Ricardo Legorreta awarded Praemium Imperiale

The Japan Art Association has awarded this year's prestigious Praemium Imperiale to Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta for his lifetime career. The award ceremony will take place on October 19 in Tokyo, and the winners will be presented with a medal by Prince Hitachi. Last year, the award was presented to architect Toyo Ito.

Ricardo Legorreta was born in Mexico (in 1931) and is one of the most important architects this country has given. His work combines Western modernism with traditional Mexican architecture. Vivid colors, geometric shapes, light-filled spaces, fountains and interior courtyards are elements that define his style. In his 50-year career, he has completed over 100 projects, including the Camino Real Hotel in Mexico City (1968), Casa Montalban in Los Angeles (1985), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey (1991), the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua (1993), the San Antonio Library in San Antonio, Texas (1995), the Technical Museum in San Jose, California (1998), the Center for Visual Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1999), the Juarez Complex in Mexico City (2003-2005), Carnegie Mellon College of Business & Computer Science in Qatar (2008) and Davidka Square in Jerusalem (2010). In 2010, he was the first Latin American architect to receive the American Institute of Architects Award.

The Japan Arts Association has been awarding the Praemium Imperiale to world-class artists every year since 1989 in the following categories: sculpture, painting, architecture, music and theater/film. Along with Legorreta in the architecture section, this year's honorees were: Bill Viola - Painting, Anish Kappor - Sculpture, Seiji Ozawa - Music and Judi Dench - Theater/Film.

More information can be found at:

www.praemiumimperiale.org.