Architect David Chipperfield wins 2023 Pritzker Prize
Torsten Landsberg
May 24, 2023
The acclaimed British architect won the prestigious prize for his timeless modern designs and focus on the climate crisis.
British architect and urban planner David Chipperfield won the 2023 Pritzker PrizeImage: Monika Skolimowska/dpa/picture alliance
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The Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Japan Art Association's Praemium Imperiale, a knighthood in his native Britain: The list of honors and awards is so long that it's surprising David Chipperfield had yet to receive the Pritzker Prize.
But that will change on May 24, 2023, when the Briton receives the award — considered the Nobel Prize of architecture — for the first time in Athens, Greece.
Sir David Alan Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and grew up on a farm in the southwest of England. He originally wanted to become a veterinarian, but his passion for architecture was ignited when his father converted another farm into vacation apartments. As young David assisted his father, he became fascinated by the design possibilities.
After studying architecture in London, Chipperfield worked at the office of legendary architect Norman Foster in the 1970s. In 1985, he founded his own company, David Chipperfield Architects.
Today, the architectural firm has offices in London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai and Santiago de Compostela.
David Chipperfield: The architect of minimalism
A look back at some landmark designs by prize-winning British architect, David Chipperfield, who turned 70 on December 18.
Image: picture-alliance/imagebroker/J. Tack
A tiny Acropolis
The Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, opened in June 2006, sits on a rock plateau overlooking the Neckar River valley in the birthplace of legendary writer-poet Friedrich Schiller. Chipperfield fluently interwove elegant motifs of classical architecture with contemporary design. The museum plays with perspectives and vistas, contrasting daylight and artificial light.
In 2003, reconstruction and renovation work began on the Neues Museum in Berlin according to Chipperfield's plans. Together with the architect Julian Harap, the British architect developed the concept of "supplementary restoration" in which the substance of the original was preserved. Closed for decades, it was reopened in 2009.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Jensen
Chic modernism in Germany's Ruhr area
In 2010, the Folkwang Museum in Essen opened the new David Chipperfield wing. It comprises six pavilions that complement the original museum building, which stands under historical preservation. With its huge pale green front made of recycled glass, the cubic structure radiates tranquillity.
Image: picture-alliance/imagebroker/T. Robbin
A seaside museum with a painter's perspective
The new Turner Contemporary Gallery opened in 2011 in Margate on the Kent coast in southeastern England. The art gallery has played a key role in the city's revitalization. The once pulsating seaside resort was coming to terms with a sharp drop in visitor numbers and falling investment. The building aimed to attract new visitors and makes a lasting impact on the cityscape
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fuller
Interconnected cement construction
Redesigned in 2012 as part of an inner city development project in Wakefield, England, the old harbor quarters was supplemented with a new David Chipperfield museum building for the Hepworth Museum. Flanked by water on two sides, the building nestled on the banks of the Calder River consists of 10 trapezoidal concrete hexahedra of different sizes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hoelzl
'Sail and Wind' landmark in Valencia
"Veles e Vents" — sail and wind — is the name of a Chipperfield building in the port of the Spanish city of Valencia. Erected in 2006 on the occasion of arguably the most important sailing race in the world, the "America's Cup," the building with clear ocean views is designed to resemble a sailboat.
Image: picture-alliance/imagebroker/J. Tack
An airy cultural center
The Museo delle Culture (MUDEC) in Milan has been uniting the Archaeological Museum, a marionette workshop, a film school and a center for non-European cultures since the beginning of 2015. David Chipperfield's renovation of the building, which formerly was a place for industrial workers, includes a glazed inner courtyard around which the exhibition rooms open up.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/O. Gonzalez
A modern art castle
The Museo Jumex in Mexico City has been home to more than 2,000 exhibits by international, Mexican and Latin American artists since 2014. Founded in 2001, Eugenio Lopez's private collection focuses on contemporary art. The museum building is based on 14 supports, which merges the surrounding public plaza with the ground floor.
Image: imago
A visitor center to honor an art patron
Opened in 2019, the James Simon Gallery became the centerpiece of Berlin's Museum Island as it provided direct access to the Pergamon Museum and the Neues Museum. The Berlin office of David Chipperfield Architects oversaw the design and construction phase, which lasted ten years. "The exciting and difficult thing about the project was understanding what it should be," explained Chipperfield.
Image: W. Wirth/Zoonar/picture alliance
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Chipperfield made a name for himself internationally, especially with the renovation and reconstruction of old buildings while taking into account their history and environment.
His offices have completed more than 100 projects in Asia, Europe and North America, including the reconstruction of the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice, the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, and the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany.
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Architect's special relationship with Berlin
David Chipperfield has realized only a few projects in Britain and has felt a certain estrangement from his homeland since Brexit. But he has developed a close connection with Berlin. In 2009, he completed the reconstruction of the German capital's Neues Museum located at the city's Museum Island, which had been severely damaged during World War II.
Chipperfield Architects also designed and built the visitor center for the Museum Island, namely the James Simon Gallery, which opened in 2019. Its completion took seven years longer than planned.
The fact that the project ended up costing €130 million ($140 million), twice the original sum, prompted Berliners, with their characteristic irreverence, to dub it "the most expensive coat check" in the city.
David Chipperfield's James Simon Gallery stands in contrast to the classical architecture of Berlin's Museum IslandImage: Jürgen Henkelmann/imageBROKER/picture alliance
In addition, the office was responsible for renovating the Neue Nationalgalerie from 2015 to 2021. The building, inaugurated in 1968 and built according to plans by Bauhaus master Mies van der Rohe, had significant construction defects.
When the Pritzker jury announced its choice in March 2023, it praised Chipperfield for his "timeless modern design that confronts climate urgencies, transforms social relationships and reinvigorates cities."
Speaking to DW, the 2023 Pritzker Prize laureate emphasized the social responsibility of his industry.
"Architecture takes, it takes land, it takes resources, it takes energy — so then the question is, what does it give?" He added that sustainability for too long has played a secondary role in architecture.
One legend meets another: David Chipperfield oversaw renovations to Mies van der Rohe's iconic New Nationalgalerie in BerlinImage: Maurizio Gambarini/dpa/picture alliance
Galician foundation to help protect environment
In 2017, Chipperfield founded the Fundacion RIA in Santiago de Compostela. Based in northern Spain, the foundation aims to harmonize construction and the environment through planning control.
He told DW that it's more energy-efficient to preserve existing buildings rather than demolish them. His stance aligns with the philosophies of previous Pritzker laureates, such as the French architectural firm Lacaton & Vassal.
Architecture must not simply work to make the world more beautiful, said Chipperfield, but also to make it more just and sustainable: "This is the moment in the planet's history where we really have to think about how we aspire society to be."
