The duo, whose ethos “never to demolish” has given new life to pre-existing urban architecture, will receive the Pritzker Prize 2021 at a ceremony later this year, organizers announced on Tuesday.
Born in France and Morocco, respectively, Lacaton and Vassal met as students in Bordeaux before co-founding the Paris-based Lacaton & Vassal clinic in 1987. Together, they designed a series of large cultural and educational buildings, including the Nantes School of Riverside Campus of Architecture, completed in 2009, and an ambitious 2012 expansion of the Palais de Tokyo art gallery in Paris, which saw the museum increase in size by 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet).
Tokyo Palais, Paris, France Credit: Courtesy of Philippe Ruault
But it is his work on renovating post-war social housing buildings in France that has attracted most of the industry’s applause, including the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture and the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award. His 2004 “Plus” manifesto, written alongside architect Frédéric Druot, pressured the French government to reform, rather than demolish, the country’s public housing with the mantra: “Never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform and reuse! “
The approach resulted in the rejuvenation of several large residential blocks threatened with demolition, as France’s urban planning policies in the 2000s sought to demolish and rebuild aged public housing projects rather than improve them. In 2011, Lacaton, Vassal and Druot completed the transformation of the Tour Bois le Prêtre, a decadent 1960s residential project in northern Paris. By replacing the building’s facade, the architects not only increased the square footage of each of the 96 units, but also added modern features, such as terraces and large windows.
Anne Lacaton and Philippe Vassal Credit: Courtesy of Laurent Chalet
The trio subsequently completed a large-scale renovation of another social housing complex in Bordeaux, modernizing and expanding its 560 apartments without displacing their current residents. According to a press release announcing the 2021 Pritzker winners, their work was completed at one-third the cost of demolishing and rebuilding the three blocks from scratch.
Demolition an ‘act of violence’
Lacaton and Vassal’s other large-scale renovation projects in France also saw them convert an old factory into a private residence in Bordeaux and a disabled shipbuilding workshop into a gallery and office space in Dunkirk.
“Transformation is the opportunity to do more and better with what already exists,” said Lacaton in a press release announcing this year’s Pritzker winners. “Demolition is an easy and short-term decision. It is a waste of many things – a waste of energy, a waste of material and a waste of history. In addition, it has a very negative social impact. For us, it is an act of violence. “
Tour Bois le Prêtre, Paris, France Credit: Courtesy of Philippe Ruault
First awarded to the celebrated modernist Philip Johnson in 1979, the Pritzker Prize recognizes the work of a living architect, or architects, who exhibit a combination of “talent, vision and commitment”, according to the organizers. Although traditionally attributed to a single architect, several pairs have taken the award home in recent years, starting with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in 2001.
House in Bordeaux Credit: Courtesy of Philippe Ruault
The award’s judges said that Lacaton and Vassal’s approach reinvigorated “the modernist hopes and dreams of improving the lives of many.” The jury’s quote continued: “They achieve this through a powerful sense of space and materials that creates architecture as strong in its forms as in its convictions, as transparent in its aesthetics as in its ethics.”
The 10-person panel of judges – which included architects, educators and a United States Supreme Court associate judge Stephen Breyer – also credited the duo for “expanding the notion of sustainability”, saying the two architects “refuse any opposition between architectural quality, environmental responsibility and the search for an ethical society. “
Top image: The 60’s Grand Parc social housing project refurbished in Bordeaux, France.