The 2021 Pritzker Prize Winners Prove That Good Design Is Good for Everyone

Since establishing their firm, Lacaton & Vassal, in Paris in 1987, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have completed more than 30 projects throughout Europe and West Africa. Their body of work includes private and social housing, cultural and academic institutions, public spaces, and urban developments—all of which are designed to benefit individuals and society as a whole. 

"Good architecture is open—open to life, open to enhance the freedom of anyone, where anyone can do what they need to do," says Lacaton. "It should not be demonstrative or imposing, but it must be something familiar, useful, and beautiful, with the ability to quietly support the life that will take place within it."

The duo worked alongside architect Frédéric Druot to sensitively transform an outdated 1960s city housing project in France called La Tour Bois le Prêtre. Instead of razing the structure to begin anew—Lacaton and Vassal have a "never demolish" policy—they stripped the original concrete facade and set about increasing the interior square footage of each unit. Living rooms now extend out to flexible terraces, and large windows provide residents with unrestricted views over the city. 

"Our work is about solving constraints and problems, and finding spaces that can create uses, emotions, and feelings," says Vassal. "At the end of this process and all of this effort, there must be lightness and simplicity, when all that has been before was so complex."

The 2021 Pritzker Prize jury recognized the duo’s ability to execute designs that are fundamentally human-centric, but also holistic. "From early on, [the architects] have consistently expanded the notion of sustainability to be understood as a real balance between its economic, environmental, and social pillars," says the jury. "Their work has delivered through a variety of projects that actively address responsibility in these three dimensions."

Tom Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation, the sponsor of the award, echoes the jury’s sentiment. "Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have always understood that architecture lends its capacity to build a community for all of society," he says. "Their aim to serve human life through their work, demonstration of strength in modesty, and cultivation of a dialogue between old and new broadens the field of architecture."

Following last year’s winners, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Dublin’s Grafton Architects, Anne Lacaton is the sixth female laureate in the Pritzker Prize’s 42-year history. The award is given out yearly to honor a living architect or architects who make significant contributions to society. It is commonly referred to as "architecture’s Nobel prize," and is regarded by many as the profession’s highest honor. The winner is awarded $100,000 and a bronze medallion. 

Learn more about Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal’s work at their website and the Pritzker Architecture Prize website.

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For the First Time, Architecture’s Most Coveted Award Goes to Two Women 

Inside the Visionary Buildings of 2019 Pritzker Prize–Winner Arata Isozaki