News: the Pritzker Prize jury has rejected a petition for architect Denise Scott Brown to retroactively receive recognition for the award that her husband and partner, Robert Venturi, won in 1991.

Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Lord Palumbo has responded in a letter to the Harvard students who started the online petition, saying that the way the jury is organised prevents it making retroactive awards.

"Pritzker juries, over time, are made up of different individuals, each of whom does his or her best to find the most highly qualified candidate. A later jury cannot re-open, or second guess the work of an earlier jury, and none has ever done so," he wrote.

The letter adds that Scott Brown is not disqualified from receiving the prize in future: "Ms. Scott Brown has a long and distinguished career of architectural accomplishment. It will be up to present and future juries to determine who among the many architects practicing throughout the world receives future awards."

Read the full letter posted by Architectural Record here.

Women in Design, a student group at Harvard Graduate School of Design, set up an online petition in April calling for Scott Brown to be recognised as a joint Pritzker Prize laureate with Venturi, and it was quickly signed by a string of high-profile architects including Zaha Hadid and Farshid Moussavi, and Robert Venturi himself.

The campaign followed an address made by Scott Brown earlier in the same month, when she declared: "They owe me not a Pritzker Prize but a Pritzker inclusion ceremony."

Scott Brown, 81, had been a partner at the couple's practice Venturi Scott Brown and Associates (now VSBA) for 22 years when Venturi was awarded the prize, which is considered the most prestigious in architecture. She co-authored their seminal 1977 book Learning From Las Vegas and still works at the practice while Venturi, 87, retired last year.

In 2001 Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron shared the award, while male-female duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Japanese firm SANAA became joint-laureates in 2010. This year's laureate is Japanese architect Toyo Ito.

See all our stories about the Pritzker Prize »

Read the letter from the Pritzker chair below:

Dear Arielle Assouline-Lichten and Caroline James,

Thank you for sending your petitions and letters, and those of others, about Ms. Denise Scott Brown and the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Insofar as you have in mind a retroactive award of the prize to Ms. Scott Brown, the present jury cannot do so. Pritzker juries, over time, are made up of different individuals, each of whom does his or her best to find the most highly qualified candidate. A later jury cannot re-open, or second guess the work of an earlier jury, and none has ever done so.

Let us assure you, however, that Ms. Scott Brown remains eligible for the Pritzker Award. That award is given on the basis of an architect’s total body of built work. Ms. Scott Brown has a long and distinguished career of architectural accomplishment. It will be up to present and future juries to determine who among the many architects practicing throughout the world receives future awards. Not every knowledgeable observer always agrees with the jury’s selection. But the jury will continue to do its best to select solely upon the basis of the quality of the architect’s record.

That said, we should like to thank you for calling directly to our attention a more general problem, namely that of assuring women a fair and equal place within the profession. To provide that assurance is, of course, an obligation embraced by every part of the profession, from the schools
that might first encourage students to enter the profession to the architectural firms that must facilitate the ability of women to fulfill their potential as architects. We believe that one particular role that the Pritzker Jury must fulfill, in this respect, is that of keeping in mind the fact that certain recommendations or discussions relating to architectural creation are often a reflection of particular times or places, which may reflect cultural biases that underplay a woman’s role in the creative process. Where this occurs, we must, and we do, take such matters into account.

Your communications remind us of this obligation, and we appreciate your sending them. Insofar, however, as they ask us to reopen the decision-making process of a previous jury, we cannot do so.

Yours sincerely,

Lord Peter Palumbo, Chair,

On behalf of the Jury of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize

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News: Pritzker Prize-winning architect Robert Venturi is backing a campaign calling for his 1991 accolade to be retrospectively shared with his wife and partner Denise Scott Brown.

Venturi follows a string of architects including Zaha Hadid and Farshid Moussavi to sign the online petition, which calls for Scott Brown to be recognised as a joint Pritzker Prize laureate and has already received over 3000 signatures.

