis Kahn, the ceremony was held in Fort Worth’s KimbellArt Museum in 1987. California’s Huntington Library, ArtCollections and Botanical Gardens was the setting in l985.In 1992, the just-completed Harold Washington LibraryCenter in Chicago was the location where Alvaro Siza ofPortugal received the prize. The 20th anniversary of the prizewas hosted at the White House since in a way, the PritzkerPrize roots were in Washington where the first two ceremonies

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were held at Dumbarton Oaks — a majoraddition to the original estate, had beendesigned by yet another Pritzker Laureate,the very first, Philip Johnson. In 2000 inJerusa lem, on the Herod ian S t ree texcavation in the shadow of the TempleMount was the most ancient of the venues.The ceremonies have evolved over theyears, becoming, in effect, an internationalgrand tour of architecture.

Coinc id ing wi th the Pr i t zkerArchitecture Prize ceremony being held inRome, the American Academy in Rome co-hos ted a Pr i tzker Sympos ium on Ne w

Centur y, New World , T he Global izat ion o f

Architecture. The co-chairs of the event areBill Lacy, executive director of the PritzkerArchitecture Prize and Adele Chatfield-Taylor, president of the American Academy

in Rome. Participants included: RolfFehlbaum, Anthony Grafton, Zaha Hadid,Dogon Hasol , Ricardo Legorreta, andKaren Stein.

One of the founding jurors of thePri tzker Pr ize, the late Lord Clark ofSaltwood, as art historian Kenneth Clark,perhaps best known for his television seriesand book, Civilisation, said at one of theceremonies, “A great historical episode canexist in our imagination almost entirely inthe form of architecture. Very few of ushave read the texts of early Egypt ianl i terature. Yet we fee l we know thoseinfinitely remote people almost as well asour immediate ancestors, chiefly because oftheir sculpture and architecture.”

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THE PRITZKER

ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

THE HONORABLE WALTER VELTRONI*MAYOR OF ROME

We’re very honored to hos t here inCampidogl io , in th i s square , such animportant prize for worldwide architecture.

To talk about the possibility of holding thisevent here on this square was the HonorableGiovanni Agnelli who talked to me about thison the phone a few months ago. He has beenfor a long time an outstanding member of thejury for this prize. We can all wish him aquick recovery from his disease because he is,uh, for our country, for the economy of ourcountry, one of the biggest resources.

This square was designed by Michelangeloand Michelangelo’s design is very strong inthe history of architecture of Rome.

All the architecture of this city was developedby people of very high standing, very highlevel and prestige. But to tell the truth, as ofthe 60’s, it was quite difficult for contemporary

Good evening, ladies andgentlemen. I’m Bill Lacy,Executive Director of thePritzker Architecture Prize.And to begin the program thisevening, it is my pleasure toin t roduce the Mayor o fRome, the Honorable WalterVeltroni, Mr. Mayor.

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architecture to leave a mark on the architecture and the buildings of this great city.And the impression is that development had been marked by a quiet kind ofquantitative rather than qualitative idea thereby ignoring the idea of leaving a markon architecture.

But now things are starting to change and I had the chance of showing to Mrs.Pritzker and all of the people who came to my office, I showed them a unique viewof the city, and I could present them with a medal which has on its backside theoriginal design of the auditorium which was designed and built by Renzo Piano whois here with us today.

And a sign on the mark of contemporary architecture will be soon seen in theMunicipal Gallery Of Modern Art and the National Gallery Of Modern Art whichwill be designed by Fuksas and also in the new Congress Center which will be soondesigned and built in Rome.

Architecture is a project, is creativity which turns into reality into a dimension, intospace. Therefore, it’s a way of designing and planning a city.

Rome will be for future generations the City of Michelangelo, the City ofCampidoglio, but also the City of the auditorium designed by Renzo Piano, and itis precisely in this double dimension which the greatness of architecture lies.

And this is the reason why we are very honored to host this prize here in this city,in this square, and we wish you successful work and we hope that this prize will, inthe next few years, be able to aid the qualitative growth and development of townplanning and architecture.



Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Welcome again, architects, friends of architecture,and friends and admirers of Glenn Murcutt. The part of Carter Brown, ourillustrious long-time chairman who normally presides over these occasions, will beplayed by Bill Lacy this evening. A serious illness has prevented Carter from beingwith us.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 24th ceremony awarding the PritzkerArchitecture Prize in the most perfect city for such an event; a city that still, after2000 years remains the pinnacle of architectural achievement and architecturalheritage.

In the United States, any city that possessed one square block of Rome woulddeclare itself a tourist destination. But Rome displays its centuries old richescasually, the way a great poet can be generous with words because the supply isseemingly inexhaustible. Every street in Rome, every façade, every stone, everyvista down a street or across the Tiber is a special visual treat.

In my correspondence with your great Italian critic, the late Bruno Zevi, Iremember one line, “ah, Bill, it is April and Rome is beautiful, it is cruel.” I knewexactly what he meant. Rome is the world's greatest outdoor museum of architecture,without boundaries and without preciousness. I love Rome. But before I get carriedaway figuratively or actually, I should get on with the program.

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The selection of a prize winner can only, in the end, be as good as those doing theselecting, and this year’s jury, whom I will now introduce, represent the wisdom andexperience that is reflected in their choices each year.

The jury members are, beginning with our incredible chairman, J. Carter Brown, whois regrettably missing the first ceremony since the prize's inception in 1979. Mr.Brown is the renowned director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington,D.C.; chairman of the Fine Arts Commission, advisor to presidents and first ladies onaesthetic and artistic matters involving art and architecture during numerousadministrations. If we had a minister of the arts in the United States, the choice wouldbe obvious. We miss you, Carter, as much as you miss being here on this auspiciousoccasion.

Ms. Ada Louise Huxtable, distinguished architecture critic and author, winner of thePulitzer Prize, winner of the McArthur Award and many other richly deservedhonors. You can read her criticisms currently in the Wall Street Journal and the New York

Review of Books.

You have already heard about Avvocato Giovanni Agnelli’s role in, in obtaining thepermission to be here this evening in this great space. He is the Chairman and CEOEmeritus of the esteemed Fiat Corporation and an avid patron of architecture. He hasbeen indispensable to the jury over the years and we are especially indebted to himfor this evening.

Jorge Silvetti, architect partner in the widely acclaimed firm of Machado andSilvetti. He has been chairman of the School of Architecture at Harvard for the pastseven years.

Carlos Jimenez, architect originally from Costa Rica, now a member of the facultyat Rice University in Houston where he practices. He has an impressive and growinglist of exceptional buildings to his credit.

Lord Jacob Rothschild, whose long-standing interest in art, architecture, historicpreservation and archaeology make him an essential member of this formidable jury.

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There are other distinguished guests whose presence I am pleased to note. I wouldlike to quickly introduce them as well. They are architects who have received thePritzker Architecture Prize in the past. Lord Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, GottfriedBoehm, Renzo Piano, Sverre Fehn, and Christian de Portzamparc. If I’ve left outanyone, God help me. And I would like to introduce a very special and honoredguest, the honorable Murray Cobban, Australian Ambassador to Italy; and AdeleChatfield-Taylor, President of the American Academy in Rome. Thank you.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was created to honor architecture as an importantfield, one which was omitted in the largely scientific endeavors acknowledged by theNobel Prizes. It was also intended to raise the general public’s awareness of theimportance that architecture plays in all our lives.

Occasionally the prize jury feels the obligation to serve as a compass in today’s mediadriven culture and to remind us that architecture is a long-term proposition, thatbuilding great buildings is more important than getting great publicity.

Tonight’s honoree, Glenn Marcus Murcutt exemplifies that attitude as do hisbuildings. He has toiled many years in his native Australia to produce an exquisiteand singular collection of works that hew to the principles that have always producedgreat buildings, large and small. His is an architecture of a quintessential purities,simplicity and beauty, an architecture of modesty, an architecture of greatness.

And to present the prize to Glenn Murcutt, it is my further honor now to introduceThomas Pritzker who continues the legacy of his late father, Jay, and who, with hismother, Cindy, plays a hands-on role in the administration of the prize each yearincluding staging this magnificent venue in Rome. Thomas Pritzker is a man of manyinterests — Indian scholar, art collector, architecture groupie, author, successfulbusinessman and entrepreneur; he will present this year’s 2002 Pritzker ArchitecturePrize at this time.

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THOMAS J. PRITZKERPRESIDENT, THE HYATT FOUNDATION

Thank you very much. Every year, we bring this ceremony to a different location.In addition to having the pleasure of presenting the prize, I have the honor to be ableto make a few comments about the venue in which we present the prize. Once again,we gather at an incredibly important site in a great city to celebrate the PritzkerArchitectural Prize and its recipient, Glenn Murcutt.

There’s something about the City of Rome and this place, the Capitoline Hill, thatsets it apart from virtually any other site in which we’ve had the honor of presentingthe prize. This is the hill of Romulus. This is the hill of Jupiter. This is the hill ofthe Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. This is the hill from which MarcusAurelius, a man who is standing up above us, ruled Rome when Rome was thecenter of the world and this hill was the center of Rome.

But as Rome went, so went the Capitoline Hill. Both would fall into decline overthe coming millennium. Some 1400 years later, our story turns to Pope Paul theThird who is the last of the Renaissance Popes and the first Pope of the Counter-Reformation. He recognized that the medieval church was in need of reformation,

but not in theway that Lutherwould have it. ThisPope’s most criticalchallenge was to finda way to move theChurch into moderntimes.

In order to open thispathway, Pope Paulturned to the worldof aesthetics, of artand of architecture.It was at this timethat Pope Paul theThird commissionedMiche lange lo totransform this greathill from what hadbeen the seat of anancient Roman, of a

Pagan Empire, to a place that could herald in the coming reforms. In 1536,Michelangelo created what we see here tonight. He designed Rome’s first piazza.

This was the Renaissance, and so he rebuilt these façades. He designed the patternsthat you see beneath you, and he had the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius placedin the center of this great piazza. This is truly an awesome place to stand and beable to give this prize. Tonight, we owe the use of this historic place to MayorVeltroni who’s offices are here in Capitoline Hill. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for allyou’ve done and for loaning us your staff to help arrange this evening.

We must also thank one of our jurors for not only his dedicated service to the prizein helping make the choices of the laureates for the past 18 years, but also for his

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assistance in making it possible for us to hold the ceremony here in Italy. I speak,of course, of Avvocato Giovanni Agnelli and Mrs. Agnelli as well. I want to thankthem. I’m sorry they’re not able to be here tonight.

There’s one more person that you’ve heard of that I have to speak to, and that issingling out J. Carter Brown. Carter has been Chairman of the Jury since itsinception 24 years ago. This is the first ceremony since he helped found the prizethat he’s missed, and we all wish him well and a speedy recovery. When we beganmoving these ceremonies to different locations around the world, it was an effort toenlarge the scope of the prize by not just honoring one living architect for hislifetime achievements, but rather, we wanted to carry forward the underlying goalof the prize which is focusing the public’s awareness on great architecture and whatit can mean to people’s lives.

All you need to do is look around you tonight to understand the potential impact ofgreat architecture. Tonight, we stand in the midst of the era of globalization. Weare an American family. We’re giving a prize to an Australian architect here atopone of the great sites of Europe. We speak here of history, but Glen Murcutt is aboutthe present. We talk of globalization, but our laureate looks to humanize and adapthis work to very, very local conditions.

While these are seemingly contradictions, infact, our laureate’s work can reconcile some ofthe ideals of globalization with the needs of theindividual. The honoree tonight has studiedthe past. He has visited most of the greatarchitecture here in Europe and in other parts ofthe world. He’s absorbed the knowledge anddistilled it into his own unique way of designingbuildings in his own land of Australia.

That vast country, a continent unto itself with atremendous range of climates and environments,calls out for architecture to suit each of itsvarious regions. Glenn Murcutt, working as aone man operation, has tackled the task, andover the past four decades has accomplishedsome remarkable, scrupulously energy conscioushouses and buildings. They are so remarkablethat the jury chose him for this year’s honor.

While his primary focus is on houses, one of hispublic building projects which he did incollaboration with his wife, Wendy, is calledthe Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre.Critics have called this a masterpiece. The juryin their citation describes Glenn Murcutt as amodernist, a naturalist, an environmentalist, ahumanist, economist, and an ecologist, and that’sall before they even get to the word architect.

The reason for all of these qualities beingmentioned is, of course, that his houses are finetuned to the land and to the weather. He selectsthe materials he uses, whether it be metal,

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wood, glass, stone, brick or concrete, with a consciousness of the amount of energyrequired to produce those materials in the first place. And he takes into account thesun, the moon, the stars, light, water, and wind in working out the details of how hishouse will function and how it will respond to the environment.

Ada Louise Huxtable, one of our capable jurors who has a certain way with words,has summed it up by writing “Glenn Murcutt has become a living legend, anarchitect totally focused on shelter and the environment, with skills drawn from

nature and themost sophisticateddesign traditionso f the modernm o v e m e n t . ”There’s no wayI could improveon Ada Louise’swords. Glenn haso f ten sa id thatgrowing up, hisfa ther was ap r o f o u n dinfluence on him.

And one of hisfather’s favoritequotations from

Thoreau’s writing was, “since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, themost important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well.” Glenn, the PritzkerJury finds that you are more than living up to that adage. Please join me. On behalfof the Pritzker family and the Hyatt Foundation, we present the 2002 PritzkerArchitecture Prize to Glenn Murcutt.

GLENN MURCUTT

2002 LAUREATE


Mayor Veltroni, distinguished guests, friends, fellow architects, ladies and gentlemen.To Mrs. Pritzker, the Pritzker family, and members of the Hyatt Foundation, youhave honored me with the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize, and I cannot tell youjust how happy I am to be receiving it. Thank you.

On entering private practice in late 1969, my father said, “son, remember, you muststart off the way you would like to finish.” And he added, “for every compromise youknowingly make, the resultant work will represent your next client.” Tough yetgood advice.

Although I have worked as a sole practitioner without staff now for nearly 32 years,I am supported by many others who have contributed to my love of architecture. Tofail to recognize those people would be unjust. Mies van der Rohe said, and I quote,that “with every good building, there was a very good client.”

I have had so many wonderful clients throughout my career. There are others todaythat have to wait for more than three years for me to start work on their projects. I

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have worked with two engineers, a father and his son, and how could our thinkingbe realized without fine builders. There are writers, photographers and academics,fellow architects, architecture schools in Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Finland, theUnited States of America, and Australia, collaborators including my wife and family.Each has been wonderfully supportive and many are here this afternoon to celebratewith me this incredible event. Thank you, all of you.

