Rem Koolhaas

For fifteen years, the Japan Art Association, founded by the Japanese royal family, annually honors the artists who contribute significantly to the development of culture in five categories: painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theater/film. A prize that is worth 15 million yen (105,000 euros), the praemium imperiale in the category of architecture has fallen this year upon Rem Koolhaas, who has also been commended for his theoretical contributions. For the jury, both the buildings and the writings of Koolhaas “review conventional solutions and are full of surprising and pragmatic answers. What at first sight may seem provocative and radical is, up close, extremely rational”. Awarded with the Pritzker Prize in 2000, this year of Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture has come to a close with projects in progress in three continents and a large exhibition in the Neue Nationalgalerie of Mies in Berlin, where he has also completed the embassy for The Netherlands. Along with the Dutch, Bridget Riley (painting), the late Mario Merz (sculpture), Claudio Abbado (music) and Ken Loach (film), also won awards.