Known among architects as the Nobel prize of architecture, the 48-year old Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena was recently awarded with the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Aravena is the director of Elemental, a firm which has developed projects in Chile, the United States, Mexico, China and Switzerland, known for socially conscious, sustainable design, often executed fast and with small budgets. Among his works are the Siamese Towers 2005; the redesign of the city of Constitucion in Chile, three months after the 2010 earthquake and the 100 families living project in Quinta Monroy, Iquique, Chile in 2004. "If you are rigorous with common sense and a reasonable approach, almost every single architecture would be sustainable." "Alejandro Aravena has pioneered a collaborative practice that produces powerful works of architecture and also addresses key challenges of the 21st century," said Tom Pritzker, chairman and president of the Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize. "His built work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space," Pritzker said. "Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people's lives." Aravena has also been an instructor, serving as a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, the Architectural Association in London, and the London School of Economics. Publishers Electa, Hatje Cantz, and Toto have all published monographs on his work. Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and I.M. Pei have also been awarded with the prize.The 41st Pritzker Prize will be awarded in a ceremony at United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 4th. For more information:
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/ Source: NPR News and Arnet News.