Pritzker 2021 – Lacaton & Vassal

Pritzker 2021: French Lacaton&Vassal win

Alejandro Aravena, president of the 2021 Pritzker Prize jury, defined them as “architects of a respectful but frank approach to the built environment”. These are the two French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, who were awarded the Pritzker Prize 2021, one of the major international architectural awards.

Appreciated for their modus operandi based on the values ​​of sustainability interpreted at 360°, their projects stand out for being measured on human needs and on very limited budgets.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was introduced in 1979 in America, by the foundation of the homonymous family, with the intent of rewarding the most deserving and talented exponents of architecture. Every year the ceremony takes place in a particularly valuable site and is awarded to professionals who are committed to making a strong contribution to the development of urban scenarios, with a view to improving the quality of the places we live in. And it is precisely this aspect that is dear to this year's winners, as their architecture is the result of additions and modifications aimed at enriching the existing without overwhelming it.  

The studio's activity began in the late 80s in Paris and has developed and strengthened over the years. Rich in their multicultural background and their training in Africa, Lacaton and Vassal believe that the building intervention must be based on the existing and must be undertaken in full respect of theidentity of the place.

According to their thinking, the architect's task is to find solutions that can combine the precepts of environmental sustainability, the client's needs and the saving of available resources.
And it is precisely these values ​​that form the basis of the works created during their profession. In the design of private and social residences, buildings intended for training, urban contexts, the prevailing factor has always been an anthropocentric vision, where human needs defined the character of the spaces.   

The generous open areas are in continuity with the internal environments of the Social Housing, favoring the optimization of the internal microclimate and socialization among the tenants.

The addition of greenery, the reinterpretation of residual environments and the insertion of new open spaces become the guidelines of the work of Lacaton and Vassal. These are aspects that characterize that healthy and intelligent building that has the aim of recovering thebalance between man and nature, too often lost in today's cities. All these reasons have in fact convinced the Pritzker jury to award them the most coveted prize in the architecture sector.

The relevance of the study's guiding values

As already mentioned, the addition of new and unexpected areas and the inclusion of green and open areas helps to improve the quality of life of the user. This concept, very dear to Lacaton and Vassal, has found growing consensus in this particular period, during which city dwellers have found themselves forced to remain at home for longer.

Places of living thus become places of life in all its facets and for this reason they must be cared for, enriched and made more flexible.  

The transformation of the residential complex has included the addition of new open spaces at altitude which, in addition to renewing the appearance of the facade, guarantee usable areas for the condominiums, with a view to increasing their quality of life and psycho-physical comfort.

Starting from the duplication of the pre-existing volume of the former Halle AP2 boat warehouse, the new building is positioned in full respect of the context, distinguishing itself from the adjacent one through a double transparent covering that favours the view of the internal structure.

To view all the projects of the Lacaton & Vassal studio