"Denise Scott Brown is my inspiring and equal partner," writes Venturi, who had been working in partnership with Scott Brown at Venturi Scott Brown and Associates (now VSBA) for 22 years at the time of receiving the prestigious prize. While Venturi retired last year, Scott Brown still works at the practice.

The campaign follows an address made by Scott Brown (above) earlier this month, when she declared: "They owe me not a Pritzker Prize but a Pritzker inclusion ceremony."

The Pritzker organisers have already stated that the petition presents them with an "unusual situation". Martha Thorne, executive director of the prize's committee, told Architecture Magazine: "As you may know, the Pritzker Laureate is chosen annually by a panel of independent jurors. Those jurors change over the years, so this matter presents us with an unusual situation. The most that I can say at this point is that I will refer this important matter to the current jury at their next meeting."

The jury of the 1991 Pritzker Prize mentioned Scott Brown's contribution to Venturi's work in their citation: "[Venturi's] understanding of the urban context of architecture, complemented by his talented partner, Denise Scott Brown, with whom he has collaborated on both more writings and built works, has resulted in changing the course of architecture in this century, allowing architects and consumers the freedom to accept inconsistencies in form and pattern, to enjoy popular taste."

If the campaign is successful, Venturi and Scott Brown won't be the first architects to be receive a joint prize. In 2001 Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron shared the award, while male-female duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Japanese firm SANAA became joint-laureates in 2010.

This year's laureate is Japanese architect Toyo Ito. The prize will be awarded at a ceremony that takes place on 29 May at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. See all news about the Pritzker Prize.

Photography is by Frank Hanswijk.

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News: architects including Zaha Hadid, Farshid Moussavi and Hani Rashid have signed a petition calling for Denise Scott Brown (above) to be recognised as a Pritzker Prize laureate alongside her husband, Robert Venturi, who was awarded the prestigious prize in 1991.

The architects are among 1,720 people who have so far backed the petition demanding that "Denise Scott Brown be retroactively acknowledged for her work deserving of a joint Pritzker Prize".

Awarding the $100,000 prize only to Venturi in 1991 was "an unfortunate oversight," according to Women in Design, a student group at Harvard Graduate School of Design, who organised the petition.

Top: Scott Brown outside Las Vegas in 1966; photograph from the Archives of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Above: Denise Scott Brown photographed by Frank Hanswijk

Hadid, who became the first woman to win the prize in 2004 and was on the jury in 2012, signed up to the petition on Sunday morning, according to an announcement on the Pritzker Recognition for Denise Scott Brown page on Facebook.

The petition has also been signed by leading figures including architects Moussavi and Rashid, MoMA senior curator of architecture and design Paola Antonelli, architecture photographer Iwan Baan, Rice School of Architecture dean Sarah Whiting, and Berkeley College of Environmental Design dean Jennifer Wolch.

The petition follows an address last week by Scott Brown in which she described her exclusion from the prize as "very sad". She added: "They owe me not a Pritzker Prize but a Pritzker inclusion ceremony. Let's salute the notion of joint creativity."

Scott Brown, 81, had been a partner at the couple's practice Venturi Scott Brown and Associates (now VSBA) for 22 years when Venturi was awarded the prize, which is considered the most prestigious in architecture. She co-authored their seminal 1977 book Learning From Las Vegas and still works at the practice while Venturi, 87, retired last year.

Below: Robert Venturi photographed by Frank Hanswijk

"Women in architecture deserve the same recognition as their male counterparts," said Women in Design. "Denise Scott Brown's contributions were seminal to her partner Robert Venturi winning the prize in 1991."

"Denise has suffered because she was in partnership with her husband," wrote another signatory, architect Sarah Wigglesworth, on the petition's website. "She was judged by a jury that overlooks collaborative effort and that recognises the male hero. Such bias needs redressing. Denise's work has been seminal - as an architect, a planner, a writer and an educator. What more could anyone ask for?"

