Riken Yamamoto
b. 1945, Beijing · based in Yokohama
The 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, honored for a five-decade body of work that treats every threshold as a doorway, a terrace, a glass wall — as an invitation to community rather than a boundary against it.
Practice
Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, est. 1973
Highest Honor
2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize
Built Work In
Japan, China, South Korea, Switzerland
The Approach
01 / Recurring ideas in the work
Three ideas behind every building
I.
Community as form
Yamamoto defines community simply, as a sense of sharing one space. He has argued that a community is only real if its members support one another, and so his buildings are designed to manufacture chance encounters rather than merely house their programs.
II.
Transparency as trust
At Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station, a glass-louvred facade lets the public watch firefighters train inside. That transparency is used not for spectacle but to make a civic institution legible and familiar to the people it serves.
III.
Background, then foreground
The Pritzker jury praised his ability to make architecture function as both background and foreground to everyday life, blurring the line between its public and private dimensions. The work is quiet enough to live in, generous enough to gather in.
Selected works
02 / Seven key projects
2006
Kanagawa, Japan
Yokosuka Museum of Art
Won through Yokosuka's first quality-based design selection and developed over two years with curators and others. Most of the volume is buried into the seaside valley site so the museum stays in communication with the landscape. Inside, it works as nested boxes: open public facilities at the edge, sensitive exhibition spaces at the core. A double skin of glass and iron board controls the coastal sunlight.
Function
Museum
Floor area
12,095 m²
Completed
2006
2000
Hiroshima, Japan
Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station
A transparent volume wrapped in glass louvres so the public can watch the activity inside. Facilities ring an atrium where firefighters train, and almost the whole building is made of glass-separated spaces. A 4th-floor lobby and visitor terrace are free public space overlooking training and lectures — built on the conviction that a fire station should help shape its local community.
Function
Fire Station & Education Center
Floor area
6,245 m²
Completed
2000
1999
Saitama, Japan
Saitama Prefectural University
A university for nursing and welfare, where education depends on close mutual cooperation. Rejecting the model of closed, separate faculties, the studio proposed a single connected volume — keeping the relationship between every part of the building as clear and systematic as possible, so the architecture reads almost like the foundation of a city.
Function
University
Floor area
54,080 m²
Completed
1999
2000
Hokkaido, Japan
Future University Hakodate
A university of information science built around a single open "studio," after the studio observed that researchers work much as architects do. Solitary thinking and teamwork share one space; teachers' laboratories sit alongside it behind glass partitions so each side can see the other. The university's own catchphrase: "Open space = Open mind."
Function
University
Floor area
26,839 m²
Completed
2000
2008
Tokyo, Japan
Fussa City Hall
Set in a dense residential area following the local hills above the Tama River. The public lower levels — the "Forum" — sit under an undulating green roof that doubles as public space, with two twin towers rising above. Structure is moved to the outer façade to free the interior; the columns thin toward the top to keep the towers light, built largely from earthquake-resistant pre-cast concrete.
Function
City Hall
Floor area
10,228 m²
Completed
2008
2010
Seongnam, Korea
Pangyo Housing
Won in an invited international competition. Nine clusters, each of roughly 9–13 units over three to four storeys, linked by a communal second-level deck. The deck connects a transparent space in each home called "Shiki" — a large porch usable as a drawing room, home office or atelier — letting each cluster adapt to its surroundings.
Function
University
Floor area
26,839 m²
Completed
2000
2012
Tianjin, China
Tianjin Library
A library at a scale Yamamoto calls "inconceivable in Japan," holding 5 million books across 55,000 m². Wall-beams on a 20.4 m grid are offset layer by layer with mezzanines between, so a five-layer building reads as ten crisscrossing ones. A through-running entrance hall opens it to everyone, with bookshelves built into the structure and reading spaces made as varied as possible.
Function
Library
Floor area
58,154 m²
Completed
2012
Project index
03 / Completed works
The full record of completed projects by Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, from the firm's first house in 1976 to its most recent work.
2022Nagoya Zokei University, Nagoya
2020THE CIRCLE at Zürich Airport, Switzerland
2019Tokyo Weld Technical Center
2018Koyasu Elementary School, Yokohama
2016Yokohama City University, Yokohama
2014Seoul Gangnam Housing, Korea
2013How to Make a City, Luzern
2013House Vision, Tokyo
2013Yokohama Zoo Restaurant, Kanagawa
2012Tianjin Library, China
2012Home-For-All in Heita, Iwate
2010Pangyo Housing, Seongnam, Korea
2009Utsunomiya Univ. Optical Research Center, Tochigi
2009Namics Techno Core, Niigata
2008Fussa City Hall, Tokyo
2008Dragon Lily House, Gunma
2006Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa
2005Future Univ. Hakodate Research Building, Hokkaido
2005SUSTRG Office Project, Fukushima
2004Jian Wai SOHO, Beijing
2004Ecoms House, Saga
2003Shinonome Canal Court CODAN, Tokyo
2002Dantsuka Clinic, Saitama
2001Tokyo Weld Technical Center, Shizuoka
2001Ban Building
2000Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station, Hiroshima
2000Future University Hakodate, Hokkaido
2000Yokohama Public Housing, Kanagawa
1999Saitama Prefectural University, Saitama
1996Iwadeyama Junior High School, Miyagi
1996Yamamoto Mental Clinic, Okayama
1996Shimoizumi Community / Care Center, Kanagawa
1995House in Kamakura, Kamakura
1992 to 1994Inter-Junction City series, Kanagawa
1991Hotakubo Housing, Kumamoto
1988HAMLET, Tokyo
1987ROTONDA, Kanagawa
1986GAZEBO, Kanagawa
1978STUDIO STEPS, Kanagawa
1977Yamakawa Villa, Nagano
1976Mihira House, Kanagawa
Recognition
04 / Honors
Pritzker Architecture Prize, 9th Japanese laureate
2024
31st Crystal Award
2025
Japan Institute of Architects Award, Yokosuka Museum of Art
2010
Building Contractors Society Prize, Namics Techno Core
2010
Building Contractors Society Prize, Yokosuka Museum of Art
2008
Fukushima Architecture Culture Award (25th), Fukushima ecoms Pavilion
2007
Architectural Institute of Japan Award
Two-time recipient
"He is a reassuring architect who brings dignity to everyday life. Normality becomes extraordinary."
