The Japanese architect, Arata Isosaki, has received this profession’s highest international reward, the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Price. The fact that he grew up close to the bombed city, Hiroshima, facilitated the young Isozaki’s ideas on how to rebuild cities and homes. For more than 60 years this prolific and influential 87-year old architect has designed buildings.

Nara Centennial Hall in Japan

Some of his definitive works include the Shanghai Symphony Hall, the Krakow Congress Centre, the Qatar National Convention Centre, the Allianz Tower in Milan, the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona and the Nara Centennial Hall in Japan.

Qatar’s National Convention Centre

Isozaki’s work is characterised by innovative ideas, as well as by a constantly evolving style that fused eastern and western ideas, without getting trapped in trends. According to the Pritzker Achitecture Prize Jury, his “architecture rests on profound understanding, not only of architecture but also of philosophy, history, theory, and culture.”