And what more wonderful a space and place could there be to celebrate this eventthan the Campidoglio in Rome? Just how fortunate can one be? The jury each yearconsiders hundreds of architects for the Pritzker Prize, many of whom are worthy ofreceiving it. But, on the whole, only one is selected. That’s how fortunate one canbe.

As you may imagine, I’ve had hundreds of interviews, letters and telephone calls ofwonderful support, but I cannot tell you how many times it has been said,“congratulations also go to the Jury.” I start to wonder just who’s prize is this? Yetsuch awards tell us much about the jury as it does about the recipient. I am fullyaware of the effort and feelings of responsibility borne by each jury member for sucha prize.

To each member of this year’s Pritzker Prize Jury, I am honored, greatly honored,to have been considered worthy of this prize. It is humbling to become a PritzkerLaureate. I join recipients for whom I have the deepest respect, and today, severalI count as great friends. And this afternoon, they are here, as each of you, in myhonor. Thank you.

I grew up in Sydney about seven kilometers north of the city. The landscape wastypical of the coastal Sydney sandstone basin with its abundance of eucalyptus andother remarkable native Australian plants. In this environment, I learned about thepropagation of the flora. I learned about which plants grew where, and which drewthe superb native birds, insects and animals. I learned about how a particular speciesof plants grew differently, very differently, from the lowlands where the water tablewas higher, where the wind pressures were less, where the nutrients were greaterfrom the very same type of plant at the top of a hill which was shaped by wind shear,less moisture and few nutrients. This was about place, and was, for me, extremelyimportant. I learned about the strength, the delicacy, and the transparency of muchof the Australian landscapes, where the clarity of the light level separates theelements compared to much of Europe where the light level serves to connect thoseelements in the landscape. This gave me a clearer understanding of the legibility ofelements, of structure and delicacy within the Australian landscape which hasinformed my work.

I grew up in a family of five children. There were seven pianos in a house of threelevels. The noise was terrible. There was always something being designed and builtaround the house — canoes, racing skiffs, houses. I learned I needed silence, muchsilence, to work. This was a very important lesson for me. The amount of noise mademe want silence.

I was conscripted to the joinery shop of my father during school holidays which Itended to resent at the time, but I did join in the construction of boats, buildingstaircases, windows and more. This was an extraordinary training though very toughat times. From 1946 onwards, my father brought into Australia a number of journals,particularly from the United States, and from them I learned about the works ofFrank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Gordon Drake, Charles and Ray Eames

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and others. There were so many architects that I had learned about by the time thatI was 15 or 16. This had enormous influence on me.

I had difficulty with my education, but I finally entered the University of Technologyin 1956 where I undertook the part-time course in architecture. I was fortunateenough to have had a teacher by the name of Noel Bazeley, who taught buildingconstruction. He was largely dismissed by most students, but whilst the other groupsstudied the construction of footings and foundations, floors, walls, ceiling joists androofs for the whole year of three terms, Bazeley gave us the subject continuity innature. What a wonderful subject, continuity in nature, discussed for a full term.Having understood the importance of continuity in nature, the second term wasdevoted to the understanding of continuity in nature related to the built environment.For term three, we studied foundations, floors, walls and so on.

What a wonderful start for a young architect and for me particularly. This was anextraordinary teaching for a man in 1956. I also worked in offices full time withpeople like Neville Gruzman and Bill and Ruth Lucas who were very good architectsin the modern movement in Australia. I was fortunate enough to be working whenLucas designed one of the lightest lightweight houses that Sydney had ever seen, oneof the most extraordinary works still. And I also worked with Allen and Jack, anotherfine office. They were wonderful places to be learning architecture in the 50’s and60’s.

During university, I failed the subject Sunshine and Shade. I had to repeat thissubject. I recognize this may have been a turning point for me in understanding theimportance and direction it might have been in shaping my future thinking. Failurepresents those great opportunities, it is not one of those things where you put yourtail between your legs and run. Failure is a wonderful learning experience.

My first trip after graduation in 1962 was to Europe — the Greek islands and theNordic region. I learned about light, about continuity of space, about the nature andlimitations of materials, about the formation and carving of space, about inevitabilityof movement, about unity of color, about reflection, and so many other lessons. Tomake a material work hard is to seek to maximize its potential, and to make onematerial do many things has been significant for me. Going to the Nordic region tosee the work of Jørn Utzon, those wonderful Kingo houses and Utzon's otherbuildings, and on to Finland to see the work of Aalto was a great turning point inmy career. And it was my very good friend, Keith Cottier, who said to me whilst wewere working together in London, “don’t go back to the Greek Islands. You mustget on and see Aalto! Of all the people I know, you are the one who should be seeingAalto.” I took his advice. I thank you, Keith.

In 1969, I entered practice. I had no work, but most of us were pretty optimistic inthose days. So what did I do in the first six months? I telephoned the variousproducers of building products, those makers of superb extruded metal sections andhad them visit me. I was looking at all the possibilities of making standardcomponents and sections to do my detailing rather than designing every detailelement. It makes detailing very much simpler and quite strong.

The second trip overseas in 1973 included France and Spain. In Paris, I visited abuilding I had seen from the street in 1962, the Maison de Verre. This building wasliberating. Designed around 1928 by Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoët, it was inthe modern period, but was not one of the isms of modernism, this work had life. Itwas open-ended as a design, and it possesses timelessness. And what a wonderfulthing to find an architecture of the past that is alive, that's modern, and looks to the

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future. It was an absolutely important and critical experience at that time in my life.I also met the great Spanish architect, José Coderch in Barcelona. He also didsomething very important for me. I was extremely nervous about design, and I stillam extremely nervous about design, but then I thought there was something lackingin me, that nervousness. Coderch said that at the age of 62, “with every new project,I am very nervous.” And I've realized ever since that nervousness is an essentialingredient with every new project, otherwise, one's work loses its cutting edge. Hesaid, “I also tell my students, you must put into your work first effort, secondly, love,and finally, and very Catholic, suffering. And even if the work is not great, it willshow care and dedication.”

I have always believed in the act of discovery rather than creativity. Any work thatexists, or which has the potential to exist is related to discovery. We do not createthe work. I believe we, in fact, are discoverers. I see architecture as a path ofdiscovery and that is very important for me. I have learned through observationrather than text. Even this acceptance speech has been an awful challenge in gettingit together.

My family will tell you that I have a restless spirit, and I know that is true. I havealways wanted to push more out of everything, in experiencing places, in pushingboundaries; my students will tell you my studios are very memorable. And I pushmyself. I know when whatever I am doing can be done better. I am relentless inpursuing ideals.

Now I need to tell you a little bit about why I do things the way I do. I work alonebecause I love silence, time to think and discard work less than I know is worthy ofarchitecture. By working alone, I freed myself of the pressures of responsibilitytowards staff. I am able to travel and conduct design studios in many universitiesinternationally where I am able to teach and convey ideals and attitudes to students.They are the architects of the future. Yet when a project warrants it, I work incollaboration with those architects for whom I have great respect. That is the way I’mable to expand my practice. The work I cannot do, I send to young, very finearchitects I have taught, so that they are able to set up their own practices because,as I said earlier, with every good building, there was a very good client. I have notwanted to undertake large scale work because I know that I require a lot of variationin stimulating my energies.

I tire of working on one project for too long, and larger projects mean years. To work

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on many smaller projects involves many clients. This provides the opportunity formuch experimentation and hence stimulation for me, and yet I am aware that thereare offices like Renzo Piano’s and Frank Gehry’s where they do achieve much ofwhat I expect, but at large scale. To take on work outside Australia would mean thatI would have to take on staff. As a sole operator, it would be impossible for me towork overseas and in Australia at the same time because I would lose my practice inAustralia. Australia offers me hugely diverse landscapes and ranges of climates.Being the size of the USA, or extending from the west coast of Spain to Israel, andNorth Africa to the Arctic Circle, you can imagine the potential. Add to that, coastal,inland and altitude, the possibilities are enormous.

Ironically, by understanding my imposed limitations, I found that opportunitiesincreased. Working with students and academics is enormously rewarding. I’veestablished wonderful friendships with staff and students which satiates my somewhatnomadic spirit.

This year, the jury identified a critical issue which is now assuming immenseimportance in every aspect of our future survival — respect for the environment. Icannot pursue my architecture without considering the minimization of energyconsumption, simple and direct technologies, a respect for site, climate, place andculture. Together, these disciplines represent for me a fantastic platform forexperimentation and expression. Of particular importance is the junction of therational and the poetic resulting hopefully in works that resonate and belong towhere they reside.

This award therefore goes well beyond one’s self. It speaks of the pressing issues ofnow and our future. It is relevant nationally and internationally and that surely isvery significant. It seems to me that underlying the jury’s decision there is hope,even as individuals that we as architects have an opportunity to make a differencewhere we leave for future generations principles worthy of our time. Thank you.



Thank you, Glen. And now to conclude our historic program here at the Campidoglio,the Under-secretary Of The Minister Of Fine Arts And Cultural Affairs, theHonorable Professor Vittorio Sgarbi.

THE HONORABLE PROFESSOR

VITTORIO SGARBI*UNDER-SECRETARY OF THE MINISTER OF

FINE ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS

It is the second time that the Pritzker Prize, the most important prize for the architects of ourtime, has been assigned in Italy. On 1990 it was given for the first time, in Venice, the artisticcapital of the East, and it was won by Aldo Rossi. Nowadays it has been assigned in Rome,the artistic capital of the West, in a time when the debate between the ancient and the modernarchitecture in Italy is extremely lively.

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Italy is based on landscapes and town planning contexts of exceptional-artistic historian value.The architects who work in this particular condition have a extreme responsibility task, whichrequires specific technical and historian-artistic expertise. If we consider certain testimoniesof the past civilization, if we consider Michelangelo or Rossetti, it would be easy to understandhow little the contemporary architects feel. But it happens sometimes that they want to havethe same importance of the great teachers of the past, that they want to be openly comparedto them, in order to rebuild where they have already built.

A supreme arrogance act, which reveals an inadequate cultural and intellectual preparationto the problem, as if the modernity had the right to superimpose itself and to deform even thenoblest documents of our history. Being intelligently modern means having conscience andrespect of history, without looking for absurd comparisons which would only carry toideological extremism.

Nobody can ask to the architects to have the historical and social conscience of all the placesin which they are called to work. Thelocal buyers, at every level, have to informthem about the things they do not know,they have to define a level of idealfeasibility, the architect can work on andcan prepare his practical project.Architects must be helped in their task,they cannot only be considered“demiurghi,” everything is granted to. Itwas not so at the times of Michelangeloand Rossetti and it cannot be so nowadays.

The greatest architecture is always theunion between the buyers’ and thearchitects’ projects. If one of the twoelements misses, the result can be hardlythe same. Everywhere is full of wonderfuland modern architectures, hated by thosewho live in, only because the projects

have not taken into consideration their demands, their expectations, their mental horizons.They are failures, beautiful to see, but however failures.

I still believe that the best architecture, as it was in the past, must exist only for its time. I thinkthat the modern architecture should establish with the past a serene, cultured, meditated,mature and not conflictual relationship. I think that the modern architecture should build,instead of rebuild; it should invent new places, and civilize where civilization does not exist.It should be done without the desire to be the centre of attention, with the consciousness todevelop a role which must not entertain the minority, but serve the majority.

Nothing to say when Frank O. Gehry builds in Bilbao in a substantial desert, or Renzo Pianoin an abandonment zone in Rome; however it would not have sense if these architects wereleft free to act in the same way also in the historical centres, where through the time they havereached inviolable balances .

When one moves into the past, it is necessary to have another kind of sensitivity. One shouldact as Carlo Scarpa did in Castelvecchio: not hide, not falsify, but establish a consistentdialectic relationship with the historical document, one goes to touch.

Although he has never had significant opportunities to compare him to the ancients, GlennMurcutt, the winner of the Pritzker prize for this year, represents this way of interpreting thearchitecture.

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Murcutt was born and acts in Australia, in a world where the ancients are considered in anantithetic way, if compared to the European way. Murcutt works on “bench-scale” but formany buyers, far from every temptation to give a new form to the world, he works to solvepractical problems, to look for a right union with the nature, in order to get from the nature,from its ordinary and strangest appearances, the right inspiration for technical and formalinnovative solutions.

Murcutt is an excellent example of a social architect in a time full of asocial architects,individualists, exhibitionists, devoted to the affirmation of their point of view againsteverything and everyone. Murcutt is absolutely modern, but his way to be in front of the nature,in his measure to man dimension, there is a classicism bottom; for instance, it is the same inthe project for the Bingie Bingie house, in which the relationship of necessity with the placeis seen by the architect in the same way Palladio felt for his villas.

This is not a prerogative of the ancient times: coming at more recent years, I find analogouspropensities to increase the value of the relationship with the nature of the place, its coloursand its moods, in Louis Kahn’s works and even more in the Mexican Luis Barragan’s works,without remembering the Scandinavian school’s examples.

My wish is that this recognition to Murcutt marks a renewed tendency in contemporaryarchitecture, a reaction to gigantism, a renewed pleasure for the continuity between natureand civilization. Because at the end I consider good architecture as the continuation in earthof God’s work.



Congratulations again Glenn Marcus Murcutt. Pritzker Prize Laureate 2002. Andon behalf of the Pritzker family, thank you for being here this evening.

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*Both Mayor Veltroni and Under-secretary Sgarbi presented their remarks in Italian.

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THE ARCHITECTURE OF

GLENN MARCUS MURCUTTBY

KENNETH FRAMPTON

WARE PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

PLANNING AND PRESERVATION

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK

Seventeen years serve to separate the award of the Pritzker Prize to Glenn Murcutt from the firstcomprehensive monograph on his work; Philip Drew’s Leaves of Iron published in Sydney in 1985. Despiteits somewhat indifferent distribution, this book had the effect of consolidating the nascent Murcutt mythwhich was by then already an indicator of the resurgence of Australian architecture. Just over a decadebefore, that is to say, by the earlier 70s, Murcutt had already established something of a reputation asa designer of elegant Neo-Miesian houses culminating in his single storey, steel framed Laurie Shorthouse, built in the Terry Hills near Sydney, a work which already departed in significant ways from theabstract purity of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (1950) by which it had been inspired. Apartfrom its empirical spatial organization, this distanciation was never more evident than in two seeminglyinconsequential but nonetheless telltale features; first, the relatively intimate use of terra-cotta and brickpaving, a treatment reminiscent of Philip Johnson’s Glass House, New Canaan (1949), and second, theprovision of sliding louvred screens on the eastern façade in order to shield the living room and patiofrom the low-angle sun.

