ARCHITECTURE:Pritzker Prize 2017

The Pritzker Prize is considered the Nobel of Architecture and is the highest honor and recognition for every Architect. 2017 marks the first time that three architects: Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta receive this prestigious honor. The three architects, originating from Olot, in the Catalonian region of Spain, have worked together collaboratively since founding their firm RCR Arquitectes, in their hometown in 1988.

By Efi Michalarou

Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vialta were selected for a body of work that “Demonstrates an unyielding commitment to place and its narrative, to create spaces that are in discourse with their respective contexts”, according to organisers. The choice was seen as a move away from the celebrity architects that have dominated the field in favour of a trio of professionals who have worked together for 30 years in their hometown of Olot in Catalonia. Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta completed their studies in architecture at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès (ETSAV) in 1987, and founded their studio, RCR Arquitectes, in their native city of Olot. They attribute their early success to a first prize victory in a 1988 competition sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism, in which they designed a lighthouse in Punta Aldea by pondering the essence of the typology, a fundamental approach that would resonate throughout all of their future works. The team’s buildings include the Soulages Museum, in Rodez, France, featuring boldly modern metallic architecture (in collaboration with G. Trégouët, 2014) and a light-filled complex in Barcelona, Spain (Sant Antoni – Joan Oliver, 2007), that incorporates a library, a center for the elderly and a children’s playground. The design features ample views of interior gardens and sky, and metal corridors that nod to the site’s industrial past as a candy factory. Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta have participated in important exhibitions including: III Salon International de l’Architecture (Paris 1990), the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016), “On-Site: New Architecture in Spain”, (MoMA 2006), “Global Ends” at Toto Gallery MA (Tokyo, 2010) and “RCR Arquitectes-Shared Creativity” in Barcelona, 2015 and Madrid, 2016. They are recipients of the National Award for Culture in Architecture (2005), the French Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2008 & 2014), Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architecture (2010), International Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2012) and awardees of the Gold Medal by the French Académie d’Architecture (2015). In 2013 they established RCR BUNKA Foundation to support architecture, landscape, arts and culture throughout society. The three architects will be awarded the prize at 20/5/17 in a ceremony in Tokyo.