Architect Riken Yamamoto is awarded the 2024 Pritzker Prize

The architect born in 1945 is now the ninth Japanese to obtain the prestigious Pritzker Prize for architecture sponsored by the Hyatt house.

Yamamoto graduated from Nihon University, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Science and Technology in 1968 and received a Master of Architecture from Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Architecture in 1971. He founded his studio, Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop in 1973.

A tireless traveler, he has visited the countries around the Mediterranean, the North American route to Central America passing through Mexico, as well as the eastern route from Iraq to India.

From his architectural awakening in the Nara temples in Japan, through his travels and his long architectural career, Yamamoto has confirmed that architecture is the art of integrating interiors with exteriors into a harmonious whole to enrich everyday life, not only of the individual but of the community. He achieves his goal by making masterful use of transparencies, as evidenced in many of his works, which makes him a master in the management of light.

The Japanese architects who have had the honor of being awarded the Pritzker Prize are the following:

1987 Kenzo Tange

1993 Fumihiko Maki

1995 Tadao Ando

2010 Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa

2013 Toyo Ito

2014 Shigeru Ban

2019 Arata Isozaki

2024 Riken Yamamoto

From the beginning of this century, the important presence of the Japanese school of architecture became evident, which now has 9 laureates, followed by 7 from the United States, a country that dominated the awards at the end of the 20th century. There has been a change of leadership in architecture, with the honor now corresponding to Japan.

Perceiving this global change in architecture and design trends, the Universidad Panamericana in Aguascalientes began a process to strengthen ties with Japanese universities and institutions starting in 2014. Our School of Architecture has agreements and has worked on projects with Chiba University and the Shibaura Institute of Technology, has carried out projects with Future House Lab Japan and with Waiwai Architects of Tokyo, and has collaborated with the School of Architecture at Fukushima University.

Today our School of Architecture at UP is starting a joint development project with the Kyoto Arts and Crafts University, an institution known colloquially as KYOBI.