Jeremy Till, head of Central St Martins, wrote: "I was at a conference in Washington the day the Pritzker for Venturi was announced. Denise Scott-Brown was the keynote. Her answers to the questions at the end about the award were so dignified, furious and loving (all at the same time) that she should be awarded the Pritzker in her own right just for that."

The Pritzker organisers said Scott Brown's comments and the petition presented them with an "unusual situation". Martha Thorne, executive director of the prize's committee, told Architecture Magazine: "As you may know, the Pritzker Laureate is chosen annually by a panel of independent jurors. Those jurors change over the years, so this matter presents us with an unusual situation. The most that I can say at this point is that I will refer this important matter to the current jury at their next meeting."

The jury of the 1991 Pritzker Architecture Prize mentioned Scott Brown's contribution to Venturi's work in their citation: "[Venturi's] understanding of the urban context of architecture, complemented by his talented partner, Denise Scott Brown, with whom he has collaborated on both more writings and built works, has resulted in changing the course of architecture in this century, allowing architects and consumers the freedom to accept inconsistencies in form and pattern, to enjoy popular taste."

In an interview with ArchDaily in 2011, Scott Brown spoke of her frustration at the way her role was perceived. "It’s hard for both of us — but particularly for me because I get obliterated," she said. "Visitors to our office have tunnel vision toward Bob. I am seen as his assistant, not a professional in my own right, and certainly not a designer. Why that’s anathema would take a book to define."

Zaha Hadid, who last month spoke out against "misogynist behaviour" in British architecture, became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in 2004. The only other woman to have won is Kazuyo Sejima, who shared the prize in 2010 with Ryue Nishizawa, her partner at Japanese architecture studio SANAA.

The row threatens to overshadow this year's prize, awarded two weeks ago to Toyo Ito. The prizegiving ceremony for the Japanese architect takes place on 29 May at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

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News: architect Denise Scott Brown has asked to be retrospectively acknowledged for her role in her husband Robert Venturi's 1991 Pritzker Prize.

Speaking in a pre-recorded address at an Architect's Journal Women in Architecture Awards lunch in London last week, where she was an honorary guest, Scott Brown said her exclusion from the prize was "very sad".

"They owe me not a Pritzker Prize but a Pritzker inclusion ceremony. Let's salute the notion of joint creativity," she said.

At the time the prize was awarded, Scott Brown had been a partner at the couple's practice Venturi Scott Brown and Associates for 22 years and had co-authored with Venturi the seminal 1970s text Learning From Las Vegas, which celebrated the garish iconography of the city's sprawling strip and confirmed the pair as leading theorists of postmodernism.

Above: Scott Brown outside Las Vegas in 1966; photograph from the Archives of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown
Top: photograph by Frank Hanswijk

In her address, Scott Brown also warned women architects of the continuing fight against the glass ceiling and called on them to embrace their "feminist awareness".

"There are as many women as men in the early stages of architectural practice, but as they move up the ladder, the glass ceiling really hits.

"I say to young women today, don’t cast out your feminist awareness. When the glass ceiling hits you, you will think it is your fault unless you know a bit about feminism, and it will destroy you."

Above: Venturi outside Las Vegas in 1966; photograph from the Archives of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown

The Pritzker jury has awarded a joint prize twice in its history – to Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in 2001 and to male-female duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Japanese firm SANAA in 2010 – but last year the prize was won individually by Chinese architect Wang Shu, who co-founded his studio with his architect wife Lu Wenyu in 1997.

Zaha Hadid, who in 2004 became the first woman to be named a Pritzker laureate, recently railed against "misogynist" attitudes in British architecture, saying: "I doubt anything has changed much over the last 30 years."

This year's Pritzker Prize was won by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, whose work includes the TOD’S Omotesando Building in Tokyo and Sendai Mediatheque – see all news about the Pritzker Prize.

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News: Japanese architect Toyo Ito has been named as the 2013 laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Toyo Ito, based in Tokyo, has previously been awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2006 and the Praemium Imperiale by the Japan Art Association in 2010, and his Japanese Pavilion was awarded best pavilion at last year's Venice Architecture Biennale.