The three and a half month world tour that Murcutt undertook in 1973, beginning in Mexico Cityand Los Angeles, traversing the States and going on to Western Europe with a stop-off in Mykonos before

“I’m very interested in buildings that adapt to changes in climaticconditions according to the seasons, buildings capable of responding to ourphysical and psychological needs in the way that clothing does. We don’tturn on the air-conditioning as we walk through the streets in high summer.Instead, we change the character of the clothing by which we are protected.Layering and changeability: this is the key, the combination that is workedinto most of my buildings. Occupying one of these buildings is like sailinga yacht; you modify and manipulate its form and skin according to seasonalconditions and natural elements, and work with these to maximize theperformance of the building. This involvement with the building alsoassists in the care for it. I am concerned about the exploitation of thenatural environment in order to modify the internal climate of buildings.Architects must confront the perennial issues of light, heat, and humiditycontrol yet take responsibility for the method and the materials by which,and out of which, a building is made. The considerations, context, and thelandscape are some of the factors that are constantly at work in myarchitecture.”

Glenn Murcutt, 1996Technology, Place and ArchitectureJerusalem Seminar in ArchitectureNew York, Rizzoli 1998 p.62

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returning to Australia, had a catalytic impact on the rest of his career, most decisively perhaps because ofthree experiences; his passing encounters with the Californian and Catalan ‘regionalists’ Craig Ellwoodand José Antonio Coderch and the epiphany of Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre in Paris (1932) that ineffect demonstrated the possibility of evolving an astylistic architecture in which tectonic invention wasinseparable from poetic form. One should also mention in passing the one other French influence thatdeeply a ffected Murcutt’s parti pris in the mid-70s, namely, Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale of 1949.

Murcutt’s brief contact with the Greek island vernacular took him back to his roots, to the relativelyprimitive environment of his childhood in New Guinea, to the nature writings of Thoreau much cherishedby his father, and above all, to the realization that a revitalized Australian architecture would have to begrounded not only in its greatly varying climate and landscape, together with its exotic flora and fauna,but also in the repressed Aboriginal culture that was to have such a decisive influence on the evolutionof Murcutt’s domestic architecture. It was this plus a profound respect for the traditional Aboriginal ethicof “touching the earth lightly” – the moral principle of not disturbing nature more than is absolutelynecessary – that led to Murcutt’s conception of a new Australian domus in the form of a long and narrow,light-weight, roofwork, comparable in its sheltering function to the bower of a tree or, in moremorphological terms, to the turned up collar of an overcoat that shelters from the wind while subtlyopening its front towards the sun.

Lastly, there was the ubiquitous, long forgotten, corrugated iron roof vernacular of the Australianoutback to which Murcutt turned immediately after his world tour to create the louvred Maria Shortfarmhouse at Crescent Head, overlooking the Maria River in 1974, his second house for the Short familyin less than two years. In this canonical piece, he succeeded in combining the Semperian primitive hutof 1852 with the tectonic refinement of Mies’ Farnsworth House, along with a vertebrae approach to basicstructural frame taken from Prouvé's Maison Tropicale. It is just this somewhat unlikely conjunction thatinaugurated a spectacular series of light-weight, single-storey houses, elevated clear of the ground, framedin either timber or steel, or in a mixture of both and invariably roofed and/or clad in corrugated metal.It is important to note that the linear room arrangement and the shallow depth derived from the need tomaximize cross-ventilation for every room while simultaneously deploying the roof overhang and theback of the house, facing south, in such a way as to eclipse the noonday high summer sun and to admitat the same time in winter. Over the next fifteen years, he would build well over thirty houses in thisunique “outback” manner, ringing the changes on every conceivable frame, truss, louver, vent, gutter,down-pipe, and roof profile, varying from mono- to double-pitch, to arcuated form before arriving at themetal-roofed but otherwise totally timber-clad, Marika-Alderton House, completed in East Arnheim Landin 1994.

Without denying the tectonic elegance of such masterpieces as the Nicholas House, Mount Irvine(1980), the Fredericks House (1982), Jamberoo (page 25), and the Simpson-Lee House (1994), Mount

Wilson (pages 42-43), one may surely argue thatthe Marika-Alderton house (page 32) i s aparticularly canonical work for many reasons, notthe least of which is the fact that it was built for anAboriginal client, the artist Marmburra BandukMarika and her partner Mark Alderton. It issignificant that it was erected in the face of stifflocal opposition and that it would in all probabilitynever have been realized had it not been for thefact that Marika was a member of the Australiacouncil and on the board of the National Gallery.The realization of this house had the effect ofposing an alternative to the standard of theAboriginal housing in the Northern Territory, andMurcutt has since realized another house in thesame region for an Aboriginal client.

The Marika-Alderton house embodied anumber of major innovations, including its

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assembly from prefabricated timber components and its introduction of outriding fins that aside fromreducing lateral wind velocity, and shielding the interior from low angle sun an sunrise and sunset, alsoprovides for privacy between adjacent bedrooms. Built about an elegant structural steel frame finished inaluminum, and fitted with equally elegant aluminum roof vents so as to discharge the build-up of airpressure under cyclonic conditions, it is all together more cubistic and substantial than his earlierarchitecture. Thus, while the fabric is still relatively light-weight, the house when fully opened out to catchthe breeze, assumes a more palpable, three-dimensional plastic character; an effect that is due in no smalldegree to the dense red ochre of its fabric when set against the gleaming aluminum finish of itssuperstructure and roof.

Strangely enough for someone who has been in practice for over a quarter of a century, Murcutt hasrealized very few public buildings, first, the Museum of Local History, Kempsey NSW, built in threeconsecutive phases, between 1976 and 1988, second, the Visitor’s Information Center, Kakadu NationalPark in the Northern Territory with Troppo Architects (1994) and, at a much more monumental scale, theArthur & Yvonne Boyd Education Center, in Riversdale, NSW (1996-99) designed in collaboration withWendy Lewin and Reg Lark. Where Kempsey and Kakadu were really expanded versions of Murcutt’scorrugated roof, ‘long house’ typology, the Boyd Center is in some measure an amplification of the syntaxof the Marika-Alderton House. At the same time, its giant, upswept entry canopy, framing the surroundingbucolic landscape, uncannily recalls, together with its large multi-purpose hall, the Doricist massing andproportions of the stone-clad promenade and peristyle of Asplund’s Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm(1940). This all but neoclassical character stands in strong contrast to the proliferation of the bedroom finsthat issue from the flanks of the tripartite residential block, located to one side behind the monumentalportico and hall. Despite these syntactical innovations, one notes how Murcutt still maintains the“outback” trope of low-pitched corrugated metal roofs in the form of articulated rain and sun shields,covering different segments of the complex.

A more systematic separation between sun and rain roofs will occur in the next public complex ofconsequence, namely, the Lightning Ridge, NSW, multi-purpose center currently under development. Inthis case, the shade-roofing will be made up of retractable white cloth stretched on top of steel framingsupported by pipe columns. This serves as a protective verandah extending around the perimeter of anelongated complex made up of two converging single-storey wings. The rooms themselves are variouslycovered by insulated rain roofing, constructed out of monopitched or curved corrugated zinc or ironsheeting. The solid perimeter walls are to be built of an earth/cement mix while openings within theseenclosures will be variously filled with sliding components and louvered panels much in the manner ofRudolf Schindler’s Kings Road House, Los Angeles of 1921. This complex assembly promises to reconcilethe rustic directness of the Japanese tea house tradition with the free-style montage of occidentalconstructivism at its best.

The climatic affinity obtaining between New South Wales and California surfaces at this juncturealthough Murcutt’s anti-air conditioning response to the exigencies of climate is perhaps a more sensitiveand appropriate approach than what presently passes for normative practice in Southern California today.This is not only evident in the sustainable aspirations of his work, but also in his attitude towards landscapethat promises to be particularly well handled in Lightning Ridge where the complex will be folded into thecontours and where the promenade linking the two wings will be elegantly paved in cement slabs and thewhole will be surrounded by dense stands of eucalyptus and bottle brushes. The net result will be abuilding that is all too literally inseparable from the landscape.

Murcutt’s general principles as set forth in the gloss at the beginning of this essay surely express moreadequately than any sequential account of a single project, the fundamentally ethical intention sustaininghis architecture. Designing with nature, to paraphrase Ian McCarg, is not a mere slogan with Murcutt, andin all of his works he has remained extremely aware of the way in which every intervention impacts theecosystem in which one is working, from the drainage of storm water to the modification of nativevegetation, from the erosion of soil to the embodiment of energy in all its hidden aspects.

To this end, he has habitually adopted a series of strategies to mitigate this impact both within andwithout the confines of his architecture; from the provision of southern thermal walls to ward off the wintercold, to the opening of the structure to the north to admit the winter sun; from the provision of storage tanks

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to collect rainwater to the manipulable screening of windows that open onto the landscape, from theinstallation of vents and fans to facilitate cross ventilation to paving walkways in dark gray tiles that absorbthe heat during the day and release it at night. This is a didactic, proto-ecological building culture thatin no way inhibits the poetic potential of the field. On the contrary, it enhances it by deepening its rapportwith nature. It is this finally that bestows on Murcutt’s work a relevance for world architecture as a wholeand it is also this that assures the profundity and promise of his approach in terms of its furtherdevelopment.

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FACT SUMMARYGlenn Murcutt

2002 Laureate, Pritzker Architecture Prize12 Markham Close

MosmanSydney, NSW 2088

Australia��

Birthdate and Place:July 25, 1936London, England

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Diploma of ArchitectureUniversity of New South WalesTechnical CollegeSydney, Australia

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HISTORY OF THE

PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established by The Hyatt Foundation in 1979 to honorannually a living architect(s) whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent,vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and thebuilt environment through the art of architecture. It has often been described as “architecture’s mostprestigious award” or as “the Nobel of architecture.”

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests areheadquartered in Chicago. They have long been known for their support of educational, religious, socialwelfare, scientific, medical and cultural activities. Jay A. Pritzker, who founded the prize with his wife,Cindy, died on January 23, 1999. His eldest son, Thomas J. Pritzker has become president of The HyattFoundation.

He explains, “As native Chicagoans, it's not surprising that our family was keenly aware ofarchitecture, living in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city filled with buildings designed by architecturallegends such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and many others. ” He continues,“In 1967, we acquired an unfinished building which was to become the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. Its soaringatrium was wildly successful and became the signature piece of our hotels around the world. It wasimmediatly apparent that this design had a pronounced affect on the mood of our guests and attitude ofour employees. While the architecture of Chicago made us cognizant of the art of architecture, our workwith designing and building hotels made us aware of the impact architecture could have on humanbehavior. So in 1978, when we were approached with the idea of honoring living architects, we wereresponsive. Mom and Dad (Cindy and the late Jay A. Pritzker) believed that a meaningful prize wouldencourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings, but also would inspire greatercreativity within the architectural profession.” He went on to add that he is extremely proud to carry onthat effort on behalf of his mother and the rest of the family.

Many of the procedures and rewards of the Pritzker Prize are modeled after the Nobel Prize.Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation certificate, andsince 1987, a bronze medallion. Prior to that year, a limited edition Henry Moore sculpture was presentedto each Laureate.

Nominations are accepted from all nations; from government officials, writers, critics, academicians,fellow architects, architectural societies, or industrialists, virtually anyone who might have an interest inadvancing great architecture. The prize is awarded irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology.

The nominating procedure is continuous from year to year, closing in January each year. Nominationsreceived after the closing are automatically considered in the following calendar year. There are well over500 nominees from more than 47 countries to date. The final selection is made by an international jurywith all deliberation and voting in secret.

The Evolution of the Jury

The first jury assembled in 1979 consisted of J. Carter Brown, then director of the National Galleryof Art in Washington, D.C.; J. Irwin Miller, then chairman of the executive and finance committee ofCummins Engine Company; Cesar Pelli, architect and at the time, dean of the Yale University School ofArchitecture; Arata Isozaki, architect from Japan; and the late Kenneth Clark (Lord Clark of Saltwood),noted English author and art historian.

The present jury comprises the already mentioned J. Carter Brown, director emeritus of the NationalGallery of Art, and chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, who serves as chairman; GiovanniAgnelli, chairman emeritus of Fiat, of Torino, Italy; Ada Louise Huxtable, American author andarchitectural critic; Carlos Jimenez, a principal of Carlos Jimenez Studio and professor at the RiceUniversity School of Architecture in Houston, Texas; Jorge Silvetti, architect and chairman, Departmentof Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; and Lord Rothschild, former chairmanof the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and former chairman of the board of trustees of the National

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Gallery in London. Others who have served as jurors over the years include the late Thomas J. Watson,Jr., former chairman of IBM; Toshio Nakamura, former editor of A+U in Japan; and architects PhilipJohnson, Kevin Roche, Frank Gehry, all from the United States; and Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico,Fumihiko Maki of Japan, and Charles Correa of India.

Bill Lacy, architect and president of the State University of New York at Purchase, as well asadvisor to the J. Paul Getty Trust and many other foundations, is executive director of the prize. Previoussecretaries to the jury were the late Brendan Gill, who was architecture critic of The New Yorker magazine;and the late Carleton Smith. From the prize's founding until his death in 1986, Arthur Drexler, who wasthe director of the department of architecture and design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City,was a consultant to the jury.

Television Symposium Marked Tenth Anniversary of the Prize

“Architecture has long been considered the mother of all the arts,” is how the distinguishedjournalist Edwin Newman, serving as moderator, opened the television symposium Architecture and the City:

Friends or Foes? “Building and decorating shelter was one of the first expressions of man’s creativity, but wetake for granted most of the places in which we work or live,” he continued. “Architecture has become boththe least and the most conspicuous of art forms.”

With a panel that included three architects, a critic, a city planner, a developer, a mayor, a lawyer,a museum director, an industrialist, an educator, an administrator, the symposium explored problemsfacing everyone — not just those who live in big cities, but anyone involved in community life. Some ofthe questions discussed: what should be built, how much, where, when, what will it look like, what controlsshould be allowed, and who should impose them?

For complete details on the symposium which was produced in the tenth anniversary year of theprize, please go the "pritzkerprize.com" web site, where you can also view the video tape of thesymposium.

Exhibitions and Book on the Pritzker Prize

The Art of Architecture, a circulating exhibition of the work of Laureates of the Pritzker ArchitecturePrize, had its world premiere at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago in 1992. TheEuropean debut was in Berlin at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum in in 1995. It was also shown at theKarntens Haus der Architektur in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1996, and in 1997, in South America, at theArchitecture Biennale in Saõ Paulo, Brazil. In the U.S. it has been shown at the Gallery of Fine Art, EdisonCommunity College in Ft. Myers, Florida; the Fine Arts Gallery at Texas A&M University; the NationalBuilding Museum in Washington, D.C.; The J. B. Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; the Canton ArtInstitute, Ohio; the Indianapolis Museum of Art Columbus Gallery, Indiana; the Washington StateUniversity Museum of Art in Pullman, Washington; the University of Nebraska, and Brigham YoungUniversity in Provo, Utah. It was most recently shown in Poland and immediately before that in Turkey.Its last U.S. showing was in November of 2000, when it was exhibited in California by the Museum ofArchitecture in Costa Mesa. A mini-version of the exhibition was displayed at the White House ceremonyin Washington, D.C. in June of 1998. The latter exhibit has also been shown at the Boston ArchitecturalCenter and Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in the spring of 2001.

