Justice Breyer. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer has been named chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize jury by the Hyatt Foundation. As a member of the award jury since 2011, Breyer takes over from the current chair Glenn Murcutt, Hon. FAIA. Tom Pritzker, chairman and president of the prize’s sponsor, noted how Breyer’s devotion to “civic-minded architecture underscores the mission of the Prize and his unparalleled ability to guide a group deliberation is essential in creating a unified voice.” The international prize is regarded as architecture’s highest honor, and this year marks the 41st year of the award.
Justice Breyer was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1980 and become Chief Judge in 1990. While he was a federal appeals judge in Boston he played a key role in shepherding the design and construction of the John Joseph Moakley United State Courthouse, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. In 1994 he was appointed a Supreme Court Justice by President Clinton. The most recent Pritzker Prize was awarded to Balkrishna Doshi in Toronto, Canada, and the 2019 Laureate will be announced next spring.
Moakley United State Courthouse. Image Courtesy of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
The jury for the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Prize is currently comprised of Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice in Washington, D.C.; Wang Shu, architect and 2012 Pritzker Laureate in Hangzhou, China; André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, architectural critic, curator, and Brazilian ambassador to Japan in Tokyo; Kazuyo Sejima, architect and 2010 Pritzker Laureate in Tokyo; Richard Rogers, Hon. FAIA, architect and 2007 Pritzker Laureate in London; Benedetta Tagliabue, architect and educator in Barcelona, Spain; Ratan N. Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts in Mumbai, and Martha Thorne, executive director of the Pritzker Prize and dean of the IE School of Architecture & Design in Madrid.
The Pritzker Architecture Prize was founded in 1979 by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy. Its purpose is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.