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«My commitment to architecture focuses on the creation of public and open spaces. I aspire to design environments that are free and without boundaries». This is how 2024 Pritzker Prize winner Riken Yamamoto described his mission in the keynote he gave at Palazzo dei Congressi, BolognaFiere, as part of Cersaie 2024’s cultural program, “Building, Dwelling, Thinking.”
During the conference, the Japanese architect discussed several of his projects, stressing the importance of creating architecture that is open and accessible to all. Yamamoto’s work, which is mainly in Japan, China, and South Korea, includes private residences, social housing, schools, university campuses, government offices, and museums.
Between Zurich Airport and Butzenbühl Park, Switzerland, the Circle covers an area of 35,000 m². Conceived as a multi-use complex, the project, built with typical Swiss precision, opened in 2020. It houses numerous retail outlets, restaurants, two Hyatt hotels, and a conference center.
Yamamoto set out to create a small city, protected on the airport side by a massive glass and aluminum panel façade, while open to adjoining parkland on the other. The design, with its distinctive banana shape, encompasses several buildings and integrates with the surrounding urban context.
Inside, the various buildings form streets (gasse in Zurich) and small plazas that are open to the public 24/7. People can freely access and experience most of these spaces, interacting with the project instead of simply observing it from outside. The standard street width of 7.9 meters expands to 30 meters in the main square, while the streets themselves follow the course of Zurich’s old town, with gently sloping pavements. These places, inspired by the alleyways of medieval Europe, create an urban environment that feels contemporary yet familiar.
The project was conceived on two scales, with the sections accessible to the public on a human scale, and the elevated sections, with their strong visual impact, on an urban scale, defining the identity of the Circle when viewed from a distance.
The building façades create a pattern of clean lines, with a more prominent line marking off the customizable lower four levels, where business tenants can design their own sections of the façade.
Canopy roofs above the streets and plazas allow abundant light to filter into the spaces below while also providing protection from the elements.
The Taoyuan Museum of Art includes two main buildings connected by an enclosed bridge: the art museum building and the children’s museum building, which overlooks a lake.
A distinguishing feature of the architecture is its two green roofs, both on a 30 degree slope, with ramps and zigzagging paths that enhance the way the project interacts and harmonizes with the surrounding landscape.
The art gallery includes spaces beneath the inclined roof that retailers can rent or artists can use to hold temporary exhibitions. An aim of the project was to create a cultural venue that’s both accessible to all and well-integrated into the city – a little like a theme park, where each visit offers new discoveries.
Located in the hills near the Tama River, some 50 km from downtown Tokyo, this project includes two small towers, both with red ceramic cladding. A particularly noteworthy aspect of the architecture is the undulating and organic roof, which not only covers the lower levels, which are open to the public, but also serves as a public green space.
Yamamoto conceived this green roof as a multi-use space intended for the daily life of the local community and to host a range of events, thereby giving the city hall the dual role of meeting place and administrative center.
Completed in 2007, the Yokosuka Museum of Art stands out for a sunken section and an upper section that overlooks the surrounding green spaces.
The architecture resembles a glass box with a roof composed of glass panels that recall the appearance of water. A winding rooftop pathway contrasts with the transparency of the glass and leads visitors towards panoramic sea views.
Yamamoto conceived the exterior of the building as an open space for restaurants and workshops, while the central section houses the exhibition halls.
Dating from 1977, when Yamamoto was just 30, Yamakawa Villa is the architect’s first project. The residence, located at an altitude of 1700 m above sea level, covers 68 m² and was conceived as an open space for relaxation and as a summer retreat.
The home is organized in blocks, with the rooms arranged around a large central space with a table for eating and relaxing. The entire home sits beneath a roof that seems to rest delicately on the blocks, not so much enclosing the space but making it accessible to all by creating a feeling of openness and connection to the entire world.
>>> Riken Yamamoto wins the 53rd Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Please refer to the individual images in the gallery to look through the photo credits
