Álvaro Siza

The maximum recognition of the UIA – the Gold Medal – has gone in 2011 to Álvaro Siza. Aside from Siza, in its triennial prizes the UIA has also awarded the American Kenneth Frampton and the Mexican Louise Noelle Gras, ex-aequo winners of the Jean Tschumi Prize for architectural criticism and education; the Japanese Shigeru Ban, winner of the August Perret Prize for applied technology in architecture; and the Russian Valentin Nazarov, distinguished with the Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize for town-planning and territorial development. The Vassilis Sgoutas Prize, for architects that contribute to the struggle against misery in communities living below the poverty line, went in the individual category to the Italian Fabrizio Carola, with mentions to Francis Kére, of Burkina Faso, and to the Russian Alexander Kuptsov; and in its collective category, to the Mexicans Espacio Máximo Costo Mínimo (headed by the architect Carlos González Lobo), with mentions to Ideal Space Studio, from China, and to Savage + Dodd, from South Africa. The Sir Robert Matthew Prize, for the improvement of the quality of life in urban spaces, was not awarded.