Kenneth Frampton

In 2013, Kenneth Frampton won the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Achievement Award. From the very beginning he pursued research, writing and architectural criticism in parallel with his professional practice, alongside his teaching activity.

Frampton's relevance was praised by William Menking, one of the members of the jury for this year's Achievement Award: ‘Most international architecture awards only recognise individuals for their built contribution and not for their importance to culture. Awarding Frampton this prize is a statement that the culture of architecture is not just about buildings but about society as a whole. (...) This year's Triennale, Close,Closer, could only have happened after the kind of critical thinking and activism of someone like Frampton.’

The work that got the most attention and that, in a way, marked Kenneth Frampton’s career by gaining great importance and influence in architectural education is his essay Towards a Critical Regionalism. Published in 1983, it emphasises how specific conditions of the local context (topography, climate, light, tectonics) are fundamental to the art of building. As an architectural historian and critic, Frampton has published numerous books and essays, building a critique of modernity. The book Modern Architecture: A Critical History, is an essential source of knowledge for the discipline, revealing the dual relationship between accepting some aspects of modernism, while following another more personal path. In the author's own words: “I came up with the topic of “another” modernity (...) because I want this apparently arbitrary collection to be read as the key to an unconventional approach that, rather than seeking universal abstraction, is instead articulate and expressive.”

Five years later, at the 2018 Architecture Biennale, he was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, cementing his legacy at the Olympus of architecture. Curiously, Frampton was one of the main forerunners of the internationalisation of Alvaro Siza's work, who had won the previous edition of the Triennale’s Achievement Award.

The Award

This year 's award is a commissioned piece by Portuguese artist Fernanda Fragateiro. Her sculptural and architectural interventions in unexpected spaces and subtle alterations to existing landscapes reveal hidden stories of construction and transformation. Her work has been featured in Dublin Contemporary 2011 and numerous institutions such as Fundación Marcelino Botín, IVAM, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporânea, Serralves Foundation, Fundació 'La Caixa' and Künstlerwerkstatt.

About

The scope of this award has included nominators and jury members from five continents, ensuring a plurality of voices that has given it solid credibility. Since 2007, recipients of this Award receive an original work of art created by a prestigious/celebrated Portuguese artist, contributing for the promotion of our artistic production.  

Jury

Beatrice Galilee
Gonçalo Byrne
Guilherme Wisnik
Juhani Pallasmaa
Mónica Gili
Taro Igarashi
William Menking