Named after Honorary UIA President and eminent twentieth century French architect Auguste Perret, renowned for his pioneering use of reinforced concrete and attributed triennially since 1961, the Auguste Perret Prize rewards a body of work characterised by technological excellence.
Auguste Perret was born on February 12, 1874, in Ixelles, Belgium. It was in the family business that he was introduced to construction processes before studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Along with his brothers Gustave and Claude, he was one of the first to use reinforced concrete in construction, initially coming up against the conservatism of the profession. In the spring of 1945, the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urban Planning appointed him chief architect for the reconstruction of Le Havre.
Throughout his career, he remained partial to this inexpensive, robust material. The coherence of his work, which spans more than half a century, reflects his desire to enshrine modern construction within a new architectural order defined as the School of Structural Classicism. Auguste Perret and his architectural studio worked on many public buildings in France (the Champs Elysées theater in Paris, the Notre-Dame-du-Raincy church, the Orly airfield, the Saclay Atomic Energy Center) and abroad (including in Great Britain, Algeria, Turkey). He played a major role in the reconstruction of the cities destroyed during World War II.
Winners of the Prize (1961 – 2021)
1961 – F. Candela (Mexico) and two ex-aequo mentions: one to architects of the British Ministry for Education office, the other to architects of the office for the study of industrial and agricultural buildings of Hungary
1963 – ex-aequo: K. Mayekawa (Japan) and J. Prouvé (France)
1965 – H. Sharoun (GFR); mention to H. and K. Siren (Finland)
1967 – F. Otto and R. Gutbrod (East Germany)
1969 – Karel Hubacek (Czechoslovakia)
1972 – E. Pérez Piñero (Spain)
1975 – A.C. Erickson and team (Canada); mention to J. Cardoso (Brazil)
1978 – ex aequo: Kiyonori Kitutake (Japan) and Piano & Rogers (Italy / UK)
1981 – G. Benisch (GFR); mention to J. Rougerie (France)
1984 –Joao Baptista Vilanova Artigas (Brazil)
1987 – Santiago Calatrava (Spain); Mention to C. Testa (Argentina)
1990 – Adien Fainsilber (France)
1993 – KHR AS Arkitekten (Denmark)
1996 – Thomas Herzog (Germany)
1999 – Ken Yeang (Malaysia)
2002 – Sir Norman Foster (UK)
2005 – Werner Sobek (Germany)
2008 – Françoise-Hélène Jourda (France)
2011 – Shigeru Ban (Japan)
2014 – not awarded
2017 – Nikolay Shumakov (Russia)
2021 – Anupama Kundoo (India) & Rudy Ricciotti (France)
2023 – Philip F. Yuan (China)