Product Description

The world's most highly regarded architecture award is celebrated in this generously illustrated edition, which celebrates selected buildings and projects by each of the 21 winners. 370 illustrations, 200 in full color.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #726071 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 207 pages

Amazon.com Review
There is no Nobel Prize for architecture, but ever since 1979 the Pritzker Architecture Prize has filled that gap. Though just over 20 years old, it is the best known and most glamorous of five major international architectural awards. The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family of Chicago--hoteliers whose dramatic, atrium-centered properties revolutionized hotel architecture--who fund the prize, which is awarded annually to a living architect for a body of work rather than to or for a single building. Over the years, the high-powered Pritzker jury has been catholic in its tastes, honoring well-established candidates such as Philip Johnson, James Stirling, I.M. Pei, Luis Barragan, Kenzo Tange, Renzo Piano, Fumihiko Maki, and Richard Meier; gifted boat-rockers such as Robert Venturi and Frank Gehry; and some lesser-known practitioners. The end result is a generally lively mix of 21 winners from 12 nations and four continents.

This book is a nice introduction to the work of many of the best designers of the last generation or two. It is a handsomely designed large-format volume that contains 370 well-reproduced illustrations, 200 of them in color. It also includes essays by five writers: editor Martha Thorne, Pritzker officials J. Carter Brown and Bill Lacy, architectural historian William Curtis, and critic Colin Amery. And most of its pages contain short portfolios featuring three of each honoree's buildings--just enough to whet one's appetite. If you find a designer of interest here, you may decide to seek out a more comprehensive book on his work. (Yes, all the honorees so far have been men.) --John Pastier

From Library Journal
The annual Pritzker Architecture Prize, often described as the Nobel prize of architecture, was established by the Hyatt Foundation in 1979. The list of past Pritzker winners reads like an architectural who's who: Philip Johnson, James Stirling, Kenzo Tange, Frank O. Gehry, I.M. Pei, and, most recently, Renzo Piano have all won. This book, published by the Art Institute of Chicago on the occasion of an exhibit surveying the prize's 21-year history, is the only compilation of its kind. The ancillary information (introductory essays, a history of the prize, brief biographies of the architects, bibliographies, etc.) is useful, but the beauty of this volume is in its presentation of the "portfolios" of each winner's work (there are 370 illustrations, 200 in color). These great landmarks of modern architecture have been captured by the highest quality architectural photography, making this volume both informative and inspirational. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.AJay Schafer, Bay Path Coll. Lib., Longmeadow, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

well presented book
This book presents the winning works of those architects who have left their marks in the architecture world & as a consequence, been rewarded with the Pritzer Prize. There are a lot of beautiful & high grade pictures complemented by documents which are rather user-friendly to read. You don't need to be an architects or architecture students to appreciate this book. It deserves a place in your shelf or on your coffee table hinting to your guests what a discerning & sophisticated reader you are.

You be the judge.
This book was preety much like i expected, a display of the greatest architectural works for the last 20 years of the 20th century. As a Rogers, Piano, Gehry and Calatrava admirer the works of other architects that you wer'nt aware of their existance certainly open your eyes, some possibly inspiring, as i know they were for me.

For those people not practicing or learning architecture but admire the beauty, a display of SOME of the worlds most fabulous buildings open your eyes to look beyond the street you live in.

Although this is a fantastic book there are many other fabulous buildings left out, which you would expect. There arn't a lot of images of each building, but how thick can a book be? if you love the guggenheim in bilboa, 5 images certainly arnt going to show you the whole story, as is the same with the getty, or the creativity of calatrava BUY THEIR BOOKS there is so much more to an architect than just one building. How they can award a single prize to someone out of so many masters must be the hardest job in the world.

A must for anyone who enjoys architecture
As a student of architecture who hopes to one day win the Pritzker, this book in invaluable to me. The variety of architecture in this book gives the reader great insight into many different kinds of architecture. It's great even to just flip through the pages and look at the pictures... Of course, the written content is also very insightful and enjoyable to read. This book inspires you to learn more about the 20 architects featured in the book, as well as the future winners of Pritzker Award.