Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal are the winners of the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2021

This year's Pritzker Architecture Prize went to French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, founders of the Paris-based firm Lacaton & Vassal. In a career of more than 30 years, the duo has focused on the design and redevelopment of private homes, social housing, public spaces and major urban interventions. They are also known for their ability to renew the modernist tradition in architecture and adapt it to the challenges of our time, such as knowing how to design spaces that promote both the physical and emotional well-being of their users. As said by Vassal, their work is “about solving constraints and problems, and finding spaces that can create uses, emotions and feelings".


Anne Lacaton e Jean-Philippe Vassal

The international Pritzker Architecture Prize (often called the " Nobel Prize of architecture") was created in 1979 by the Chicago-based Pritzker family through their Hyatt Foundation. The prize, which consists of $100,000 (U.S.) and a bronze medallion, is awarded annually to one or more living architects whose work is distinguished by a combination of qualities such as talent, vision, and commitment, and who are capable of producing artistic and architectural contributions that are significant to humanity and the environment. 


FRAC NordPas de Calais, 2013, France © Philippe Ruault 


FRAC NordPas de Calais, 2013, France © Philippe Ruault 

According to the Hyatt Foundation "the duo’s architecture reflects their advocacy of social justice and sustainability, by prioritizing a generosity of space and freedom of use through economical and ecological materials".

Latapie House, 1993, France © Philippe Ruault 


129 Units, Ourcq-Juarès Student and Social Housing, 2013, France © Philippe Ruault