MANILA, Philippines – Who is the Pritzker Prize winning American architect who is best known for his use for his rationalist designs and the use of the color white?
He is best known for the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
He was born on Oct. 12,1934 in Newark, New Jersey, and earned his bachelor of architecture degree from Cornell University in 1957. He worked for prominent architectural firms like Marcel Breuer before starting his own practice in 1963.
Identified as one of the New York Five in 1972, his commission of the Getty Center in Los Angeles catapulted his popularity among the mainstream.
Much of his works builds on the work of architects of the early to mid-20th century especially Le Corbusier. His work also reflects the influences of other designers such as Mies Van der Rohe, and in some instances Frank Lloyd Wright and Luis Barragan without the color.
He is best known for his use of the color white, drawing inspiration from many architectural buildings throughout history, including cathedrals,and the white washed villages of the Mediterranean region, in Spain, southern Italy, and Greece.
Some of his best known projects are the Gerry Center in Los Angeles, the High Museum in Atlanta, the Frankfurt Museum for Decorative Arts in Germany, the Canal Plus Television headquarters in Paris,the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, and the Antheneum in Harmony, Indiana.
Recognized with the highest honors available in architecture in 1997, he received the AIA Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects as well as the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese government, in recognition of a lifetime achievement in the arts. In 1984,he was awarded the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, considered the field’s highest honor. He is the youngest recipient in the history of the prize.
He has given numerous lectures throughout the world and participated in many juries. He has written and been the subject of many books and monographs, and innumerable newspaper and magazine articles.
His fame is such that his work was displayed on the TV show The Real Housewives of New York City. Two of the women go to the Model Museum in Long Island City, NY to see his work.
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Last week’s question: Who designed the Philippine Post Office Building?
Answer: Juan Marcos de Guzman Arellano
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