The award is the second major prize that Mendes da Rocha, patriarch of the São Paulo School of Architecture (born 1928), has received this year: in May he was already awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his vital contribution to architecture. In 2006, the Brazilian also won the Pritzker Prize, although he does not have as many gold medals - in contrast to the recorded "arch-stars", which are usually awarded Praemium Imperiale.
At the same time, the organizers note his "wonderful talent", which manifested itself quite early - at the age of 29 - when Paulo Mendes da Rocha won the competition for the project of the Paulistanu sports club complex. Since then, there have been numerous buildings almost exclusively in São Paulo, although last year in the Lisbon suburb of Belene, a spectacular museum of carriages, designed by him, opened.
Praemium Imperiale founded the Japan Arts Association as an addition to the Nobel Prize. The award recognizes outstanding personalities from those fields of art that are not covered by the Swedes. The list of Praemium Imperiale laureates is more than solid, the prize pool is also impressive: each of the five awardees will receive 15 million yen (about 100,000 pounds sterling).
Along with Mendes da Rocha this year, Gidon Kremer (music), Martin Scorsese (cinema), Cindy Sherman (painting, although the artist uses photography) and Annette Messager (sculpture) were honored this year.
The awards ceremony will take place this October in Tokyo and will be presented by Prince Hitachi, the younger brother of Emperor Akihito: Praemium Imperiale has always enjoyed the patronage of the imperial family.
