April 10, 2006

Pritzker Price 2006 goes to Paulo Mendes da Rocha


Patriarch Plaza and Viaduct do Cha 2
Originally uploaded by scisar.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha was awarded the Pritzker Price, the most prestigious award in the field of architecture. The good news must have arrived to him this January and I must say, like last year I was hoping to hear about a different Laureat. Nevertheless, it was granted to one of the great brazilian architects, who has a quite restpectable oevre to show, which you could read as being in the modernist tradition.
Mendes da Rocha, a graduate of the private McKenzie University in São Paulo, has built a number of importent builings. For the renewal of the old center of São Paulo, this pictured steel and concrete canopy is certainly very important. It is the Patriarch Plaza next to the Viaduct do Cha, the image was taken shortly after Christmas 2005 on a Sunday.
Her some additional information on his work (photobook) and the mediakit of the Pritzker Prize jury.