Another exhibition titled, The Pritzker Architecture Prize 1979-1999, which was organized by The ArtInstitute of Chicago and celebrated the first twenty years of the prize and the works of the laureates, wasshown in Chicago in 1999 and in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2000. It provided, throughdrawings, original sketches, photographs, plans and models, an opportunity to view some of the mostimportant architects that have shaped the architecture of this century.

A book with texts by Pritzker jury chairman J. Carter Brown, prize executive director Bill Lacy,British journalist Colin Amery, and William J. R. Curtis, was produced to accompany the exhibition, andis still available. Co-published by Abrams of New York and The Art Institute of Chicago, the 206 pagebook is edited by co-curator Martha Thorne. It presents an analytical history of the prize along withexamples of buildings by the laureates illustrated in full color. The book celebrates the first twenty yearsof the prize and the works of the laureates, providing an opportunity to analyze the significance of the prizeand its evolution.

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Architectural photographs and drawings are courtesy of Glenn MurcuttUnless otherwise noted, all photographs of the ceremony and speakers are by Stefano Micozzi

Edited and published by Jensen & Walker, Inc., Los Angeles, California

For a complete history of the Pritzker Prizewith details of each Laureate, visit the internet at pritzkerprize.com

©2002 The Hyatt Foundation

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THEPRITZKER

ARCHITECTUREPRIZE2002

PRESENTED TO

GLENN MURCUTT

SPONSORED BY

THE HYATT FOUNDATION

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Note to editors: The photos included in this booklet are a sampling of the Laureate’swork, a catalogue of the images available for publication. The numbers beside theimages are for reference to a CD (which has high and low resolution images ofthese photos and the black & white photos and drawings in the text booklet). TheCD is available by contacting the Media Office of the Pritzker Prize. The photosand drawings may only be used in the context of the Pritzker Prize announcement.For any other advertising or publicity purposes, media must contact thephotographer credited for permission. It should be further noted that the images inthis booklet are all 200 line screen lithographs printed on high gloss stock. Theyreplace the need for black and white continuous tone prints for newspaperreproduction. They may be reproduced using 85 line screens for black and whitenewspaper reproduction, and they can be resized, either 50% larger or smaller,with no degradation in image quality or moiré effect. In addition to the CD, highresolution (1200 dpi) TIFF or EPS files of the images using ZIP or HQX archiveformats, can be uploaded directly to your FTP server or via e-mail. Please note thatthe photo credit line (if given) shown next to these photos should appear adjacentto the photos when published.

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ALL MATERIALS ARE

FOR PUBLICATION ON OR AFTER

MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2002

Photo BookletThe photo booklet contains a photo of Glenn Murcutt and a selection of full color

reproductions of his works. This does not represent a complete catalogue of the Laureate’swork, but rather a representative sampling. They are all 200 line screen lithographs printedon high gloss stock. These replace the need for using black & white continuous tone prints.They may be re-photographed using 85 line screens for black & white newspaperreproduction, and they can be re-sized, either 50% larger or smaller with no degradationin the image quality or moire effect. The same holds true for the B&W images in the mediatext booklet. For color reproduction, you have a choice of digital scanning, requesting colorslides or a CD of hi-res images. You may also download image files. We can provide highresolution (1200 dpi) TIFF or EPS files of the images using ZIP or HQX archive formatsfor uploading directly to your FTP server or via e-mail. Call the Media Office listed below.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs/drawings are courtesy of Glenn Murcutt. Permission isgranted for media use in relation to the Pritzker Architecture Prize. They may not be used for anyother advertising or publicity purpose without permission from the individual photographers. Photocredit lines should appear next to published photos as indicated in these media materials.

The Hyatt FoundationMedia Information OfficeAttn: Keith H. Walker8802 Ashcroft AvenueLos Angeles, CA 90048-2402

phone: 310-273-8696 or310-278-7372

fax: 310-273-6134e-mail: [email protected]

http:/www.pritzkerprize.com

MEDIA CONTACT

Note to Editors: For complete details on the history of the Pritzker Prizeand previous laureates, see www.pritzkerprize.com.

Media Text Booklet

Previous Laureates of the Pritzker Prize ................................................. 2Media Release Announcing the 2002 Laureate ................................. 3-6Members of the Pritzker Jury ................................................................... 7Citation from Pritzker Jury....................................................................... 8Comments from Individual Jurors ........................................................... 9About Glenn Murcutt ........................................................................ 10-17Description of Simpson-Lee House .................................................. 17-18Fact Summary – Chronology of Works, Exhibits, Honors ............ 19-22Drawings and B&W Photographs of Murcutt’s Works .................. 23-282002 Ceremony Site – Rome, Italy ................................................. 29-30History of the Pritzker Prize ............................................................. 31-32

MEDIA KIT

ANNOUNCING THE 2002PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE LAUREATE

2

1979 Philip Johnson of the United States of Americapresented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

1980 Luis Barragán of Mexicopresented at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

1981 James Stirling of the United Kingdompresented at the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.

1982 Kevin Roche of the United States of Americapresented at The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois

1983 Ieoh Ming Pei of the United States of Americapresented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

1984 Richard Meier of the United States of Americapresented at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1985 Hans Hollein of Austriapresented at the Huntington Library,

Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA

1986 Gottfried Boehm of Germanypresented at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, England

1987 Kenzo Tange of Japanpresented at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

1988 Gordon Bunshaft of the United States and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazilpresented at The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois

1989 Frank O. Gehry of the United States of Americapresented at Todai-ji Buddhist Temple, Nara, Japan

1990 Aldo Rossi of Italypresented at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

1991 Robert Venturi of the United States of Americapresented at Palacio de Iturbide, Mexico City, Mexico

1992 Alvaro Siza of Portugalpresented at the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, Illinois

1993 Fumihiko Maki of Japanpresented at Prague Castle, Czech Republic

1994 Christian de Portzamparc of Francepresented at The Commons, Columbus, Indiana

1995 Tadao Ando of Japanpresented at the Grand Trianon and the Palace of Versailles, France

1996 Rafael Moneo of Spainpresented at the construction site of The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA

1997 Sverre Fehn of Norwaypresented at the construction site of The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

1998 Renzo Piano of Italypresented at The White House, Washington, D.C.

1999 Sir Norman Foster of the United Kingdompresented at the Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany

2000 Rem Koolhaas of The Netherlandspresented at The Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel

2001 Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Switzerlandpresented at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Virginia

PREVIOUS PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE LAUREATES

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Los Angeles, CA — An Australian architect, Glenn Murcutt, whoworks as a sole practitioner, primarily designing environmentally sensitivemodernist houses that respond to their surroundings and climate, aswell as being scrupulously energy conscious, has been named to receivethe 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The 66 year old Murcutt lives andhas his office in Sydney, but travels the world teaching and lecturing touniversity students.

In announcing the jury’s choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president ofThe Hyatt Foundation, said, “Glenn Murcutt is a stark contrast to mostof the highly visible architects of the day — his works are not largescale, the materials he works with, such as corrugated iron, are quiteordinary, certainly not luxurious; and he works alone. He acknowledgesthat his modernist inspiration has its roots in the work of Mies van derRohe, but the Nordic tradition of Aalto, the Australian wool shed, andmany other architects and designers such as Chareau, have beenimportant to him as well. Add in the fact that all his designs aretempered by the land and climate of his native Australia, and you havethe uniqueness that the jury has chosen to celebrate. While his primaryfocus is on houses, one of his public buildings completed in 1999, theArthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre, has achieved acclaim aswell, critics calling it ‘a masterwork’.”

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, J. Carter Brown, commented, “GlennMurcutt occupies a unique place in today’s architectural firmament. Inan age obsessed with celebrity, the glitz of our ‘starchitects,’ backed bylarge staffs and copious public relations support, dominate the headlines.As a total contrast, our laureate works in a one-person office on theother side of the world from much of the architectural attention, yet hasa waiting list of clients, so intent is he to give each project his personalbest. He is an innovative architectural technician who is capable ofturning his sensitivity to the environment and to locality into forthright,totally honest, non-showy works of art. Bravo!”

The formal presentation of what has come to be known throughout

Australian ArchitectBecomes the 2002 Laureate of thePritzker Architecture Prize

For publication on or after Monday, April 15, 2002

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the world as architecture's highest honor will be made at a ceremony onMay 29, 2002 at Michelangelo’s Campidoglio in the heart of Rome. Atthat time, Murcutt will be presented with a $100,000 grant and a bronzemedallion. Murcutt is the first Australian to become a Pritzker Laureate,and the 26th honoree since the prize was established in 1979. Hisselection continues what has become a ten-year trend of laureates fromthe international community. In fact, architects from other countrieschosen for the prize now far outnumber the U.S. recipients, nineteen toseven.

Bill Lacy, who is an architect spoke as the executive director of thePritzker Prize, quoting from the jury citation which states, “His is anarchitecture of place, architecture that responds to the landscape and theclimate. His houses are fine tuned to the land and the weather. He uses avariety of materials, from metal to wood to glass, stone, brick and concrete— always selected with a consciousness of the amount of energy it took toproduce the materials in the first place.”

Lacy elaborated, “Murcutt’s thoughtful aproach to the design of suchhouses as the Marika-Alderton House in Eastern Arnhem Land; the MarieShort House in New South Wales; and the Magney House at Bingie Bingie,South Coast, New South Wales, are testament that aesthetics and ecologycan work together to bring harmony to man’s intrusion in the environment.”

Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture critic and member of the jury,commented further saying, “Glenn Murcutt has become a living legend,an architect totally focused on shelter and the environment, with skillsdrawn from nature and the most sophisticated design traditions of themodern movement.”

Another juror, Carlos Jimenez from Houston who is professor ofarchitecture at Rice University, said, “Nurtured by the mystery of placeand the continual refinement of the architect’s craft, Glenn Murcutt’swork illustrates the boundless generosity of a timely and timeless vision.The conviction, beauty and optimism so evident in the work of thismost singular, yet universal architect remind us that architecture isforemost an ennobling word for humanity.”

And from juror Jorge Silvetti, who chairs the Department of Archi-tecture, Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, “The archi-tecture of Glenn Murcutt surprises first, and engages immediately afterbecause of its absolute clarity and precise simplicity — a type of claritythat soon proves to be neither simplistic nor complacent, but inspiringlydense, energizing and optimistic. His architecture is crisp, marked andimpregnated by the unique landscape and by the light that defines thefabulous, far away and gigantic mass of land that is his home, Australia.

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Yet his work does not fall into the easy sentimentalism of a chauvinisticrevisitation of the vernacular. Rather, a considered, serious look wouldtrace his buildings’ lineage to modernism, to modern architecture, andparticularly to its Scandinavian roots planted by Asplund and Lewerentz,and nurtured by Alvar Aalto.”

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to honor annuallya living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination ofthose qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has producedconsistent and significant contributions to humanity and the builtenvironment through the art of architecture.

The distinguished jury that selected Murcutt as the 2002 Laureateconsists of its founding chairman, J. Carter Brown, director emeritusof the National Gallery of Art, and chairman of the U.S. Commissionof Fine Arts; and alphabetically: Giovanni Agnelli, chairman emeritusof Fiat from Torino, Italy; Ada Louise Huxtable, author andarchitectural critic of New York; Carlos Jimenez, professor at RiceUniversity School of Architecture, and principal, Carlos Jimenez StudioHouston, Texas; Jorge Silvetti, chairman, department of architecture,Harvard University Graduate School of Design; and Lord Rothschild,former chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund of GreatBritain and formerly the chairman of that country's National Galleryof Art.

The prize presentation ceremony moves to different locations aroundthe world each year, paying homage to historic and contemporaryarchitecture. Last year, the ceremony was held in Charlottesville, Virginiaat Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, which the former presidentand author of the Declaration of Independence, as well as accomplishedarchitect, designed. In 2000, the ceremony was held in Jerusalem in theArchaeological Park surrounding the Dome of the Rock.

Philip Johnson was the first Pritzker Laureate in 1979. The late LuisBarragán of Mexico was named in 1980. The late James Stirling ofGreat Britain was elected in 1981, Kevin Roche in 1982, Ieoh Ming Peiin 1983, and Richard Meier in 1984. Hans Hollein of Austria was the1985 Laureate. Gottfried Boehm of Germany received the prize in1986. Kenzo Tange was the first Japanese architect to receive the prizein 1987; Fumihiko Maki was the second from Japan in 1993; and TadaoAndo the third in 1995. Robert Venturi received the honor in 1991, andAlvaro Siza of Portugal in 1992. Christian de Portzamparc of Francewas elected Pritzker Laureate in 1994. The late Gordon Bunshaft of theUnited States and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil, were named in 1988.Frank Gehry was the recipient in 1989, the late Aldo Rossi of Italy in

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1990. In 1996, Rafael Moneo of Spain was the Laureate; in 1997Sverre Fehn of Norway; in 1998 Renzo Piano of Italy, in 1999 SirNorman Foster of the UK, and in 2000, Rem Koolhaas of theNetherlands. Last year, two architects from Switzerland received thehonor: Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.

The field of architecture was chosen by the Pritzker family becauseof their keen interest in building due to their involvement with developingthe Hyatt Hotels around the world; also because architecture was acreative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. The procedureswere modeled after the Nobels, with the final selection being made bythe international jury with all deliberations and voting in secret.Nominations are continuous from year to year with over 500 nomineesfrom more than 40 countries being considered each year.

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Ball-Eastaway House 1980-1983Glenorie, Sydney, NSW

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THE JURY

CHAIRMAN

J. Carter BrownDirector Emeritus, National Gallery of Art

Chairman, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts

Washington, D.C.

Giovanni AgnelliChairman Emeritus, Fiat

Torino, Italy

Ada Louise HuxtableAuthor and Architectural Critic

New York, New York

Carlos JimenezProfessor, Rice University School of Architecture

Principal, Carlos Jimenez Studio

Houston, Texas

Jorge SilvettiChairman, Department of Architecture

Harvard University, Graduate School of Design

Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Lord RothschildFormer Chai rman o f th e Board o f Trus t e e s , Nat iona l Gal l e ry

Former Cha i rman , Na t i ona l Her i t ag e Memor ia l Fund

London , Eng land

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Bill LacyState Univers i ty o f New York at Purchase

Pur chas e , New York

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Citation from the Jury

Glenn Murcutt is a modernist, a naturalist, an environmentalist,a humanist, an economist and ecologist encompassing all ofthese distinguished qualities in his practice as a dedicatedarchitect who works alone from concept to realization of hisprojects in his native Australia. Although his works havesometimes been described as a synthesis of Mies van der Roheand the native Australian wool shed, his many satisfied clientsand the scores more who are waiting in line for his services areendorsement enough that his houses are unique, satisfyingsolutions.

