Japan’s Yamamoto Riken receives Pritzker Architecture Prize | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Japanese architect Yamamoto Riken received the Pritzker Architecture Prize at an award ceremony in Chicago on Saturday.

The award is known as the Nobel Prize for architects.

After receiving the gold medal, Yamamoto said he is very happy and proud to be a “member of the Pritzker family.”

Yamamoto, who is 79, designed the Yokosuka Museum of Art in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, and “The Circle”, a complex in Zurich.

Yamamoto uses glass for outer walls to make the interior visible and incorporate open space into buildings.

The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award, said his buildings attract people and multiply opportunities for them to meet spontaneously.

Yamamoto said he was almost moved to tears to receive recognition for his past work.

He added that he wants to continue designing buildings and the environment surrounding them as well.

Yamamoto is the ninth Japanese architect to receive the prize. Isozaki Arata won the award in 2019.