His works include the TOD’S Omotesando Building in Tokyo, Sendai Mediatheque, Tama Art University Library in Tokyo and Za-Koenji Public Theatre in Tokyo.

He is the sixth Japanese architect to receive the award, following Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, and Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010.

Above: Sendai Mediatheque, 1995—2000, Sendai-shi, Miyagi, Japan. Photo by Tomio Ohashi.

“Architecture is bound by various social constraints," Ito said. "I have been designing architecture bearing in mind that it would be possible to realise more comfortable spaces if we are freed from all the restrictions even for a little bit. However, when one building is completed, I become painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future. Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works.”

The Pritzker Prize is presented annually to a living architect in recognition of contributions to both humanity and the built environment through architecture. Ito will receive a $100,000 prize and be presented with a bronze medallion in a ceremony on 29 May in Boston at the John F. Kennedy Library designed by I.M. Pei, the 1983 Pritzker Laureate.

Recent recipients of the award include Wang Shu, Eduardo Souto de Moura and SANAA. See more about the Pritzker Prize on Dezeen.

Above: TOD’S Omotesando Building, 2002—2004, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by Nacasa & Partners Inc.

See a slideshow of key projects by Toyo Ito here.

Here's the announcement from the organisers:

Toyo Ito of Japan is the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate

Toyo Ito, a 71 year old architect whose architectural practice is based in Tokyo, Japan, will be the recipient of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize. Ito is the sixth Japanese architect to become a Pritzker Laureate -- the first five being the late Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, and the team of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010.

The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture’s highest honor will be at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts on Wednesday, May 29. This marks the first time the ceremony has been held in Boston, and the location has particular significance since it was designed by another Pritzker Laureate, Ieoh Ming Pei who received the prize in 1983.

In making the announcement, Pritzker elaborated, “We are particularly pleased to be holding our ceremony at the Kennedy Library, and it is even more significant because the date is John F. Kennedy’s birthday.”

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which was founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. The laureates receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo, spoke from his home in the United Kingdom, quoting from the jury citation that focuses on the reasons for this year’s choice: “Throughout his career, Toyo Ito has been able to produce a body of work that combines conceptual innovation with superbly executed buildings. Creating outstanding architecture for more than 40 years, he has successfully undertaken libraries, houses, parks, theaters, shops, office buildings and pavilions, each time seeking to extend the possibilities of architecture. A professional of unique talent, he is dedicated to the process of discovery that comes from seeing the opportunities that lie in each commission and each site.”

Above: Tama Art University Library (Hachiōji campus), 2004—2007, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by Tomio Ohashi.

Toyo Ito began working in the firm of Kiyonori Kikutake & Associates after he graduated from Tokyo University’s Department of Architecture in 1965. In1971, he founded his own studio in Tokyo, and named it Urban Robot (Urbot). In 1979, he changed the name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

He has received numerous international awards, including in 2010, the 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu; and in 2006, The Royal Institute of British Architects’ Royal Gold Medal; and in 2002, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for the 8th Venice Biennale International Exhibition. Calling him a “creator of timeless buildings,” the Pritzker Jury cites Ito for “infusing his designs with a spiritual dimension and for the poetics that transcend all his works.”

Toyo Ito made this comment in reaction to winning the prize: “Architecture is bound by various social constraints. I have been designing architecture bearing in mind that it would be possible to realize more comfortable spaces if we are freed from all the restrictions even for a little bit. However, when one building is completed, I become painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future. “Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works,” he concluded.

One of his first projects in 1971 was a home in a suburb of Tokyo. Called “Aluminum House,” the structure consisted of wooden frame completely covered in aluminum. Most of his early works were residences. In 1976, he produced a home for his sister, who had recently lost her husband. The house was called “White U” and generated a great deal of interest in Ito’s works. Of most of his work in the 1980’s, Ito explains that he was seeking to erase conventional meaning from his works through minimalist tactics, developing lightness in architecture that resembles air and wind.

