The French Dominique Perrault is among those distinguished in the 2015 edition of the Praemium Imperiale, given yearly since 1989 by the Japanese imperial family and the Japan Art Association, with a prize of 15 million yen (approximately 111,000 euros). A precocious architect who caused raves with his on the other hand much criticized National Library of France, Perrault has since developed an intense albeit uneven career dotted with outstanding works like the velodrome and Olympic swimming pool in Berlin (1999) and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (2008). His co-winners in the Praemium Imperiale are painter Tadanori Yokoo, sculptor Wolfgang Laib, pianist Mitsuko Uchida, and ballerina Sylvie Guillem.