Alejandro Aravena receives the Pritzker 2016, the Nobel Prize of architecture – Financial Journal

by Veronica Brown

This is the highlight of the many milestones in his career. Alejandro Aravena yesterday made history in the field of national architecture to become the first Chilean architect to receive the prize Pritzke called Nobel of architecture

In Latin America only three people have received this distinction before. The Mexican Luis Barragan (1980) and Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer (1988) and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

Through Elemental and with partners, Aravena has redefined social housing and has made architecture to solve hard problems: the environment, poverty and social conflict. He has developed this type of housing in Chile, Brazil, United States, Italy and Mexico. In addition, a book of 500 pages with this path was published by the German publisher Hatje Cantz and presented at the Venice Biennale in 2012.

The first of these developments brought forward Elementary is located in Iquique. Quinta Monroy had to solve a minor problem: file 100 families who had illegally occupied an area of ​​0.5 hectare for 30 years in the city center. Despite the cost of land (3 times more than what social housing can normally pay for ground), which wanted to avoid was the eradication of these families to the periphery.

And they succeeded developing a innovative type of housing where 50% of it could be built by the owners.

“If parties with the idea of ​​seeing architecture as art, buildings can be beautiful, but they risk become irrelevant (…) The challenge is to look at the problems facing society: poverty, segregation, violence, insecurity, education, inequality, “said yesterday the Financial Times

A graduate of the Catholic University. The architect has in its portfolio of high-flying jobs and public as the Paseo Metropolitan Park and Children PRES Constitution, sustainable reconstruction project for the city affected by the earthquake and tsunami of 2010, and has involved redesigning the urban plan to protect it from future natural disasters.

At about private projects, where has prioritized sustainability and Innovation Center UC Anacleto Angelini and design of the building was added pharmaceutical Norvatis in Shanghai.

Last year Alejandro Aravena was chosen as the new director of the Venice Biennale, which will take place between May 26 and November 27 this year. Thus, he became the first Latin American appointed to lead this meeting.

When it announced the news, he said his curatorship would have a clear axis “there are several battles that must be won, and many borders that need be extended in order to improve the quality of the built environment and consequently the quality of life of people. We would like people to see success stories worth being told “

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