Paulo Mendes da Rocha received Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Venice Architecture Biennale 2016.

Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 announced that Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha is the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia titled 'Reporting From The Front selected by Alejandro Aravena. The decision was made by the Board of Directors of La Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta, upon recommendation of the Curator of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition Alejandro Aravena.
 
The board of Biennale directors praised the architect for the 'timelessness' of his designs and they stated that ''the most striking attribute of his architecture is its Timelessness. Many  decades  after  being  built,  each of his  projects have resisted  the test  of  time,  both  stylistically  and physically. This astonishing  consistency  may  be  the  consequence  of  his  ideological  integrity  and  his  structural  genius.'' 

Brazilian Sculpture Museum, São Paulo-View from entrance to museum. Image © Leo Finotti

''He  is  a  nonconformist  challenger  and  simultaneously a passionate realist. His fields of interest are beyond architecture, in political, social, geographical, historical and technical realms. The role model he played for many generations of architects in Brazil, Latin America and everywhere is that of a person able to join shared and collective efforts as well as someone able to attract others to the cause of a better built environment'' they added.

Forma Furniture Showroom, São Paulo. Image © Leo Finotti

The key projects of the architect are including Brazilian Sculpture Museum, São Paulo, Forma Furniture Showroom, São Paulo, Paulistano Athletics Club, São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado Renovation, São Paulo, Patriarch Plaza Redevelopment, São Paulo, Expo ’70 – Brazilian Pavilion, Osaka, Japan, 1970 and Technological City Masterplan, University of Vigo, Galicia, northwest Spain.

Paulistano Athletics Club, São Paulo. Image courtesy of Architectuul.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha was born in October 1928 at his maternal grandparents’ house, and Paquetá Island, in the middle of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, the national capital, where the Mendes da Rocha family lived. The architect still lives in São Paulo, Paulo Mendes da Rocha graduated from the Mackenzie Architecture School in 1954.

Pinacoteca do Estado Renovation, São Paulo. Image courtesy SP não para.

After fouded his own office in 1955, he was able to build a solid carrier as a designer of houses, schools, apartment buildings, museums, furniture, theatre sets and several urban projects. After graduation, he won a national project competition in 1957 for the construction of a gymnasium, the Clube Atlético Paulistano. This work brought him public recognition and also won the Grande Prêmio Presidência da Repúblicaat the 6th Bienal of São Paulo in 1961.

The award ceremony to Paulo Mendes da Rocha will be held on Saturday May 28th 2016 at Ca’ Giustinian, the headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia, during the awards ceremony and inauguration of the 15th Exhibition, which will open to the public at 10:00 am on that same day.

Top Image © Andrea Altemulher

> via Venice Architecture Biennale 2016