THE JEAN TSCHUMI PRIZE FOR ARCHITECTURAL WRITING & CRITIQUE

Named after former UIA President and member of the Modern Movement Jean Tschumi, the Jean Tschumi Prize recognises excellence in architectural criticism and writing since it was first awarded in 1967.

Jean André Tschumi was born on February 14, 1904, in Geneva, Switzerland. Shortly before finishing primary school in April 1918, Tschumi signed up for professional training at the Société Industrielle de Lausanne and began an apprenticeship as a draughtsman in the office of Charles Braun. He then studied at the Paris School of Fine Arts under Emmanuel Pontremoli. 

After World War II, Tschumi designed the Sandoz laboratories in Orléans and in Noisy-le-Sec, France. Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and member of the Modern Movement, he was known for his buildings for Sandoz, Nestlé and la Mutuelle Vaudoise, as well as for his contribution to architectural theory and education. After his death in 1962, several buildings were concluded posthumously: the general headquarters of Sandoz in Rueil-Malmaison, were completed in 1968 by Bernard Zehrfuss and the Swiss architect Martin Burckhardt.

 

Winners of the Prize (1967 – 2021)   

1967 – J.P. Vouga (Switzerland)
1969 – ex-aequo: I. Nikolaev (USSR), P. Ramirez Vazquez (Mexico)
1972 – J.B. Vilanova Artigas (Brazil)
1975 – R. Banham (UK)
1978 – Rector of the University of Lima (Peru) Neville Quarry (Australia); Mentions Jorge Glusberg (Argentine) & Tadeusz Barucki (Poland)
1984 – Julius Posener (RFA)
1987 – C. Norberg-Schultz (Norway) & A. L. Huxtable (USA) ex-aequo
1990 – Eduard Franz Sekler (Austria) & Eric Kumchew Lye (Malaysia); Mentions: Dennis Sharp (UK) & Claude Parent (France)
1993 – Eric Kumchew Lye (Malaysia)
1996 – Peter Cook (UK) & Liangyong Wu (China) Mention: Toshio Nakamura (Japan) COMEX (Mexico)
1999 – Juhani Pallasmaa (Finland); Mention: Jennifer Taylor (Australia)
2002 – Teaching, Manuel Tainha (Portugal); Criticism, Elias Zenghelis (Greece); Mention: World Architecture: A Critical Mosaic (China)
2005 – Peter Davey, UK prix, ex-aequo QUADERNS d’arquitectura i urbanisme, Espagne
Mention: Selim Khan-Magomedov (Russia)
2008 – Ex-aequo: Luca Molinari (Italy) & Escola Sert – COAC (Spain)
2011 – Ex-aequo: Kenneth Frampton (UK) & Louise Noelle Gras (Mexico) Mention: Andy MacMillan & Isi Metzstein (UK)
2014 – Joseph Rykwert (UK)
2017 – Ashraf Salama (Egypt)
2021 – Doğan Kuban (Turkey)