The Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to Lacaton & Vassal

Washington – The Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in the world of architecture, has been awarded to the French architectural duo Jean-Phillipe Vassal and Anne Lacaton. This was announced today by Tom Pritzker from the American foundation that grants the award. The jury praised Vassal and Lacaton particularly for the sustainability of their projects and architecture that combines generous space with a modest budget and ecological practices, writes the AFP agency.

"Not only have they defined an architectural approach that revives the legacy of modernism, but they also propose a revised definition of the architectural profession itself. Modernist hopes and dreams to improve the lives of many are strengthened through their work, which reflects the climatic and ecological events of our time and the urgent needs of society, especially in the field of urban housing," the jury's justification states.

"Good architecture is open – open to life, open to elevating the freedom of anyone, a place where everyone can do what they need," describes her view Lacaton. "It should not be showy, grand, but it must be something well-known, useful, and beautiful, able to quietly support the life that takes place within it," she adds.

Lacaton, born in 1955 in Saint-Pardoux, France, and Vassal, born in 1954 in Casablanca, Morocco, met while studying in Bordeaux and opened a joint architectural office in Paris in the 1980s. One of their most famous buildings is the museum and exhibition Palais de Tokyo in the French capital, which is also an example of sustainable architecture that works with existing structures.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established in 1979 by entrepreneur Jay Pritzker and his wife Cindy. The award includes a bronze medallion and $100,000 (2.3 million crowns). It is not awarded to firms or studios, but to individuals. If more than one is selected, it is because the jury perceives their work as inseparably connected.

Last year, the winners were Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. Other laureates include Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, and Frank Gehry, one of the authors of the Dancing House in Prague. Lacaton also became only the sixth woman on the list of holders of this award, which has a reputation as the Nobel Prize for architecture.