Generally, he eschews large projects which would require himto expand his practice, and give up the personal attention todetail that he can now give to each and every project. His is anarchitecture of place, architecture that responds to the landscapeand to the climate.

His houses are fine tuned to the land and the weather. He usesa variety of materials, from metal to wood to glass, stone, brickand concrete — always selected with a consciousness of theamount of energy it took to produce the materials in the firstplace. He uses light, water, wind, the sun, the moon in workingout the details of how a house will work — how it will respondto its environment.

His structures are said to float above the landscape, or in thewords of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia that he isfond of quoting, they “touch the earth lightly.” Glenn Murcutt’sstructures augment their significance at each stage of inquiry.

One of Murcutt’s favorite quotations from Henry David Thoreau,who was also a favorite of his father, “Since most of us spend ourlives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carrythem out extraordinarily well.” With the awarding of the 2002Pritzker Architecture Prize, the jury finds that Glenn Murcutt ismore than living up to that adage.

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"Glenn Murcutt occupies a unique place in todayís architectural firmament. In an age obsessedwith celebrity, the glitz of our ëstarchitects,í backed by large staffs and copious public relationssupport, dominate the headlines. As a total contrast, our laureate works in a one-person officeon the other side of the world from much of the architectural attention, yet has a waiting list ofclients, so intent is he to give each project his personal best. He is an innovative architecturaltechnician who is capable of turning his sensitivity to the environment and to locality intoforthright, totally honest, non-showy works of art. Bravo!"

J. Carter BrownChairman, Pritzker Jury

ìGlenn Murcutt has become a living legend, an architect totally focused on shelter and theenvironment, with skills drawn from nature and the most sophisticated design traditions of themodern movement.î

Ada Louise HuxtablePritzker Juror

"Nurtured by the mystery of place and the continual refinement of the architectís craft, GlennMurcuttís work illustrates the boundless generosity of a timely and timeless vision. Theconviction, beauty and optimism so evident in the work of this most singular, yet universalarchitect remind us that architecture is foremost an ennobling word for humanity."

Carlos JimenezPritzker Juror

"The architecture of Glenn Murcutt surprises first, and engages immediately after because ofits absolute clarity and pecise simplicity ó a type of clarity that soon proves to be neithersimplistic nor complacent, but inspiringly dense, energizing and optimistic. His architectureis crisp, marked and impregnated by the unique landscape and by the light that defines thefabulous, far away and gigantic mass of land that is his home, Australia. Yet his work doesnot fall into the easy sentimentalism of a chauvinistic revisitation of the vernacular. Rather, aconsidered, serious look would trace his buildingsí lineage to modernism, to modernarchitecture, and particularly to its Scandinavian roots planted by Asplund and Lewerentz, andnurtured by Alvar Aalto."

Jorge SilvettiPritzker Juror

ìGlenn Murcuttís buildings embrace both simplicity and elegance, but with a social andenvironmental conscience. Although most of his work is small in scale, it is remarkable for itspurity and adherence to the guiding principles of modern architecture.î

Bill LacyExecutive Director

The bronze medallion awarded to each Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is based on designs of Louis Sullivan,

famed Chicago architect generally acknowledged as the father of the skyscraper. On one side is the name of the prize. On

the reverse, three words are inscribed, “firmness, commodity and delight,” These are the three conditions referred to by

Henry Wotton in his 1624 treatise, The Elements of Architecture, which was a translation of thoughts originally

set down nearly 2000 years ago by Marcus Vitruvius in his Ten Books on Architecture, dedicated to the Roman Emperor

Augustus. Wotton, who did the translation when he was England’s first ambassador to Venice, used the complete quote

as: “The end is to build well. Well-building hath three conditions: commodity, firmness and delight.”

Note to editors: The following are some additional commentsfrom individual Pritzker Prize Jurors:

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Note to editors: It would be impossible in this brief media kit to provide acomplete biography or to outline and discuss all of Glenn Murcuttís work. Ratheran attempt is made to highlight some important aspects of his life, and someof his projects and thoughts on architecture. A detailed chronological list ofhis projects and honors is provided in another section of this kit. A selectedbibliography is also provided for anyone wanting further research.

…about Glenn Marcus Murcutt

Glenn Murcutt is either one of Australia’s best kept secrets, or one of theworld’s most influential architects. Perhaps, both. On the other hand, we shouldtemper “secret” somewhat since he has been the subject of numerous books andmagazine articles throughout the world. One of the first definitive works was Glenn

Murcutt Works and Projects by Françoise Fromonot, first published in 1995. Inthat book, she describes Murcutt as the “first Australian architect whose work hasattracted international attention.”

His relatively low profile can best be explained by the fact that he worksalone, primarily for clients who want houses that are not only environmentallysensitive, but provide privacy and security in a structure that pleases all the senses.In stark contrast to many of his contemporaries, Murcutt has declared, “I am notinterested in designing large scale projects. Doing many smaller works provides mewith many more opportunities for experimentation. Our building regulations aresupposed to prevent the worst; they in fact fail to stop the worst, and at best frustratethe best — they certainly sponsor mediocrity. I’m trying to produce what I callminimal buildings, but buildings that respond to their environment.”

“I have had to fight for my architecture. I have fought for it right from theoutset because councils have clearly found the work a threat. For many designs I putto council, we either had to resort to a court for the outcome or better, negotiate asatisfactory result, always trying to avoid a compromise. I have had the greatesttrouble with planning, building and health department staff, many of whom havebackgrounds unrelated to architecture, but offer very conservative judgments intaste and aesthetics.”

What manner of man and architect is this who could so openly state hisopposition to the people who exercise so much control over what and how thingsshould be built? A look at his colorful family, as well as how and where he wasraised is a partial explanation. And “colorful” is a mild adjective in this application;Murcutt’s life is the stuff of which movies are made.

Glenn Murcutt today readily credits his father as being a strong influencetoward his architectural career. This brief reflection of family history further explainssome of the influences that have shaped his work.

His father, Arthur Murcutt was born in Melbourne in 1899. By the time hewas thirteen, he ran away from home, seeking something more than what he woulddescribe later to his son, “the ugliness of life.” He worked at odd jobs, from stationhand to well sinker to sheep shearer before shipping off to Port Moresby, New

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Guinea, which had just been declared an Australian Mandated Territory at the endof World War I. There he worked as a bootmaker and saddler, as well as learningcarpentry, before setting off with a partner on an adventure to prospect for gold inNew Guinea. When they failed to find the precious metal, he landed work assuperintendent of a plantation and builder of houses, and even had time to indulgehis interest in music, buying a gold-plated saxophone.

When he returned to Port Moresby, he teamed up with another of his matesto build a yacht in which the two of them would sail across the Pacific. The matewas a fellow Australian, Errol Flynn, before he achieved his movie stardom in theUnited States. Their cruise was canceled when the boat sank shortly after beinglaunched. As his father related the story, it sank due to sabotage to prevent Flynnfrom leaving the country owing money.

By the time 1932 arrived, Arthur Murcutt was operating a sawmill in Wau(still in New Guinea), but gold lured him and another partner into a second venturein prospecting, this time with enough success that it made him a fairly wealthy man.Two years into his gold mining days, he met and married Daphne Powys, thedaughter of a photographer from Manly, Australia.

In 1936, with things going well in the gold business, Arthur Murcutt and hispregnant wife decided to go to the Berlin Olympics. During a stopover in London,their first son, Glenn Murcutt, was born. Their return to Australia was via theAquitania to New York, and then a cross-country car trip to Los Angeles wherethey sailed the Pacific to reach home. With such round-the-world travels under hisbelt before the age of one, it’s no wonder that Glenn Murcutt would later visitnearly every continent as a lecturer or visiting professor at leading universities. Ofthis, he says, “Teaching has proved a wonderful way to learn. Not only have mystudents provided challenges, but they are sounding boards for ideas, and myassociation with other teachers has provided great stimulus.”

But back to 1937, when the Murcutt family go into the wilds of New Guineawhere they remained until the approaching Japanese at the outset of World War IIdrove them back to Australia in 1941. Those first five years of life in New Guineahad a profound influence on Glenn, whether actual memory or family recollections.That family now included a brother and sister for Glenn, Douglas and Nola.

Glenn’s mother recounted to him how his father would take several bookswith him each day when he went up to the gold mining area, and his father confirmedthat when Glenn was older, telling him, “I got my education in the forests of NewGuinea because I had time to read.” Jung, Freud and particularly Henry DavidThoreau were his father’s favorites, and the latter became one of Glenn’s as well.“There is no doubt my father was a compulsive reader. He had many of Freud’sfirst publications.”

Glenn quotes a passage from Thoreau, “But the civilized man has the habitsof the house. His house is his prison, in which he finds himself oppressed andconfined, not sheltered and protected. He walks as if the walls would fall in andcrush him, and his feet remember the cellar beneath. His muscles are never relaxed.

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It is a rare thing that he overcomes the house, and learns to sit at home in it, and theroof and the floor and walls support themselves, as the sky and trees and earth.”

Murcutt wanted to experience his Marie Short house for a 24-hour period,which he did starting after the evening meal and every two hours going to a differentpart of the house to see what was happening. Says Murcutt, “It was wonderful to bethere. I was in command. I was able to say if I wanted the wind to come in or not.I wasn’t enslaved by the building. I could hear the frogs, the crickets; I could tell theday was coming by the sounds of the birds waking. The moon came through theskylight — patches of blue light entered the room. You can’t experience that easilyin the forest because you would be eaten by mosquitos. Here I was in a man-madeenvironment that is insect meshed, but able to experience ninety per cent of theoutside environment. I could open up the house and freeze or close it and staywarm. That’s what a house should do — to operate the building like sailing a boat.”

He continues, “I also say that we should, as architects, observe how we dressaccording to our different climates. We layer our clothing, put more on when itscold, take more off when its hot — and I think our buildings should equally respondto their climates. Very few of my buildings have air conditioning. To my very goodFinnish friends, I point out that they tend to put on more clothes, and we in Australiathink more about taking them off — that’s of course what most of my buildingsdo.”

Glenn remembers their home in New Guinea, built by his father, with aroof of light weight corrugated iron, and perched on stilts a full story above groundto keep water and reptiles out, as well as affording some protection from quitedangerous local people, who at least once were discouraged from attacking whenhis mother fired a rifle over their heads. He elaborates, “The local people were veryangry about our living in their land; we simply occupied it and took from it. Yes,they were dangerous. They were known as the Kukuku people, feared also by othernational New Guineans, and even today, they are still feared.”

Another childhood memory is that of aviation, which was a primary meansof transportation, as well as the delivery of mail and materials. Glenn quotes thestatistic that in the 1930’s, the Wau and Bulolo airports in New Guinea had threetimes the number of passengers and cargo arriving and departing as any otherairport in the world. Many of the planes were Junker G/31 and W/34 modelswhose wings and fuselage were covered with corrugated duralumin.

At one point, Glenn says he was concerned that he was becoming known asthe “corrugated Gal Iron King.” He points out that he hasn’t used galvanized ironjust to be using it as a gimmick. He says, “I use it because it’s an important materialfor the things I want to do. It’s capable of giving me that thinness, that lightweightquality, an edge, a fineness, economy and strength and profile. I’m able to bend itand curve it in two dimensions. I love it because it reflects the quality of the light ofthe day and surrounding colors. On a dull day, the building dulls down; on a brightday, the building is bright. When laid with the ribs horizontal, the upper surface ofthe corrugation picks up the sky light and the lower surface, the ground light —

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accentuating the horizontal. That’s a material which responds to its environment.”Speaking further about his use of corrugated iron, Murcutt says, “Horizontal

linearity is an enormous dimension of this country, and I want my buildings to feelpart of that. Take the iron sheeting on outside walls, for example, generally it runsvertically, and I believe it should run horizontally. It’s not only logical in terms ofthe material itself, but it’s logical in terms of a stud frame to fix it horizontally. If itruns vertically, it competes with the trees. I don’t want to compete with trees, letthem complement the horizontality of the man-made iron sheets.”

But to return to earlier history, his father, Arthur Murcutt, proved to be anastute business man, investing his gold earnings in land in Sydney, Australia, sowhen World War II was over, he established a joinery shop in Manly Vale, havinglearned carpentry from his work in New Guinea and in the Royal Australian AirForce. He became increasingly interested in architecture, subscribing to Architectural

Forum, where he saw Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house, and was so impressedby it that he made it required reading for Glenn, who studied the article three timesbefore being quizzed by his father about the design.

This Miesian influence on the architecture of Glenn Murcutt would proveto be long-lasting. He whole-heartedly adheres to the well-known principle “less ismore,” and another that “form is not the aim of our work, but only the result.” In1974, when designing the Marie Short house in Kempsey, Murcutt protected thehouse from insects, snakes and large lizards during floods when they would swim tothe high ground. He says, “A house set on the ground would see frogs, snakes, etc.inside; being off the ground provided a place below the floor for these creaturesand dry, reptile free platform for human habitation.” There is a similarity to theway Glenn suspended the wooden floor above ground for this house to the wayMies had done with Farnsworth house to protect it from floods of the Fox River inIllinois. His father also introduced him to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, GordonDrake, the Keck brothers, Harry Weese, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Schindler, PhilipJohnson and Charles Eames, as well as some of Australia’s post-war modernistssuch as Sydney Ancher and Arthur Baldwinson.

Murcutt senior designed and built several houses for his family (as well asseveral speculative houses) over the years — all of which are evidence of his interestin modern architecture. When Glenn was 13, his father assigned him the task ofmaking of a model house of where they lived at the time, and then photographingit. Anyone looking at the model could see further evidence of his father’s efforts todesign in what would now be called a modernist idiom.

Glenn remembers that his father had a keen awareness of the environment,saying, “He would take me up the hillside and analyze a plant with me. We’d dothat with all manner of species of plants and trees. He tried to stop people fromcutting the trees, and when he couldn’t stop them, he’d go out and plant seeds formore.”

“There were lessons to be learned from dad every day,” continues Glenn,“whether it was the landscape, nature, music, swimming, woodworking, and

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household chores. I had learned to swim by the time I was two and a half. Dadtaught us to be disciplined, and how to accomplish a lot in every day. Yes, he scaredall five children, but he was also very warm.”

