<p>Praemium Imperiale 2011 was awarded to Ricardo Legorreta</p>

On Monday, July 11, 2011, the winners of this year's highest Japanese award, the Praemium Imperiale (literally: World Cultural Prize in memory of His Highness Prince Takamatsu), were announced in Berlin, with the award in one category going to Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. In its more than twenty-year history, holders of this award include Peter Zumthor, Álvaro Siza, Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, and Toyo Ito.
Legorreta received recognition for his lifetime achievement, international engagement, and influence on domestic Mexican architecture. His buildings combine the legacy of Western modernity with Mexican construction traditions. He is known for vibrant colors, basic geometric shapes, water surfaces, airy spaces, and intimate inner courtyards. Among the most famous works of the eighty-year-old Legorreta are the Hotel Camino Real in Cancún, the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, the Hispanic Cultural Arts Center in Dallas, and the Bank of Finance in Nicaraguan Managua. Ricardo Legorreta, who has closely collaborated with his son Victor on projects since the 1990s, is the first Mexican artist to receive the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese empire, awarded in categories of painting, music, theater/film, sculpture, and architecture. In addition to Legorreta, this year's awards went to Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, American video artist Bill Viola, British actress Judi Dench, and Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa. The prize, subsidized with a reward of 15 million yen (3.15 million crowns), will be presented by the honorary member of the Japanese Art Association, Prince Hitachi, at a ceremonial event in Tokyo on October 19, 2011.

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