Royal Academy Launches Architecture Awards
John Hill
13. February 2018
Yamanashi Museum of Fruit by Itsuko Hasegawa (Photo: scarletgreen/Flickr)
The London-based institution has awarded Japanese architect Itsuko Hasegawa its first Royal Academy Architecture Prize 2018 and released a shortlist for the new RA Dorfman Award.
Per the Royal Academy of Arts' website, the RA has launched the two international awards to "demonstrate and heighten the RA’s role as a global champion of architecture." The jury's* choice of Itsuko Hasegawa – "honoring her inspiring and enduring contribution to the culture of architecture" – draws attention to "one of Japan's most important architects" who is also "under-recognized despite her significant contribution to modern architecture both in Japan and around the world."
Hasegawa, who was born in 1941, the same year as Toyo Ito, founded her practice in 1979 after working for metabolist architect Kiyonori Kikutake and then Kazuo Shinohara. Although overshadowed by Ito and other contemporaries, Hasegawa has realized a number of notable projects in Japan, most of them cultural. These include the Shonandai Culture Center, a children's museum in Fujisawa; the Sumida Culture Factory in Tokyo; the Yamanashi Fruits Museum in Yamanashi, and the Fukuroi Workshop Center in Shizuoka.
Itsuko Hasegawa (Photo via e-flux)
The shortlist for the 2018 RA Dorfman Award, which champions global talent that represents the future of architecture:
- Anne Holtrop, Founder, Studio Anne Holtrop (The Netherlands and Bahrain)
- Rahel Shawl, Founder, RAAS Architects (Ethiopia)
- Arquitectura Expandida (Colombia)
- Alireza Taghaboni, Founder, nextoffice (Iran)
- Go Hasegawa, Founder, Go Hasegawa and Associates (Japan)
The RA has not indicated when the winner of the inaugural prize will be announced.
*The 2018 RA Architecture Awards Judges:
- Louisa Hutton (chair), Sauerbruch Hutton
- Richard Rogers, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
- Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard GSD
- Conrad Shawcross, artist
- Razia Iqbal, BBC News
- Joseph Grima, Space Caviar