Glenn admits to doing rather badly in elementary school and the early yearsin high school, but later on in high school, he had what he describes as some reallygreat teachers, singling out one particular piano teacher as being the best and mostgentle in Sydney. “I became quite reasonable at performances and started to playsome really interesting classical compositions by Bach, Liszt and Beethoven.”

At university, he remembers “the most gruelling experience” he’d ever had.“Sixty students,” he recalls, “undertook the final year five-day design exam. At theend of the third day, three fourths of them had ‘designed’ and completed somebeautiful final drawings. By day four, only six of us were still there. By the end ofthat day, only three of us remained. On the fifth day, I found a worthwhile idea andwent on to complete seven large freehand drawings.”

Murcutt continues, “What I learnt from that experience was that architectureoften requires time to evolve if it is to be of any consequence. I recall that those whocompleted the design examination quickly, presenting some beautiful drawings, weresomewhat short on thinking!”

With a diploma awarded in December of 1961, he took a walking tour ofTasmania with a school friend before starting work. A year later, he was able totake a trip to Europe where he visited Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, Holland,Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland over a two year period. It wason this journey that he saw his first Alvar Aalto building, a cultural centre inWolfsburg, Germany. He found it “remarkable in its sections, planning, use ofmaterials, detail and form.” He went on to Bremen to see Aalto’s 22-story high-riseapartments. Glenn’s reaction: “Everything Aalto did started from first principlesand had a quality of being thoroughly thought through.” Little did he know that in1992 he would be presented with the seventh Alvar Aalto Medal.

The jury for that award, specifically praised Murcutt’s work for “theconvincing synthesis of regional characteristics, climate-conditioned solutions,technological rationality and unconstrained visual expression.” Glenn has sincecommented that he thought it significant that Jørn Utzon, Alvaro Siza and TadaoAndo were all previous winners of the Aalto Medal, and in his words, “all of themsought to marry modern architecture to the place, the territory, the landscape.”

Following that trip to Europe, Glenn returned to Sydney to work in the firmof Ancher, Mortlock, Murray & Wooley, until 1969 when he founded his ownarchitectural firm. He had long ago decided when he was still at university that hewould prefer to work at his profession as a sole practitioner, which he has done eversince. He feels that by working alone, figuring where that next dollar is coming fromis far less pressing than in a large firm. “When the need arises,” he says, “such as avery good project offered requiring more input than one person is able to do alone,I work in association with other architects whom I greatly respect. This rather than

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employing staff — that way, we share an equality. Further, as a one-man office, Ihave been able to experiment with wind patterns, materials, light, climate, spaces,and the characteristics of the site.”

As a result of a travel grant awarded to him by Royal Australian Institute ofArchitects for “a degree of creativity in upgrading older houses using new techniqueswithout destroying them,” he made a second tour of Europe in 1973. It was onthat trip that he first saw the Maison de Verre by Pierre Chareau and BernardBijvoët in Paris. Murcutt describes his visit there as “a liberating experience.” Onthe way to Europe, a stopover in Mexico afforded him the opportunity to see Miesvan der Rohe’s Bacardi office building, which he described as “beautifully puttogether.” He notes, “I saw some beautiful sculpture, water gardens in MexicoCity, but didn’t find out that they were by Luis Barragán until I returned home.”Barragán has been another continuing influence on Murcutt. Another highlight ofthat trip was a visit to Chicago where he saw Robie house (by Frank Lloyd Wright)and a trip to Racine, Wisconsin to see the Johnson Wax administration buildingand research tower. He also saw more of Mies’ and Louis Sullivan’s works.

Visiting Boston, he had the opportunity to visit Walden Pond, and the siteof Henry David Thoreau’s home. “I lived 25 years in one day, in terms of memoryand what my father had talked about concerning Thoreau,” says Glenn. “I was soexcited, I was tearful.” His father had read Thoreau and responded positively tohis philosophy, passing much of that on to Glenn.

In New York City, which he found incredibly exciting, but somewhatfrightening, he was, to quote him, “really impressed with the Chrysler Building,Rockefeller Centre and the Ford Foundation Headquarters by Kevin Roche andJohn Dinkeloo; to produce that environment in an office building was terrific.”

His travels have continued over the years, particularly as he has become amuch in demand lecturer and visiting professor in architecture schools all over theworld, visiting some twenty countries. In 1997, Murcutt married Wendy Lewin, afellow architect with whom he has worked on a number of projects. He has twosons by a previous marriage: Nicholas, 37, who is an architect; and Daniel, 35, whois an assistant library technician; and a step-daughter, Anna Lewin-Tzannes, 13.

Some seventeen years ago, in the foreword to a book by Philip Drew, titledLeaves of Iron and sub-titled Glenn Murcutt: Pioneer of an Australian Architectural

Form, Murcutt wrote: “Landscape in Australia is remarkable. I have learned muchfrom scrutinising the land and its flora. There is an over-riding horizontality. Theflora is tough. It is in addition, durable, hardy and yet supremely delicate. It is solight at its edges that its connection with the deep skyvault is unsurpassed anywhere.The sunlight is so intense for most of the continent that it separates and isolatesobjects. The native trees read not so much as members of a series of interconnectedelements, but as groupings of isolated elements. The high oil content of so many ofthe trees combined with the strong sunlight results in the foliage shimmering silverto weathered greys with an affinity towards the pink browns to olives. The foliage is

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not dense generally and the shadows are therefore a dappled light. This distinguishesour landscape from that of most other countries where the soft light serves to connectthe elements of the landscape, rather than separate them. My architecture hasattempted to convey something of the discrete character of elements in the Australianlandscape, to offer my interpretation in built form.”

And further, “When I consider the magic of our landscape. I am continuallystruck by the genius of the place, the sunlight, shadows, wind, heat and cold, thescents from our flowering trees and plants, and, especially the vastness to the islandcontinent. All these factors go to make a land of incredible strength combined withan unimaginable delicacy.”

So it is not surprising when his words go on: “I am stirred to the point ofanger when I see what continues to be done by so called progress. The destructionof the flora, the displacement of the fauna and all of it with the blessing, if notactive collusion of our subdivision regulations. I am not rejecting urbanization. Iam not seeking a kind of utopia in the bush — far from it. I am involved with andrecognize the importance of a varied milieu. I am opposed to the total taming ofthis land and the loss of the wildness of the native scene. The land appeals for careand we need to become friends with the landscape and not be threatened by it.”

But his design decisions are not simply based on aesthetics, his houses aredesigned using materials that have consumed as little energy as possible in theirmanufacture, and will consume as little as possible in the operation of the house.His houses respond to all manner of climatic conditions, producing their own shade,ventilation and in most cases function without air conditioning or heating otherthan a fireplace. Some houses in the colder regions have back-up under-floor heatingwhich is not often used.

The Aboriginal people in Western Australia have a saying, “to touch thisearth lightly,” which is a plea for man not to disturb nature any more than necessary.Because Glenn Murcutt’s architecture conveys that thought with his houses thatfloat above the land, if not on stilts a full story high, but on footings that disturb theland minimally. It is not surprising to find another book authored by Drew in 1999,titled Touch This Earth Lightly, and subtitled Glenn Murcutt in His Own Words.

A typical passage from that book about the Marie Short farm house illustrateshis passion for fitting the architecture to the site: “It gave me the opportunity toreally begin to understand what Australia was like. What its climate was like, thehumidity level, the amount of shade we require, the wind pattern, the sort ofevaporative factor we require in order to be comfortable in shade, in a climate suchas ours. One of the main discoveries was that anything less than a fully openingwall was inadequate in our climate (at Kempsey). In my opinion, an opening wallfor summer conditions is essential to cooling all spaces. In summer and the changeof season, everyone, without exception, has commented on what a delightfullytemperate building it is, even on the most extreme days.”

The Australian bush fires are world-famous, and while Murcutt acknowledgesfire is important in his country especially for the propagation of many plants, he

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has to plan ways to save his structures if they encounter fire. In the Simpson-Leehouse at Mt. Wilson, there is a pool alongside the entrance walkway that holds partof the water necessary for the built-in sprinkler system in case of fire. (It also providesa reflective medium for the sunlight that bounces onto the ceiling of the interior ofthe house.) In the Munro farm house at Bingara, he devised a plan that had twowells to collect the roof water. These supplied enough recirculated water to sprinklethe house for 5-6 hours a day during the hottest season.

Controlling how much sunlight penetrates his houses and manipulating thebreezes at various times of the year and the day is another important facet to hisdesign process. He’s re-introduced in Sydney storm blinds, a version of Venetianblinds for outside that are made of metal. He had learned in his school days thatonce the heat entered a building, there was little else one could do but air-conditionthe building so the sensible solution was to provide a system of screens or blindsthat prevents the sun from reaching the glass in the first place. Murcutt has developedforms of slatted timber and metal screens for sun control which also achieve privacyyet maintain the movement of air.

He also uses slats set at particular angles as screens above glass not only assun control, allowing the entry of winter sunlight and excluding it in the summer,but also to allow for the appreciation of the sky from within the house day andnight and seasonally. Even the pitch of the roof is variable according to the latitudeand climate of the region. In some areas, he does overlapping layers of roofs so thatthe air can move between the layers, extracting roof space summer heated air.

Murcutt says, “A building should be able to open up and say, ‘I am alive andlooking after my people,’ or instead, ‘I’m closed now, and I’m looking after mypeople as well.’ This to me is the real issue, buildings should respond. Look at thegills of a fish, or animals when they become hot. When we get hot, we perspire.Buildings should do similar things. They should open and close and modify and re-modify and blinds should turn and open and close, open a little bit withoutcomplication. They should do all these things. That is a part of architecture for me,the resolution of levels of light that we desire, the resolution of the wind that wewish for, the modification of the climate as we want it. All this makes a buildinglive.”

One of Glenn’s favorite quotations, which he is not quite sure whether itcomes from his father or from Thoreau, whom his father was so fond of quoting:“Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing isto carry them out extraordinarily well.”

# # #

A detailed description of one of Murcutt’s houses will afford some further insightinto his design process. The following is an excerpt from the book by FrançoiseFromonot titled Glenn Murcutt - Works and Projects.

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The Simpson-Lee HouseMount Wilson, New South Wales 1989-1994

With demanding clients, a spartan program (a sanctuary for a retired coupleof intellectual bent seeking withdrawal from the world), a magnificent site in the BlueMountains (150 kilometres north-west of Sydney) comprising two isolated plots andsome three hectares (approximately 7.5 acres) in total, a rich variety of flora, and anextraordinary panorama of hills and forests, the conception and realization of thisproject took nearly six years.

Backing on to the west and south-west winds, the house faces to the views ofthe east and north-east. Following the rocky massif that impedes extension to the rear,the residence’s two pavilions stand on either side of a pond in a linear sequence.Murcutt designed the plan as a striking horizontal progression from the access path tothe house. The path skirts the smaller studio pavilion, re-emerges as a walkway downthe length of the pool, crosses the residential pavilion, and finally escapes down thestairway on the east side. As the path progresses, the ground beneath it slopes away, sothat the house gets further and further from the ground. This dramatizes the progressionand accentuates the sense of gradual detachment from the world sought by theinhabitants, allowing Murcutt to terminate the building with a fine isolated verticalmember.

In the residential pavilion, the living room is symmetrically flanked by twovestibules and two bedroom suites on either side of the kitchen, which is reduced to along strip of appliances. In the passage along the principal façade Murcutt reversedhis customary plan: the bedrooms, tucked under the lowest part of the roof, haveintimate proportions and very controlled light penetration. The north-east façade isrelatively dense owing to the interplay of six glazed bays, the sliding inset screens andbalustrades; the electrically operated aluminium Venetian blinds are guided by steelbraces that are tapered and lightened by perforations. With the exception of the solidwood steps on the staircase and walkway, the house is wholly mineral: silver-paintedsteel and aluminium for the structure, casings and large sloping planes of the roofs;pale grey polished concrete on the floors; whitewash on all brick and plasterwork; andglass. The construction system and main façade are similar to those of the Meagherhouse; the back façade’s sloping glass panes and ventilation slats recall the Bingi (BingieBingie) house.

The pressure from his clients pushed Murcutt to the limit of his architecturalprinciples. The spare design, simplified to its utmost, is almost monastic. The stronglyarticulated longitudinal passage incorporates the elements in the landscape as muchas leads through the living spaces, turning it into the building’s raison d’etre. Thecrystalline legibility of the spaces, barring only the two hidden bedroom units, assertsthe role of the principal actor: the site. The house also confirms Murcutt’s evolutiontowards a sort of abstract expressionistic façade — a precious ribbed screen thatresponds to the rhythms of the great trees filtering the sun and the view.

# # #

Concept sketch of the Simpson-Lee house by Glenn Murcutt on page 22.

