2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize: Sir David Alan Chipperfield – Photo courtesy of Tom Welsh.

Architecture – Civic architect, urban planner, and activist Sir David Alan Chipperfield receives the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Nobel equivalent for architecture. The British architect’s work spans from civic, cultural, and academic buildings to urban master planning throughout Asia, Europe, and North America.

• RELATED STORIES: Read more about the Pritzker Prize on Archipanic.

The Neues Museum in Berlin, 2009 – Photo Courtesy of SPK / David Chipperfield Architects, photo Joerg von Bruchhausen.

“I take this award as an encouragement to continue to direct my attention not only to the substance of architecture and its meaning but also to the contribution that we can make as architects to address the existential challenges of climate change and societal inequality.” Said Sir David Alan Chipperfield.

“We know that, as architects, we can have a more prominent and engaged role in creating not only a more beautiful world but a fairer and more sustainable one too. We must rise to this challenge and help inspire the next generation to embrace this responsibility with vision and courage.”

Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, 2021 – Photo by Thomas Bruns, courtesy of BBR.

Chipperfield is known for renovating and reconstructing old buildings, honoring their history, and preserving the environment. The 2023 Jury hailed him for “steering clear of trends and fashions. […] His works “are never self-centred, nor do they serve in any way as art for art’s sake: rather, they always remained focused on the higher purpose of the undertaking and the pursuit of civic and public good.”

The Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire, 2011 – Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan.

“Such a capacity to distill and perform meditated design operations is a dimension of sustainability that has not been obvious in recent years: sustainability as pertinence not only eliminates the superfluous but is also the first step to creating structures able to last, physically and culturally.”

River and Rowing Museum in West Yorkshire, UK, 1997 – Photo courtesy of Richard Bryant / Arcaid.

Born in London in 1953, Chipperfield graduated from the Kingston School of Arts to begin his carrier working with fellow Pritzker Architecture Prize-laureates Norman Foster and Richard Rogers before establishing David Chipperfield Architects in London in 1985. Today, the studio has offices in London, Milan, Shanghai, and Santiago de Compostela, where he lives.

Restauration of Procuratie Vecchie in Venice, 2022 – Photo by Alessandra Chemollo.

Among Chipperfields latest work is the renovation of the historic palazzo Procuratie Vecchie in Venice St. Mark Square and the Morland Mixité Capitale in Paris – both completed in 2022.

In Berlin, he rebuilt the Neues Museum in 2009, which was largely destroyed during World War II, and renovated Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie, in 2021.

Museo Jumex in Mexico City, 2013 – Photo courtesy of Simon Menges.

Other major projects are the linear River and Rowing Museum on the River Thames, 1997, The Amorepacific HQs in Seoul in 2017, the Hepworth in Wakefield in 2011, the Saint Louis Art Museum in Missouri in 2013, and the expansion and masterplan of the Royal College of Arts in London, 2018.

Royal Academy of Arts masterplan in London, 2018 – Photo courtesy of Simon Menges.

All images: courtesy of the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Saint Louis Art Museum in Missouri, USA, 2013 – Photo courtesy of Simon Menges.

Amorepacific Headquarters in Seoul, 2017 – Photo courtesy of Noshe.

Morland Mixité Capitale in Paris, 2022 – Photo courtesy of Simon Menges.