The Jane Drew Award is one of the most important architectural honors in the industry, given by the editors of The Architect's Journal and The Architectural Review to individuals who raise the status of women in architecture. In previous years, winners of the award have included Zaha Hadid (2012), Denise Scott Brown (2017), Kazuyo Sejima (2023) and Iwona Buczkowska (2024). This year the award went to French architect Anne Lacaton.
Anne Lacaton (born 1955) is one of the most successful architects. Working with Jean Philipp Vassal as part of the Lacaton & Vassal studio, she led the modernization of the Grand Parc social building in Bordeaux, for which she won the 2019 Mies van der Rohe Prize. In 2021, the duo was awarded the Pritzker Prize for, among other things, "proving that a commitment to renovating architecture in the spirit of technology, innovation and responsiveness can proceed without resorting to nostalgia."This, however, is only a modest selection from a long list of honors with which the French architect and educator has been awarded - in her long career she has received the Grand prix national de l "architecture (2008), the Schock Prize (2014), the Heinrich Tessenow Medal (2016) and the BDA Grand Prize (2020), among others.
Far from aspiring to stardom, Anne Lacaton's practice is thoughtful and bold, and the clarity of her purpose deserves recognition. Together with Jean-Philippe Vassal, she puts residents and users at the center, designing buildings that are both economical and generous. Their opposition to demolition as folly and their calls for reuse and transformation send an urgent message to all architects, investors and policy makers.
- writes Manon Mollard, editor of The Architectural Review, in reference to the award .
demolition is madness!
Anne Lacaton's work focuses primarily on preserving existing architectural structures and adapting them to the needs of the present. "Demolition is madness" is the slogan she subscribes to with Jean Philipp Vassal. A landmark project in the duo's career was the 2002 renovation of the Palais de Tokyo, which was shortlisted for the Mies van der Rohe Prize the following year.
One of the most common practices used by the Lacaton & Vassal team is to extend buildings with additional structures that resemble greenhouses in both their appearance and functionality. In this way, as early as 1993, the Latapie House in Floirac-Bordeaux was created, where an extensive greenhouse adjoins a small to small block of a single-family house, helping to regulate temperature and circulate air in the building. On a much larger scale, the concept was used in the retrofit of the 16-story Tour Bois-le-Prêtre skyscraper on the outskirts of Paris, where each of the 530 apartments gained additional space in the form of a greenhouse on the facade.
Learnmore about Anne Lacaton 's architectural practice, design philosophy and major projects in an interview with the architect conducted by Architecture & Business.
In Awards
The Jane Drew Award is one of five awards presented by Architect's Journal and The Architecture Review under the banner of the "W Awards," known in previous years as the "Women in Architecture." Currently, each award honors the extraordinary achievements of women and non-binary individuals in the field of architecture. Along with the Jane Drew Award, the winners of two other awards from the above set were also announced - the Ada Louise Huxtable Award for Contributions to Architecture and the Award for Research on the Role of Gender in Architecture. The former was awarded to Suad Amiry, a Palestinian architect and writer who in 1991 founded the Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation, which focuses its activities on the preservation and restoration of Palestinian architectural heritage.
In the face of ongoing and escalating violence and destruction in Palestine, Suad Amira's commitment to the restoration and reuse of historic Palestinian buildings is vital. Amira's multifaceted work, combining both advocacy and literary creativity, teaches those concerned with space how to imagine a world beyond the rubble.
- writes Eleanor Beaumont, deputy editor of The Architectural Review, in the citation .
The second award was given for the Designing Motherhood project to a duo of American researchers, Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick. In their work, the researchers focused on issues related to motherhood, which the authors believe are underrepresented in design discourse. The results of their work include a scholarly publication published by MIT Press, a traveling exhibition and a social media profile associated with the project.
"Designing Motherhood" is a multifaceted research project on the rich yet largely unexplored history of design related to human reproduction. By incorporating multiple perspectives, it reveals deeply rooted biopolitical narratives about the buildings, objects and materials that have been used to both control and emancipate birthing people and their bodies.
- explains Kristina Rapacki, Senior Editor of The Architectural Review.
OnMay 9 of this year, two more signature awards will be announced - the Moira Gemmill Award for those under the age of 45 in architectural design, and the MJ Long Award for excellence in architectural practice.
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