Christian de Portzamparc

Christian de Portzamparc's new architecture is of our time, neither classicism nor modernism. Their expanded perceptions and ideas seek answers beyond mere style. It is a new architecture that is characterised by seeing buildings, their functions and the life within them, in new ways that demand wide-ranging but thoughtful exploration in search of unprecedented solutions.

Every architect who aspires to greatness must in a sense reinvent architecture; devise new solutions; develop a special design character; find a new aesthetic vocabulary. Portzamparc's work displays all these characteristics. He has an unusually clear and consistent vision, designing highly original spaces that fulfil a variety of functions on an urban scale in the Cite' de la Musique, or on a more personal individual scale in a housing project or the exquisitely elegant Cafr Beaubourg.

He is a composer gifted in the use of space, structure, texture, form, light and colour, all shaped by his personal vision. This reinvented architecture, however idiosyncratic or original, still has its common source in modernism, duly assimilated.

Portzamparc is the first French architect to receive the Pritzker Prize. It is a well-deserved tribute to the person and the great tradition of French architecture that he represents. No other country, with the possible exception of Italy, has contributed so much to the field of architecture through its buildings, urban design and Beaux Arts education system.

The Ecoles des Beaux Arts dominated the minds of generations of architects for a century or more, and even in recent times have proved more tenacious and pervasive in their influence than is generally recognised. His theories, doctrines and teaching methods continue to dominate architectural education in many parts of the world.

Portzamparc is a leading member of a new generation of French architects who have incorporated the lessons of the Beaux Arts into an exuberant collage of contemporary architectural idioms that are at once bold, colourful and original. His architecture is inspired by the French cultural tradition and pays homage to Le Corbusier, master architect and compatriot of the artist. It is a lyrical architecture that takes great risks and arouses the emotion of the audience.

Portzamparc is a tightrope artist with a sure and steady step. Recognising the talent of a powerful poet of forms and creator of eloquent spaces, conscious of the past but true to himself and his time, the Pritzker Architecture Prize pays tribute to Christian de Portzamparc, in the hope that the world will continue to benefit greatly from his creativity.