Saitama Prefectural University in Koshigaya, Japan. Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop/The Pritzker Architecture Prize

Yamamoto wins the Pritzker Prize

Riken Yamamoto, a Japanese architect, creates understated buildings meant to inspire social connection and transparency. He just won the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor.

He has designed family homes without exterior walls, public buildings made of transparent glass and connected by terraces, and a fire station that allows those walking past to watch the firefighters train.

The Pritzker jury said his designs enabled “people to shape their own lives within his buildings with elegance, normality, poetry and joy.”