Frank Gehry

At 85 years of age, Frank Gehry has picked up the Prince of Asturias Award in the Arts Category. With this decision, the jury presided by the businessman and patron José Lladó – the members of which included Benedetta Tagliabue, Patricia Urquiola or Elena Ochoa Foster, among other prominent names – distinguished the work of this master of the organic and the haphazard, though it is hard not to think that the recognition was to a great extent dedicated to one building in particular, the Guggenheim Bilbao, which brought such relevant social and economic consequences to the city that many attempts, in most cases unsuccessful, have been made to extrapolate it to other locations. The jury praised the architect’s “virtuous play with complex forms” and “the use of uncommon materials like titanium,” and also highlighted the importance of the Bilbao building “for its huge economic, social and urbanistic repercussion on its context.” It is the third time that the jury of the prize chooses an architect, after the awards presented to noteworthy international figures like Norman Foster in 2009 and Rafael Moneo in 2012.