Pritzker Prize for Swiss architect

International designs

Noted Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, known for the ambitious craftsmanship he applies to works of modest scale even in remote locations, has won the 2009 Pritzker Prize. He will receive the $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion at a formal ceremony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Zumthor, 65, joins such well-known architects as Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid in receiving the prestigious architecture prize in recognition of his varied works, including chapels, museums, housing projects and a hot spring complex.

The Pritzker jury of architects, academics, writers and designers praised Zumthor in their citation for his timeless structures that show respect for their surroundings. “His buildings have a commanding presence...showing us again and again that modesty in approach and boldness in overall result are not mutually exclusive,” the jurors said. “Humility resides alongside strength,” they added.

Zumthor has a small staff in his studio in the small Swiss town of Haldenstein, often turning down commissions and seeing his projects through from conception to completion. “I’m an architect who works on the whole building himself,” Zumthor told a newsperson, speaking from an Alpine resort. “I hope this (Pritzker) prize could give a lot of hope to young guys; they say, Zumthor is doing it, so we should be able to do this also, to do the whole building, not just deliver images or facades,” he said.

Among the various Zumthor projects mentioned by the Pritzker jury were the Kolumba Museum of Modern Art in Cologne, Germany, a modern building set in the ruins of a Gothic church destroyed in World War II; and the thermal baths, opened in 1996, in the Swiss village of Vals, a maze of pools enclosed by concrete and stone mined from the surrounding hills.

“When you are there, it is extraordinary how this monumental stone work just dissolves in the pleasure of its many surprises,” architect and Rice University Professor Carlos Jimenez, a Pritzker juror, said of the thermal baths.

Zumthor received the Japan Art Association’s coveted Praemium Imperiale architecture award for 2008, with a prize money of 15 million yen (79,000 pounds sterling). Also last year, he was the recipient of the University of Virginia Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture.

The Pritzker Prize, established in the 1970s and always given to a living architect, takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are based in Chicago, USA.

Their name is synonymous with the Hyatt group of hotels located in many parts of the world. Jay A Pritzker (1922-1999) founded the prize with his wife, Cindy.

His eldest son, Thomas J Pritzker, is the current President of the Hyatt Foundation. Many of the procedures and rewards of the Pritzker Prize are modelled on the Nobel Prize.

Landmark building for KL

A 30-storey structure, fronting Jalan Sultan Ismail street in Kuala Lumpur, will be the first building in Malaysia created by internationally acclaimed New York architects Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF).

The Class ‘A’ green building, close to the iconic Petronas Towers, will become the Malaysian headquarters of the leading property and real estate group Mulpha Properties.

Engineering consultancy firm Web Structures have been awarded the contract, which includes 270,000 sq. ft. of office space and five basement parking levels.

Dr Hossein Rezai Jorabi, group director of Web Structures, said, "We are extremely pleased to have been invited to take part in this project, which is our first collaboration with KPF. It is the latest in a number of major building projects in Kuala Lumpur that we have been involved in, and we wj|| be using our local knowledge to deliver engineering solutions to help make this another landmark building in the city."

He added, "KPF has a fantastic reputation for designing truly original buildings across the world, including the Pinnacle in the U.K. and the Shanghai World Financial Centre in China. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with their design team on this project, their first in Malaysia."

Since its creation, Web Structures has worked on more than 280 projects in over 20 countries, continually building on its reputation in the industry.

The awards received by the engineering consultancy include a 2008 'Construction Excellence Award' from the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore for its work on the high-profile Baywater Development. It was also commissioned to work on the tallest building ever built in Mauritius, helping design a 141-metre-tall tower.

The property and real estate group Mulpha Properties is a major real estate investor and developer. It owns a number of assets in Australia and is involved in property development in the Far East.