Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, known for airy designs that link the built environment to nature, has been announced as the first winner of the newly launched Barragán Prize, the Architect’s Newspaper reports. Named for renowned Mexican architect Luis Barragán, the prize is a collaboration between La Cuadra, a cultural space outside Mexico City occupying a compound designed by Barragán and his protégé Andrés Casillas, and fashion brand Bottega Veneta.
The honor is awarded in recognition of “work [that] challenges conventions and expands the possibilities of contemporary architecture,” and includes a medal and $100,000. Half of the money is presented to the winner, while the other half funds a yearlong mentorship program.
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Ishigami was presented with the honor at a ceremony held October 9 at La Cuadra. He was selected by a panel comprising artists Marina Abramović and Pedro Reyes; architects Jürgen Mayer H., Amanda Levete, Winy Maas, Kazuyo Sejima, and Benedetta Tagliabue; curator Raymund Ryan; fashion designer Louise Trotter; and individuals from La Cuadra.
Born in 1974, the Tokyo-based Ishigami worked as an architect at SANAA before founding his own firm, junya.ishigami+associates, in 2004. Among his best-known designs are those for the Kanagawa Institute of Technology (2008); the restoration of the museum garden of the Moscow Polytechnic Museum (2011); the House of Peace, Copenhagen (2014); the Art Biotop Water Garden, Tochigi, Japan (2018); and the Zaishui Art Museum, Rizhao, China (2024).
The 2010 winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the inaugural winner of the Obel Award in 2019, Ishigami designed the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion. The pavilion project became mired in scandal after the Architects’ Journal reported that interns on the project were expected to work for free, thirteen hours a day, six days a week, and to supply their own equipment. The Serpentine subsequently ordered junya.ishigami+associates to pay interns working on the pavilion.