A Chilean Wins the 'Nobel' Prize in Architecture

The Pritzker Prize in Architecture, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of Architecture, was awarded last week to Alejandro Aravena, a designer from Chile. Notable projects by Aravena include a pharmaceutical company center in China and a dormitory for students at the University of Austin in Texas, USA. According to Wired, what has made Aravena a prominent architect on the global stage are his socially conscious projects and sustainable energy designs, often realized in a short time frame and with limited budgets. As reported by National Public Radio, Alejandro Aravena pays special attention to the details of the lives of local residents where he builds his structures. When a devastating earthquake struck Chile in 2010, the coastal city of Constitucion was nearly leveled. However, Aravena managed to rebuild a large portion of the city in just three months. In a speech he delivered last year about this project, he referred to the cries of local residents trying to convey their needs regarding what they want from a home, stating that collaborative design is not a romantic notion where we drink together and talk about the future of the city. According to the Smithsonian website, this Chilean architect's creative approach to modern architecture has earned him numerous awards. Collaborative design and the future of cities are Aravena's favorite topics in architecture. He states that in the next 15 years, over two billion people will migrate to cities, which means we must seriously consider sustainability in design. 'Sustainability is nothing but the precise use of common human sense.' He continues, 'If you use common human sense precisely and have a logical approach, almost any design becomes a sustainable one.' The use of common human sense led to Aravena designing one hundred houses in a poor neighborhood in Chile, where he only had the money to buy land or build houses. What was Aravena's solution? He bought the land and built frameworks with only a few livable rooms. He constructed half of a good house instead of placing a pre-built house on that land. This allowed individuals to build the rest of the house according to their tastes and needs within those frameworks. These frameworks and houses may not appear aesthetically pleasing by architectural standards, but they represent a different kind of design and architecture.