Antoine Predock

This architect from the southwestern United States was honored with the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in early 2006. The president of the jury, Thomas Howorth, justified the decision by stating “Antoine Predock designs buildings that grow out of their unique landscapes, creating, at the same time, symbols that are fearlessly expressive and sincere, simultaneously complex and guileless”. After studying engineering at the University of New Mexico, Predock moved to New York where he obtained his architecture degree from Columbia University. In the early 1970s he set up his studio in Albuquerque, near the Rio Grande. It was here that he built La Luz, his first group of adobe houses. Described as a regionalist architect due to the importance that the environment has had on his work – seeking to integrate each project with nature through materials, volumes, and colors –, Predock has adopted a very personal dialogue that transcends the local sphere. Now, at seventy, the American architect still maintains an intense level of activity, with two art museums underway in Canada and Taiwan, where he also has a studio.