Alejandro Aravena

The same year he directed the 13th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia under the title ‘Reporting from the Front,’ the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena was also presented with the Pritzker Prize, an award which the Hyatt Foundation has given yearly since 1979 to the most unique architects of the moment. In the words of the Foundation’s Chairman and President, Thomas J. Pritzker, the work of Aravena “gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space.” These characteristics reflect the mood of the times and mark a turning point in the requirements, mainly formal, which the Pritzker had assessed up this edition. With a long list of completed works, including his experimental and ‘expandable’ social housing developments, the Chilean architect joins the list of Latin Americans who have landed the prize, after the Mexican Luis Barragán (1980) and the Brazilians Oscar Niemeyer (1988) and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006). The awarding ceremony was held in New York.