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Glenn Murcutt2002 Laureate, Pritzker Architecture Prize

Biographical Notes

Birthdate and Place:

July 25, 1936

London, England

Education

Dip l oma o f A r ch i t e c t u r e

Univ e rs i t y o f Ne w Sou th Wale s

Te chn i c a l Co l l e g e

Sydn e y, Aus t ra l i a

Awards and Honors

1973 Gray and Mulroney Award - RAIA

1973-1999 Received 25 Royal Australian Institute ofArchitecture Awards (RAIA) - New South Wales(NSW) and Northern Territory (NT)

State Awards

1973-1999 Two Sulman Awards for Public Housing NSWSix Wilkinson Awards for Housing NSWOne Tracy Award for Public Buildings NTOne Burnett Award for Housing NT

National Awards

1973-2000 One Timber in Architecture AwardOne Steel in Architecture Award of the DecadeTwo Sir Zelman Cowan Awards for PublicBuildingsOne Sir Zelman Cowan Commendation forPublic BuildingsTwo Robin Boyd Awards for HousingOne Robin Boyd Commendation for HousingOne National Jury Special Award for AboriginalHousing

International Awards and Honors

1982 Biennale Exhibition - Paris, France1985 Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA)

Award for an Architecture of its Place andCulture

1988 Jury member - AIA/Sunset Magazine WesternDivision AIA Awards

1990-1991 Jury member - international competition for theJean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, NewCaledonia - conducted by the MissionInterministerielle des Grande Travaux - Paris,France

1991 Biennale Exhibition - Venice, Italy1992 Alvar Aalto Medal - Helsinki, Finland

Gold Medal - Royal Australian Institute ofArchitecture

1993 Life Fellow - Royal Australian Institute ofArchitecture

1995 Honorary Doctorate of Science - University ofNew South Wales

1996 Biennale Exhibition - Venice, ItalyOrder of Australia (AO)

Chair, international jury for student competitionfor a shelter for Alvar Aalto's boat, Jyvaskyla,Finland

1997 Honorary Fellow - American Institute ofArchitectsHonorary Fellow - Royal Institute of BritishArchitects

FACT SUMMARY

1997-1998 Chair, International jury for a competition -Peace Park - Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey

1998 Richard Neutra Award for Architecture andTeaching from the Neutra Foundation andCalPoly, Pomona, California, USA

1999 The Green Pin International Award forArchitecture and Ecology from the Academyof Architects, Denmark

2000 Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture &Architecture Design AwardJury Member - National Competition - ForumLake Burley Griffin, Canberra, AustraliaJury Member - Spirit of Nature, WoodArchitecture International Award, Finland

2001 Chair, Jury for the Aga Khan AwardThomas Jefferson Medal for Architecture -Monticello, Charlottesville, VA, USAHonorary Fellow of the Royal CanadianInstitute of Architects

2002 Jury Member - Thomas Jefferson Medal

New International Award for an Architect whohas influenced thinking in Architecture fromthe Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts

Teaching1970-1979 Design Tutor, University of Sydney

1985 Visting Professor, University of New SouthWales

1989-1997 Visiting Critic, Master of Architecture,University of Melbourne

1990 Visiting Critic, Graduate School of Fine Arts,University of Pennsylvania

1990-1992 Visiting Professor, University of Technology,Sydney, Australia

1991-1995 Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of FineArts, University of Pennsylvania

1991 Visiting Distinguished Architect, University ofArizona, Tucson, Arizona

1992 Visiting Professor, PNG University ofTechnology, Lae PNG

1994 Visiting Professor, University of Technology,Helsinki, Finland

1995 Visiting Professor, University of Technology,Sydney, Australia

1996 Visiting Professor, University of Hawaii,Honolulu

1997 O'Neill Ford Chair, University of Texas,Austin, Texas

Visiting Professor, PNG University ofTechnology, Lae PNG

1998 Thomas Jefferson Professor, University ofVirginia

1999 Visiting Professor, School of Architecture,Aarhus, Denmark

2000 Visiting Professor, University of California atLos Angeles

2001 William Henry Bishop Visiting ProfessorialChair - Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

2002 Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor,Washington University in St. Louis, Mo

Distinguished J.L. Constant Lecturer,University of Kansas, Lawrence

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Addresses and Lectures

1974-1999 Addressed all Schools of Architecture andRAIA in all states of Australia

1985 Architectural Association London, UK

1987 Colegio de Arquitectos de Mexico, MexicoCity

1988-1991 Architectural League New York, USA

1988 Visiting Architect, Architecture Week,Auckland, New Zealand

Waigani Seminar, Port Moresby, Papua, NewGuinea

North Solomons Province University,Bougainville, Papua, New Guinea

1988 Royal Australian Institute of ArchitectsConference

1989 OAF Oslo and Trondheim, Norway

RIBA, London and Winchester, UK

Danish Academy/Institute of Architects,Copehagen, Denmark

Finnish Association of Architects SAFA,Helsinki, Finland

University of Milan, Italy

1990 ACSA/AIA Conference, Cranbrook Academy,MI, USA

GSFA, University of Pennsylvania;University of Texas, Austin, RISD; ArizonaState University, Phoenix; Harvard GraduateSchool of Design; CalPoly Pomona, CA andCalPoly San Luis Obispo, CA; University ofNew Mexico, Albuquerque; University ofVirginia, Charlottesville; Frank Lloyd WrightFoundation, Taliesin West; Parsons School ofDesign New York; Architectural League,Vancouver, Canada

1992 Papua New Guinea University of Technology,Lae Papua, New Guinea; PNG Institute ofArchitects, Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea

Alvar Aalto Symposium, Helsinki, Finland

1994 Virginia Polytechnic Institute/State UniversityBlacksburg, USA; Virginia Design Forum;GSFA University of Pennsylvania; BartlettSchool, London, UK; University ofTechnology, Helsinki, Finland; School ofArchitecture/SAFA Oulu, Finland; ArchitectureSchool/Association of Architects, Stockholm,Sweden; Association of Architects, Basel,Switzerland

1995 AIA/Rice Design Alliance, Houston, Texas;AIA Salt Lake City; Pompidou Centre, Paris;Architectural Association London, UK;Schools of Architecture in Tubingen,Darmstadt, Karlsruhe, and Kaiserslautern,Germany and Venice, Italy; Alvar AaltoSymposium, Jyvaskyla, Finland

1996 Hawaii University; Jerusalem Seminar inArchitecture, Israel

1997 Mississippi AIA; University of Texas,Austin;Texas A&M; University of Florida;University of California at Berkeley;University of Mississippi; PNG Institute ofArchitects, Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea

1998 CalPoly Pomona, University of Washington,Seattle; Alaska Design Forum, Anchorage andAIA Fairbanks, Alaska

1999 Danish Academy of Architects/School ofArchitecture, Copenhagen, Denmark andAarhus; Columbia University/AIA New York;Montana State University/AIA, Bozeman, MT;Lloyd Rees Lecture Museum ofContemporary Art, Sydney; CanberraMuseum and Gallery

2000 Maki Lecture, Washington University, St.Louis, MO; University of California, Los

Angeles; Portland Museum, Maine;Federation of Icelandic Architects,Reykjavik, Iceland; Alvar AaltoSymposium, Jyvaskyla, Finland.

2001 Lectures in Caracas, Venezuela;Lecce, Italy; University of NorthCarolina, Raleigh; University ofVirginia, Charlottesville; Buenos Aires,Argentina; Santiago and Valparaiso,Chile; Royal IArchitectural Institute ofCanada, Halifax, Nova Scotia

2002 Lectures in Bangkok, Thailand;University of Washington in St. Louis,Mo; University of Arizona, Tucson;University of Kansas, Lawrence;Danish Academy of Fine Arts,Fredericia, Denmark; TAFInternational Celebration ofArchitecture, "RÿROS 2002" Norway

Chronological List of SelectedProjects and Built Works

1960-1962 Devitt house, Beacon Hill, Sydney(altered since completion)

1968-1972 Daphne Murcutt house, Seaforth,Sydney

1968-1969 Glenn Murcutt house, Mosman, Sydney(alteration/addition; altered sincecompletion)

1968-1970 Glenn Murcutt house, Beauty Point,Sydney (project)

1969-1972 Douglas Murcutt house, Belrose, Sydney

1970 Robertson house, East Killara, Sydney(alteration/addition; altered sincecompletion)

Hinder house, Gordon, Sydney(alteration/addition to a Syd Ancherhouse)

1971 Lowy house, Mosman, Sydney

Walker house, Killara, Sydney(alteration/addition to a Syd Ancherhouse)

1972 Needham house, Woy Woy, Sydney (inassociation with Guy Maron)

Restaurant Paragon, Katoomba, NewSouth Wales (renovation)

Omega Project house for RalphSymonds Homes

Cullen house, Balmain, Sydney(completed 1974)

Armstrong house, Grenfell, NSW(completed 1980)

1972-1973 Laurie Short house, Terrey Hills,Sydney, NSW

1973 Luscombe house, Bayview, Sydney

Wallis house, Manly, Sydney(renovation/addition)

1974 Marie Short house, Kempsey, New SouthWales (completed 1975)(extension 1980)

Hetherton house, Balmain, Sydney(completed 1982)

1975 Jureidini house, Mosman, Sydney(alteration/addition of Murcutt's formerhouse)

Leaves of Iron - Glenn Murcutt by Philip Drew

Three Houses - Architecture in Detail by E. M. Farrelly

Glenn Murcutt - Works and Projects by Francoise Fromonot

Touch This Earth Lightly by Philip Drew

Glenn Murcutt by Flora Giardiello Postiglione

Glenn Murcutt - A Singular Architectural PracticePractice Images Group - to be published May 2002

Publications

21

1975 Meehan house, Kempsey, New SouthWales (completed 1977)

Redmond house, Giralang, Canberra(completed 1977)

1976 Stitt house, Longueville, New South Wales(alteration/addition; completed 1977)

Done house, Mosman, Sydney (alteration/addition; completed 1978)

1977 Ockens house, Cromer, Sydney(completed 1978)

Reynolds house, Woollahra, Sydney(completed 1979)

Nicholas farm house, Mount Irvine, NewSouth Wales (completed 1980)

Berowra Waters Inn, Sydney (phase 1,completed 1978)

1978 Young house, Jindabyne, New SouthWales (alteration/addition; completed 1980;since altered)

Carruthers farmhouse, Mount Irvine, NewSouth Wales (completed 1980)

1979 Project house for Devon-Symonds PtyLtd, North Rocks, New South Wales

Isherwood house, Mosman, Sydney(alteration/addition; since altered)

Hawksford Point Piper, Sydney (project)

Nielsen Park Kiosk, Vaucluse, Sydney(project)

Crouch house, Cobbity, Sydney (inassociation with Wendy Lewin and AlecTzannes; project)

Offices for Marsh & Freedmann,Woolloomooloo, Sydney (conversion,completed 1980, since altered)

Hornery house, Warrawee, Sydney (inassociation with Civil & Civic, completed1982)

1980 Competition for the renovation of the'Engehurst' villa designed by the architectJohn Verge, in association with theconference 'Pleasures of Architecture'organized by Royal Australia Institute ofArchitects, Sydney

Markovic house, Palm Beach, Sydney (inassociation with Wendy Lewin and AlexTzannes; project)

Fountain house, McMahons Point, Sydney(in association with Wendy Lewin and AlecTzannes)

Uther house, Hunters Hill, Sydney

Murcutt-Robertson house, Kempsey, NewSouth Wales (extension to Marie Shorthouse)

Carpenter house, Point Piper, Sydney(completed 1983)

Zachary's Restaurant, Terrey Hills,Sydney (completed 1983)

Ball-Eastaway house and studio, Glenorie,Sydney (Graham Jahn and Rad Milatich,assistants; Alec Tzannes, site visits;completed 1983)

1981 Ward house, Hornsby Heights, Sydney(project)

Maestri house, Blueys Beach, New SouthWales

Museum of Local History and TouristOffice, Kempsey, New South Wales(phase 1 completed 1982)

Fredericks house, Jamberoo, New SouthWales (Wendy Lewin, assistant;completed 1982)

New Catholic Presbytery and CommunityHall, Mona Vale, Sydney (Graham Jahn,assistant; completed 1983)

Munro house, Bingara, New South Wales(Graham Jahn, assistant; completed 1983)

Rabbit house, Merewether, New SouthWales (Graham Jahn, assistant; completed1983)

1982 Ramsden & Kee house, Blackheath, NewSouth Wales (completed 1983)

Newport house, Hunters Hill, Sydney(addition)

Berowra Waters Inn, Sydney (phase 2;Graham Jahn, assistant; completed 1983)

Magney house, Bingie Bingie, South Coast,Sydney (completed 1984)

1983 Finlay house, Hallidays Point, New SouthWales (John Smith, assistant; AlecTzannes, site visits; completed 1984)

Littlemore house, Woollahra, Sydney(Wendy Lewin, assistant; completed 1986)

Aboriginal Alcoholic Rehabilitation Centre,Bennelong's Haven, Kinchela Creek, NewSouth Wales (project 1983-85)

Pratt house, extension of Raheen, Kew,Melbourne (in association with Melbournearchitects Bates, Smart & McCutcheon;completed 1994)

1985 Edwards-Neil house, Lindfield, New SouthWales (project 1985-88)

Herbarium and Visitors Centre, BotanicalGardens, Wollongong, New South Wales(project)

1986 Field Study Centre, Cape Tribulation, FarNorth Queensland (project 1986-87)

Harrison house, Waverley, Sydney (inassociation with Alec Tzannes; phase 1completed 1989; phase 2 completed 1991)

Magney house, Paddington, Sydney(renovation; James Grose, site assistant;Andrew Mc Nally and Sue Barnsley,landscape architects; completed 1990)

1987 Carey house, Springwood, New SouthWales

Minerals and Mining Museum, Broken Hill,New South Wales (project 1987-89; RegLark, assistant)

Museum of Local History, Kempsey, NewSouth Wales (phase 2, completed 1988)

Cultural Centre for the University of NorthSolomon, Arawa, Papua, New Guinea(project 1987-88)

Offices for Marsh & Freedman, Redfern,Sydney (renovation/conversion, completed1989)

1988 Done house, Mosman, Sydney (Reg Lark,assistant; completed 1991)

Meagher house, Bowral, New South Wales(Andrea Wilson, assistant; James Grose,site assistant; completed 1992)

Muston house, Seaforth, Sydney(completed 1992)

1989 Simpson-Lee house, Mount Wilson, NewSouth Wales (completed 1994)

1991 Marika-Alderton house, AboriginalCommunity, Yirrkala, Eastern ArnhemLand, Northern Territory (completed 1994)

1992 Preston house, St. Ives, Sydney (SueBarnsley, landscape architect;(completed 1994)

Landscape Interpretaion Centre, NationalPark of Kakadu, Northern Territory (inassociation with Troppo Architects,Darwin; completed 1994)

22

Murcutt guest studio, Kempsey, NewSouth Wales

1993 Conversion of Customs house(architects Mortimer Lewis, JamesBarnet, Walter Liberty Vernon, thenGeorge Oakschott) Circular Quay,Sydney (in association with WendyLewin of Lewin Tzannes Architects)

Williams house, Pearl Beach, New SouthWales

1996 Douglas Murcutt house, Woodside,Adelaide, South Australia (completed1999)

Olsen house, Norton Summit, SouthAustralia

Ken and Judy Done Gallery, Mosman,Sydney

Hardeman-McGrath house, Birchgrove,Sydney (extension with NicholasMurcutt)

Taylor house, Barrington Tops, NewSouth Wales

Another Aboriginal house, Yirrkala,Northern Territory (completed 1998-99)

1995-98 Schnaxl house, Newport, Sydney

1998 House at Mt. White, New South Wales(project)

1996-98 Beckwith/Deakins Terrace house,Paddington, Sydney

1996-99 'Bowali' Visitors Information Centre,Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory(with Troppo Architects, Darwin, NT)

Arthur & Yvonne Boyd Education Centre,Riversdale, New South Wales (incollaboration with Wendy Lewin andReg Lark)

1997-2001 House Bowral, Southern Highlands, NSW

1997-2000 C. Fletcher & A. Page house, KangarooValley

1997- Lightning Ridge Community Facility

2002- Works in Progresss or Under Contruction

New house, Yorke Peninsula, SouthAustralia

New house, Merewether, Newcastle, NewSouth Wales

Winery, Lake George, New South Wales

Sales Outlet, Winery, Mudgee, NewSouth Wales (in association with WendyLewin)

Eco-Hotel, Great Ocean Road, Victoria(in association with Wendy Lewin)

Convention/conference/accommodationfacility, Barrington Tops, New SouthWales (in association with Wendy Lewin)

New house, Kew, Melbourne, Victoria

Extensions to two houses at Mt. Irvine,New South Wales (early farmhousesdesigned in 1978 by Glenn Murcutt)

Extension to farmhouse at Jamberoo,designed by Glenn Murcutt in 1981-82

Concept Sketch of the Simpson-Lee Houseby Glenn Murcutt

Mount Wilson, New South Wales1989-1994

Films/Videos

Touch the Earth Lightly by Peter Hyatt,Melbourne, Australia

The Tin Man by Catherine Hunter,Channel 9 Network Australia

fig. �1

23

Ball-Eastaway HouseGlenorie, Sydney, NSW

Drawings and Sketches by Glenn Murcutt of Selected Projects

C. Fletcher & A. Page HouseKangaroo Valley, NSW

Magney HousePaddington, Sydney, NSW

fig. A1

fig. A2

fig. D2

fig. D1

fig. C2

fig. C3

24

Minerals and Mining MuseumBroken Hill, NSW

fig. F2

fig. F1

fig. F3

157b

Photo by G

lenn Murcutt

The model for the entrance to the Museum.

