Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2008, at 11:42 AM ET
The Pritzker Prize, which this year was awarded to French architect Jean Nouvel, is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture. It is an inaccurate analogy. Nobel Prizes, whether in literature, chemistry, or physics, are given to individuals for individual work; buildings are the result of teamwork. Sometimes Nobels are awarded to small teams of scientists, and researchers do have assistants, but not 140 of them, which is the size of Ateliers Jean Nouvel, whose head office is in Paris but which maintains site offices in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, and Minneapolis.
Credit to Nouvel for winning the Prize; this sudden tide of articles about the Pritzker is by no means indicative of any disgruntledness by the media; events such as this always drum up strong opinions. Here, Rybcznski hits bullseye in this piece, because architecture is and was never a game played by one individual, but by countless pairs of eyes and hands who work together to make things happen. Without a doubt, it takes vision and talent to realize the architecture that has put Nouvel and his Pritzker contemporaries where they now stand; but maybe some day there’ll be a prize for all the team players out there who are regularly left out of the awards ceremony year in year out.
Read more at www.Slate.com.
