Anne Lacaton and Jean-Phippe Vassal, this year’s Pritzker Prize winners, were as surprised as anyone else when the most famous award in architecture was made public yesterday.
“Of course it’s very pleasant, and we are very pleased,”Lacaton said at a conference with her partner, both smiling broadly from their black eyeglasses.
Putting aside their eyeglasses, Lacaton and Vassal could not be more different from an earlier generation of Pritzker winners, known for their easily recognizable styles and grand work. Instead, the two apply their simple guideline to their work on old urban buildings for low-income families: Never destroy, never remove or replace, always add, transform, and reuse!
When Lacaton and Vassal were asked to redesign a particularly large and over-crowded public housing block in Bordeaux in 2017, the residents (居民) told them they could not afford to move, even temporarily, but they wanted bigger units. Their solution was to replace the folding wooden front door with sliding glass door to each unit and painted the ugly walls with something bright. Suddenly, everyone had roomy outdoor space, some of which could be used during the winter as “winter gardens.”
“So, people can not only get sun and light and spend time with family, but it’s also open to neighbors,” Columbia University architecture professor Mabel Wilson.“I would love to live in one of the apartments t they’ve redesigned.”
Their approach of cheap and creative re-adaption could be a model for urban planning in the US, Wilson adds, where destruction has been seen as a solution to old public housing in such cities as Chicago and St. Louis.
There’s a lot of violence in architecture and urbanism. We try to be precise. We try to work with kindness,” Lacaton once explained.“Buildings are beautiful when people feel well in them, when the light inside is beautiful and the air is pleasant, when the exchange with the outside seems easy and gentle, and when uses and sensations are unexpected,”
Lacaton and Vassal started their firm in Paris in 1987. Together, they worked primarily in France.
4. Why are Lacaton’s and Vassal’s eyeglasses mentioned in paragraph 3?
A.To draw readers attention to their unusual color. |
B.To show that Pritzker Prize winners need eyeglasses. |
C.To tell us how surprised and happy they are for the prize |
D.To stress their only possible similarity with other Pritzker winners. |
5. What did Lacaton and Vassal do in the Bordeaux public housing project?
A.They built winter gardens in the outdoor space. |
B.They destroyed the walls to provide more space. |
C.They just changed the doors and repainted the walls. |
D.They provided bigger temporary rooms for the residents. |
6. What have Lacaton and Vassal most probably done to win the Pritzker Prize?
A.They have built many public houses with unique styles. |
B.They have designed various famous buildings in the world. |
C.They have provided free services for poor families in the US. |
D.They have tried to transform old urban buildings with kindness. |
7. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?
A.Architecture. | B.Environment. | C.Lifestyle. | D.Politics. |