25

'Bowali' Visitors Information CentreKakadu National Park

Northern Territory(Project in collaboration with

Troppo Architects, Darwin, Northern Territory)

Marika- Alderton HouseYirrkala Community,

Eastern Arnheim Land Northern Territory

fig. B3

fig. B2

fig. G2

fig. G3

fig. G1

26

Littlemore HouseWoollahra, Sydney, NSW

Photo by M

ax Dupain

Photo by M

ax Dupain

Herbarium and Visitors CentreBotanical Gardens

Woolongong, NSW

fig. 25D

25C

25A

Nicholas Farm HouseMount Irvine, NSW

27

Laurie Short HouseTerrey Hills, Sydney

1972-1973

Photo by M

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27A

27C

27B

28

Glenn Murcutt on tractor for hisother activity, farming.

Magney HouseBingie BingieSouth Coast, NSW1982-1984

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"Michelangelo is often thought of principally as a sculptor and painter, ratherthan as an architect," says J. Carter Brown, chairman of the jury that selects thePritzker Laureate each year. "But right in the religious and political center of Rome,he was commissioned to design a remarkable architectural project at the top of theCapitoline Hill, the Campidoglio, Rome's ancient Capitol Hill. It is a place spanningmore than 2000 years of history. In 1471, Pope Sixtus IV donated large bronze statuesto the Campidoglio, creating what is now arguably the oldest public museum in theworld. The She-wolf suckling the two traditional founders of Rome, Romulus andRemus, was placed inside the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and became the symbol ofthe city. With Papal authority, Michelangelo moved the equestrian statue of MarcusAurelius to the center of the plaza, and created a magically beautiful star-shapedpavement design. (His design was not in fact actually completed until 1940; and toconserve the statue, one of the great monuments of antiquity, the original has beenmoved into the adjoining museum, and a faithful replica installed in the center of theplaza, following Michelangelo's design.)"

The guests assembling from around the world for the Pritzker Prize will walkup the monumental ramp (cordonata) to the top of the Capitoline Hill, where chairswill be placed on the piazza facing the central building (the Palazzo Senatorio whichtoday houses the offices of the mayor and the city council chambers), where, in frontof the fountain, the ceremony will take place to present the $100,000 PritzkerArchitecture Prize to Australian architect Glenn Murcutt. On either side of the piazza

is the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo, both of which comprise theCapitoline Museum.

Following the ceremony, guests will be transported to the Palazzo Colonna

for a reception and dinner. The first historical information on the Colonna familyresidence dates from the 13th century. Since that time, the family has providednumerous princes of the Catholic Church, including several Cardinals and Popes.Today, the family home doubles as a private art gallery for the art collections thatspan six centuries.

The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect forlifetime achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through theirHyatt Foundation in 1979. Often referred to as “architecture’s Nobel” and “theprofession’s highest honor,” the Pritzker Prize has been awarded to seven Americans,and (including this year) nineteen architects from thirteen other countries. Thepresentation ceremonies move around the world each year paying homage to thearchitecture of other eras and/or works by previous laureates of the prize.

Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, in expressing gratitudeto the Mayor of Rome, Honorable Walter Veltroni, for making it possible to holdthe event in this remarkable setting, stated, “Last year, we were in Monticello, thehome designed by one of the fathers of our country, Thomas Jefferson. It is relevantthat Jefferson's American architecture talents owed a primary debt to Italy. He wasvery much inspired by the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio's book, I

Quattro Libri dell'Architettura; and the dome of Monticello was modeled after theancient temple of Vesta in Rome, just as the dome of the library of his University ofVirginia was inspired by Rome's Pantheon." Pritzker went on to describe how Jeffersonwrote to a friend,, "Roman taste, genius, and magnificence excite ideas." "This year,"

Michelangelo's Campidoglio in RomeWill Be the Setting for the 2002 Pritzker Prize Ceremony

30

Pritzker continued, "we will be in Rome, virtually the cradle of much of our westerncivilization, and more specifically, in a space designed by Michelangelo in the 16thcentury that is still functioning today as the seat of government for this great city.And this magnificent setting overlooks the heart of the ancient city, the RomanForum."

Coinciding with the Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony being held in Rome,the American Academy in Rome will host a Pritzker Symposium on New Century,

Ne w World , T he Globa l iza t i on o f Arch i t e c tu r e.

The co-chairs of the event are Bill Lacy, executive director of the PritzkerArchitecture Prize and Adele Chatfield-Taylor, president of the American Academyin Rome. Participants will include: J. Carter Brown, Charles Correa, Rolf Fehlbaum,Anthony Grafton, Zaha Hadid, Dogon Hasol, Ricardo Legorreta, and Karen Stein.

The Pritzker Prize has a tradition of moving the ceremony to sites ofarchitectural significance around the world. This is the second time the ceremonyhas been held in Italy, the first being in 1990 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice whenthe late Aldo Rossi received the prize. As the sites are chosen each year before thelaureate, there is no intended connection beyond celebrating architectural excellence.Retrospectively, buildings by Laureates of the Pritzker Prize, such as the NationalGallery of Art’s East Building designed by I.M. Pei, or Frank Gehry’s GuggenheimMuseum in Bilbao, Spain, or Richard Meier’s new Getty Center in Los Angeles havebeen used. In some instances, places of historic interest such as France’s Palace ofVersailles and Grand Trianon, or Todai-ji Buddhist Temple in Japan, or Prague Castlein The Czech Republic have been chosen as ceremony venues. Some of the mostbeautiful museums have hosted the event, including the already mentioned PalazzoGrassi: Chicago’s Art Institute (using the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Roomdesigned by Louis Sullivan and his partner, Dankmar Adler, which was preservedwhen the Stock Exchange building was torn down in 1972. The Trading Room wasthen reconstructed in the museum's new wing in 1977). New York’s MetropolitanMuseum of Art provided the setting of 1982 Laureate Kevin Roche’s pavilion for theTemple of Dendur. In homage to the late Louis Kahn, the ceremony was held in FortWorth’s Kimbell Art Museum in 1987. California’s Huntington Library, ArtCollections and Botanical Gardens was the setting in l985. In 1992, the just-completedHarold Washington Library Center in Chicago was the location where Alvaro Sizaof Portugal received the prize. The 20th anniversary of the prize was hosted at theWhite House since in a way, the Pritzker Prize roots are in Washington where thefirst two ceremonies were held at Dumbarton Oaks, where a major addition to theoriginal estate, had been designed by yet another Pritzker Laureate, the very first,Philip Johnson. In 2000 in Jerusalem, on the Herodian Street excavation in the shadowof the Temple Mount was the most ancient of the venues. The ceremonies have evolvedover the years, becoming, in effect, an international grand tour of architecture.

One of the founding jurors of the Pritzker Prize, the late Lord Clark ofSaltwood, as art historian Kenneth Clark, perhaps best known for his television seriesand book, Civilisation, said at one of the ceremonies, “A great historical episode canexist in our imagination almost entirely in the form of architecture. Very few of ushave read the texts of early Egyptian literature. Yet we feel we know those infinitelyremote people almost as well as our immediate ancestors, chiefly because of theirsculpture and architecture.”

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The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established by The Hyatt Foundation in 1979 to honorannually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent,vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanityand the built environment through the art of architecture. It has often been described as“architecture’s most prestigious award” or as “the Nobel of architecture.”

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests areheadquartered in Chicago. They have long been known for their support of educational, religious,social welfare, scientific, medical and cultural activities. Jay A. Pritzker, who founded the prize withhis wife, Cindy, died on January 23, 1999. His eldest son, Thomas J. Pritzker has become presidentof The Hyatt Foundation.

He explains, “As native Chicagoans, it's not surprising that our family was keenly aware ofarchitecture, living in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city filled with buildings designed byarchitectural legends such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and manyothers. ” He continues, “In 1967, we acquired an unfinished building which was to become theHyatt Regency Atlanta. Its soaring atrium was wildly successful and became the signature piece ofour hotels around the world. It was immediatly apparent that this design had a pronounced affecton the mood of our guests and attitude of our employees. While the architecture of Chicago madeus cognizant of the art of architecture, our work with designing and building hotels made us awareof the impact architecture could have on human behavior. So in 1978, when we were approachedwith the idea of honoring living architects, we were responsive. Mom and Dad (Cindy and the lateJay A. Pritzker) believed that a meaningful prize would encourage and stimulate not only a greaterpublic awareness of buildings, but also would inspire greater creativity within the architecturalprofession.” He went on to add that he is extremely proud to carry on that effort on behalf of hismother and the rest of the family.

Many of the procedures and rewards of the Pritzker Prize are modeled after the NobelPrize. Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citationcertificate, and since 1987, a bronze medallion. Prior to that year, a limited edition Henry Mooresculpture was presented to each Laureate.

Nominations are accepted from all nations; from government officials, writers, critics,academicians, fellow architects, architectural societies, or industrialists, virtually anyone who mighthave an interest in advancing great architecture. The prize is awarded irrespective of nationality,race, creed, or ideology.

The nominating procedure is continuous from year to year, closing in January each year.Nominations received after the closing are automatically considered in the following calendar year.There are well over 500 nominees from more than 47 countries to date. The final selection is madeby an international jury with all deliberation and voting in secret.

The Evolution of the Jury

The first jury assembled in 1979 consisted of J. Carter Brown, then director of the NationalGallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; J. Irwin Miller, then chairman of the executive and financecommittee of Cummins Engine Company; Cesar Pelli, architect and at the time, dean of the YaleUniversity School of Architecture; Arata Isozaki, architect from Japan; and the late Kenneth Clark(Lord Clark of Saltwood), noted English author and art historian.

The present jury comprises the already mentioned J. Carter Brown, director emeritus ofthe National Gallery of Art, and chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, who serves aschairman; Giovanni Agnelli, chairman emeritus of Fiat, of Torino, Italy; Ada Louise Huxtable,American author and architectural critic; Carlos Jimenez, a principal of Carlos Jimenez Studio andprofessor at the Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas; Jorge Silvetti, architectand chairman, Department of Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; andLord Rothschild, former chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and former chairmanof the board of trustees of the National Gallery in London. Others who have served as jurors overthe years include the late Thomas J. Watson, Jr., former chairman of IBM; Toshio Nakamura,

A Brief History of the Pritzker Architecture Prize

32

former editor of A+U in Japan; and architects Philip Johnson, Kevin Roche, Frank Gehry, all fromthe United States, and Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico, Fumihiko Maki of Japan,and Charles Correaof India.

Bill Lacy, architect and advisor to the J. Paul Getty Trust and many other foundations, isexecutive director of the prize. Previous secretaries to the jury were the late Brendan Gill, who wasarchitecture critic of The New Yorker magazine; and the late Carleton Smith. From the prize'sfounding until his death in 1986, Arthur Drexler, who was the director of the department ofarchitecture and design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, was a consultant to thejury.

Television Symposium Marked Tenth Anniversary of the Prize

“Architecture has long been considered the mother of all the arts,” is how the distinguishedjournalist Edwin Newman, serving as moderator, opened the television symposium Architecture

and the City: Friends or Foes? “Building and decorating shelter was one of the first expressions ofman’s creativity, but we take for granted most of the places in which we work or live,” he continued.“Architecture has become both the least and the most conspicuous of art forms.”

With a panel that included three architects, a critic, a city planner, a developer, a mayor,a lawyer, a museum director, an industrialist, an educator, an administrator, the symposiumexplored problems facing everyone — not just those who live in big cities, but anyone involved incommunity life. Some of the questions discussed: what should be built, how much, where, when,what will it look like, what controls should be allowed, and who should impose them?

For complete details on the symposium which was produced in the tenth anniversary yearof the prize, please go the "pritzkerprize.com" web site, where you can also view the video tape ofthe symposium.

Exhibitions and Book on the Pritzker Prize The Art of Architecture, a circulating exhibition of the work of Laureates of the

Pritzker Architecture Prize, which has been touring for ten years, may find a permanent homein Palm Springs, California. Watch for full information on this development on the web site.

The Art of Architecture had its world premiere at the Harold Washington LibraryCenter in Chicago in 1992. The European debut was in Berlin at the Deutsches ArchitekturZentrum in in 1995. It was also shown at the Karntens Haus der Architektur in Klagenfurt,Austria in 1996, and in 1997, in South America, at the Architecture Biennale in Saõ Paulo,Brazil. In the U.S. it has been shown at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community Collegein Ft. Myers, Florida; the Fine Arts Gallery at Texas A&M University; the National BuildingMuseum in Washington, D.C.; The J. B. Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; the CantonArt Institute, Ohio; the Indianapolis Museum of Art Columbus Gallery, Indiana; the WashingtonState University Museum of Art in Pullman, Washington; the University of Nebraska, andBrigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Its most recent showings were in Costa Mesa,California; and museums in Poland and Turkey.

Another exhibition, designed by Carlos Jimenez, titled, The Pritzker Architecture

Prize 1979-1999, which was organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and celebrated the firsttwenty years of the prize and the works of the laureates, was shown in Chicago in 1999 and inToronto at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2000. It provided, through drawings, originalsketches, photographs, plans and models, an opportunity to view some of the most importantarchitects that have shaped the architecture of this century.

A book with texts by Pritzker jury chairman J. Carter Brown, prize executive directorBill Lacy, British journalist Colin Amery, and William J. R. Curtis, was produced to accompanythe exhibition, and is still available. Co-published by Abrams of New York and The ArtInstitute of Chicago, the 206 page book was edited by co-curator Martha Thorne. It presentsan analytical history of the prize along with examples of buildings by the laureates illustratedin full color. The book celebrates the first twenty years of the prize and the works of thelaureates, providing an opportunity to analyze the significance of the prize and its evolution.

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arquitectura - glenn murcutt

Documents

elements of architecture

living architect

state university of

translatedthe words

latin words

dedicated architect

marcus vitruvius

qualities of talent