Created in 1961, the
UIA Prizes honour professionals whose qualities, talents, and actions have had an international impact on the diverse sectors of architectural practice. This year, the Secretariat received 46 nominations.
The Jury, composed of UIA Bureau Members, included President Esa Mohamed (Malaysia), Past President Albert Dubler (France), Secretary General Thomas Vonier (USA), Treasurer Fabian Llisterri (Spain), and Vice-Presidents David Falla (UK), Deniz Incedayi (Turkey), Carlos Alvarez (Costa Rica), Yolanda Reyes (Philippines) and Ali Hayder (Sudan).
The jury has attributed the
Gold Medal, the highest honour awarded to a living architect by his fellow architects, to leading Japanese architect
Toyo Ito, nominated by the Japan Institute of Architects.
The
Auguste Perret Prize for Applied Technology in Architecture will go to
Nikolay Shumakov (Russia), nominated by the UIA’s Russian Member Section.
The
Jean Tschumi Prize for Architectural Criticism or Architectural Education was attributed to Professor
Ashraf M Salama (Egypt), nominated by the UIA’s Egyptian Member Section.
The
Robert Matthew Prize for the Improvement of the Quality of Human Settlements went to South African
Carin Smuts. Ms. Smuts was nominated by the UIA’s French Section.
The
Vassilis Sgoutas Prize recognizing inventive, implemented architectural solutions for reducing poverty and indigence was awarded to Vietnamese
Hoang Thuc Hao. Mr. Hoang was nominated by the UIA’s Vietnamese Section.
This year, the Jury decided
not to attribute a prize for the
Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize for Town-Planning or Territorial Development.
The winners will be presented with their medal at the Awards Ceremony on 6 September, which will culminate the activities surrounding the 25th UIA World Congress in Seoul, Korea.