Naomi Stungo, director of the magazine World Architecture who since has been responsible for organising the award last year, described it as a well earned victory: “This may not be a big building - by American standards - but it is a magnificent one. The design is a very interesting response to New York, where buildings are usually so glassy. Here there is a real weightiness; it suggests a different take on contemporary architecture”.
Amongst the other prizewinners – 15 projects chosen from 44 finalists – the Media centre in Lyons by Dominique Perrault, the synagogue in Dresden by Wandel Hoefer Lorch+Hirsch (best European buildings), the Hotel Habita in Mexico City by TEN Arquitectos (for South America); the Media Centre in Sendai by Toyo Ito (Far East) and the library in Alexandria by Norwegians Snøetta (Middle East). The best residential building went to ‘Naked House’ in Saitama by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, best ‘green’ projects were the Druk White Lotus School (Arup Associates) and the Computer Sciences Building at York University in Toronto (Alliance Architects and Busby & Associates).