He calls the Sendai Mediatheque, completed in 2001 in Sendai City, Miyagi, Japan, one of the high points of his career. In the Phaidon book, Toyo Ito, he explains, “The Mediatheque differs from conventional public buildings in many ways. While the building principally functions as a library and art gallery, the administration has actively worked to relax divisions between diverse programmes, removing fixed barriers between various media to progressively evoke an image of how cultural facilities should be from now on.”

Above: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, 2002, London, UK.

The jury commented on this project in their citation, saying, “Ito has said that he strives for architecture that is fluid and not confined by what he considers to be the limitations of modern architecture. In the Sendai Mediatheque he achieved this by structural tubes, which permitted new interior spatial qualities.”

Another of Ito’s projects commented on by the jury is the TOD’S Omotesando building in Tokyo, “where the building skin also serves as structure,” to quote the jury citation, and further, “Innovative is a word often used to describe Toyo Ito’s works.” Citing the Municipal Funeral Hall in Gifu Prefecture, Tokyo’s Tama Art University Library, and London’s 2002 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, the jury calls attention to some “of his many inspiring spaces.”

The distinguished jury that selected the 2013 Pritzker Laureate consists of its chairman, The Lord Palumbo, internationally known architectural patron of London, chairman of the trustees, Serpentine Gallery, former chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain, former chairman of the Tate Gallery Foundation, and former trustee of the Mies van der Rohe Archive at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and alphabetically: Alejandro Aravena, architect and executive director of Elemental in Santiago, Chile; Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Washington, D.C.; Yung Ho Chang, architect and educator, Beijing, The People’s Republic of China; Glenn Murcutt, architect and 2002 Pritzker Laureate of Sydney, Australia; and Juhani Pallasmaa, architect, professor and author of Helsinki, Finland. Martha Thorne, associate dean for external relations, IE School of Architecture & Design, Madrid, Spain, is the executive director of the prize.

Above: Za-Koenji Public Theatre, 2005—2008, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to the previous laureates already mentioned, the late Philip Johnson was the first Pritzker Laureate in 1979. The late Luis Barragán of Mexico was named in 1980. The late James Stirling of the United Kingdom was elected in 1981, Kevin Roche in 1982, Ieoh Ming Pei in 1983, and Richard Meier in 1984. Hans Hollein of Austria was the 1985 Laureate. Gottfried Böhm of Germany received the prize in 1986. Robert Venturi received the honor in 1991, and Alvaro Siza of Portugal in 1992. Christian de Portzamparc of France was elected Pritzker Laureate in 1994. Frank Gehry of the United States was the recipient in 1989, the late Aldo Rossi of Italy in 1990. In 1996, Rafael Moneo of Spain was the Laureate; in 1997 the late Sverre Fehn of Norway; in 1998 Renzo Piano of Italy, in 1999 Sir Norman Foster of the UK, and in 2000, Rem Koolhaas of the Netherlands. Australian Glenn Murcutt received the prize in 2002. The late Jørn Utzon of Denmark was honored in 2003; Zaha Hadid of the UK in 2004; and Thom Mayne of the United States in 2005. Paulo Mendes da Rocha of Brazil was the Laureate in 2006, and Richard Rogers received the prize in 2007. Jean Nouvel of France was the Laureate in 2008. In 2009, Peter Zumthor of Switzerland received the award. In 2010, two Japanese architects were honored, partners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, Inc. In 2011, Eduardo Souto de Moura of Portugal was the laureate. Last year, Wang Shu of The People’s Republic of China became the laureate.

The field of architecture was chosen by the Pritzker family because of their keen interest in building due to their involvement with developing the Hyatt Hotels around the world; and because architecture was a creative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. The procedures were modeled after the Nobels, with the final selection being made by the international jury with all deliberations and voting in secret. Nominations are continuous from year to year with hundreds of nominees from countries all around the world being considered each year.

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