by ArchitectureWeek

Australian architect Glenn Murcutt has been awarded the 26th annual Pritzker Prize. He is internationally known for environmentally sensitive modernist houses that respond to their climate and surroundings in the vast Australian landscape.

Says Pritzker Prize jury chairman J. Carter Brown in explaining the jury's choice: "Glenn Murcutt occupies a unique place in today's architectural firmament. In an age obsessed with celebrity, the glitz of our 'starchitects,' backed by large staffs and copious public relations support, dominate the headlines."

Brown continues: "As a total contrast, our laureate works in a one-person office on the other side of the world from much of the architectural attention, yet has a waiting list of clients, so intent is he to give each project his personal best. He is an innovative architectural technician who is capable of turning his sensitivity to the environment and to locality into forthright, totally honest, non-showy works of art."

Murcutt's Work Down Under

Murcutt's design work has been described as a synthesis of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the native Australian wool shed. He is also influenced by the wisdom of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia whose practice he has adopted, to "touch the earth lightly."   >>>

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Glenn Murcutt has just been named 2002 Pritzker Prize Laureate. Photo: Reiner Blunck Murcutt's Simpson-Lee House in Mount Wilson, New South Wales, Australia. Photo: Glenn Murcutt   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.