Submitted by WA Contents
Amanda Levete wins the 2018 Jane Drew Prize for Women In Architecture Awards by AJ and AR
United Kingdom Architecture News - Feb 01, 2018 - 07:36 19986 views
British architect Amanda Levete, founder of AL_A, has been announced as the winner of the 2018 Jane Drew Prize for Women In Architecture Awards, jointly organised by The Architects' Journal and The Architectural Review.
The Architects' Journal and The Architectural Review have announced Dutch artist and OMA co-founder Madelon Vriesendorp as the winner of the 2018 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, the prize recognises individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment.
Announced as the seventh winner of the revitalised Jane Drew Prize, both magazines praised Amanda Levete's excellent work and explained that her commitment to design has raised the profile of women in architecture.
Levete, 62, was a bit known with her former practice, Future Systems, who ran the practice with her husband Jan Kaplický with whom she designed the Lord’s Media Centre, as well as the futuristic Birmingham Selfridges. She was announced the 1999 RIBA Stirling Prize.
Levete started her own carrier in 2009 with AL_A and after completed the MAAT in 2016 in Lisbon and the Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Road Quarter in 2017 in London, she gained an international reputation across the world.
"They all reflected Levete’s fascination with the sensuousness of materials and her concern for the provision of social space in cities," stated both magazines.
AL_A is currently working on ongoing commissions, including the remodelling of the Parisian Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris and a new centre for the cancer care charity Maggie’s in Southampton and the World Trade Center Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
"Amanda Levete is an architect whose career has been notable at several points, but whose independent practice has blossomed internationally, and whose independent voice has generated welcome debate and reform," said Paul Finch, editorial director of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal.
Dutch artist Madelon Vriesendorp has won the 2018 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize. Vriesendorp, 73, "is best known for her wonderful paintings, some of which illustrated Rem Koolhaas’s book Delirious New York, Vriesendorp co-founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture with Koolhaas and Elia and Zoe Zenghelis in 1972, before taking a step away from architecture and focusing instead on the design of costumes, objects, illustrations, exhibitions and short stories."
She hosted an exhibition titled "The World of Madelon Vriesdendorp" in 2008 and the Architectural Association awarded Vriesendorp with an honorary diploma last June "in recognition of her extraordinary contribution to the imagination of architecture."
"Madelon Vriesendorp is a rarity: a true artist who has a deep understanding of architecture and its protocols, and whose observant and witty work has provided a thoughtful visual counterpoint to the world of bricks and mortar," said Paul Finch.
The Women in Architecture awards, in association with The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, look to inspire change in the architectural profession by celebrating great design by women architects from around the world and promoting role models for young women in practice.
Last year, the veteran architect Denise Scott Brown won the 2017 Jane Drew Prize, while artist Rachel Whiteread wins the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize. Previous winners for the Jane Drew Prize include Odile Decq, Grafton Architects’ founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Zaha Hadid, Kathryn Findlay of Ushida Findlay and Eva Jiřičná.
Previous winners for The Ada Louise Huxtable Prize include Former Serpentine Galleries director Julia Peyton-Jones and client and architectural patron Jane Priestman are the two previous recipients of the accolade.
Top image: Amanda Levete. Image © Matt Holyoak