Alejandro Aravena, Pritzker Jury Chair, 2024
Profile 01 / 04 · Riken Yamamoto
Project descriptions and specifications are drawn from Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop official site (riken-yamamoto.co.jp)
Riken Yamamoto
b. 1945, Beijing · based in Yokohama
The 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, honored for a five-decade body of work that treats every threshold as a doorway, a terrace, a glass wall — as an invitation to community rather than a boundary against it.
Practice
Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, est. 1973
Highest Honor
2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize
Built Work In
Japan, China, South Korea, Switzerland
01 / Recurring ideas in the work
The Approach
Three ideas behind every building
I.
Community as form
Yamamoto defines community simply, as a sense of sharing one space. He has argued that a community is only real if its members support one another, and so his buildings are designed to manufacture chance encounters rather than merely house their programs.
II.
Transparency as trust
At Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station, a glass-louvred facade lets the public watch firefighters train inside. That transparency is used not for spectacle but to make a civic institution legible and familiar to the people it serves.
III.
Background, then foreground
The Pritzker jury praised his ability to make architecture function as both background and foreground to everyday life, blurring the line between its public and private dimensions. The work is quiet enough to live in, generous enough to gather in.
02 / Seven key projects
Selected works
2006
Kanagawa, Japan
Yokosuka Museum of Art
Won through Yokosuka's first quality-based design selection and developed over two years with curators and others. Most of the volume is buried into the seaside valley site so the museum stays in communication with the landscape. Inside, it works as nested boxes: open public facilities at the edge, sensitive exhibition spaces at the core. A double skin of glass and iron board controls the coastal sunlight.
Function
Museum
Floor area
12,095 m²
Completed
2006
2000
Hiroshima, Japan
Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station
A transparent volume wrapped in glass louvres so the public can watch the activity inside. Facilities ring an atrium where firefighters train, and almost the whole building is made of glass-separated spaces. A 4th-floor lobby and visitor terrace are free public space overlooking training and lectures — built on the conviction that a fire station should help shape its local community.
Function
Fire Station & Education Center
Floor area
6,245 m²
Completed
2000
1999
Saitama, Japan
Saitama Prefectural University
A university for nursing and welfare, where education depends on close mutual cooperation. Rejecting the model of closed, separate faculties, the studio proposed a single connected volume — keeping the relationship between every part of the building as clear and systematic as possible, so the architecture reads almost like the foundation of a city.
Function
University
Floor area
54,080 m²
Completed
1999
2000
Hokkaido, Japan
Future University Hakodate
A university of information science built around a single open "studio," after the studio observed that researchers work much as architects do. Solitary thinking and teamwork share one space; teachers' laboratories sit alongside it behind glass partitions so each side can see the other. The university's own catchphrase: "Open space = Open mind."
Function
University
Floor area
26,839 m²
Completed
2000
2008
Tokyo, Japan
Fussa City Hall
Set in a dense residential area following the local hills above the Tama River. The public lower levels — the "Forum" — sit under an undulating green roof that doubles as public space, with two twin towers rising above. Structure is moved to the outer façade to free the interior; the columns thin toward the top to keep the towers light, built largely from earthquake-resistant pre-cast concrete.
Function
City Hall
Floor area
10,228 m²
Completed
2008
2010
Seongnam, Korea
Pangyo Housing
Won in an invited international competition. Nine clusters, each of roughly 9–13 units over three to four storeys, linked by a communal second-level deck. The deck connects a transparent space in each home called "Shiki" — a large porch usable as a drawing room, home office or atelier — letting each cluster adapt to its surroundings.
Function
University
Floor area
26,839 m²
Completed
2000
2012
Tianjin, China
Tianjin Library
A library at a scale Yamamoto calls "inconceivable in Japan," holding 5 million books across 55,000 m². Wall-beams on a 20.4 m grid are offset layer by layer with mezzanines between, so a five-layer building reads as ten crisscrossing ones. A through-running entrance hall opens it to everyone, with bookshelves built into the structure and reading spaces made as varied as possible.
Function
Library
Floor area
58,154 m²
Completed
2012
03 / Completed works
Project index
The full record of completed projects by Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, from the firm's first house in 1976 to its most recent work.
2022Nagoya Zokei University, Nagoya
2020THE CIRCLE at Zürich Airport, Switzerland
2019Tokyo Weld Technical Center
2018Koyasu Elementary School, Yokohama
2016Yokohama City University, Yokohama
2014Seoul Gangnam Housing, Korea
2013How to Make a City, Luzern
2013House Vision, Tokyo
2013Yokohama Zoo Restaurant, Kanagawa
2012Tianjin Library, China
2012Home-For-All in Heita, Iwate
2010Pangyo Housing, Seongnam, Korea
2009Utsunomiya Univ. Optical Research Center, Tochigi
2009Namics Techno Core, Niigata
2008Fussa City Hall, Tokyo
2008Dragon Lily House, Gunma
2006Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa
2005Future Univ. Hakodate Research Building, Hokkaido
2005SUSTRG Office Project, Fukushima
2004Jian Wai SOHO, Beijing
2004Ecoms House, Saga
2003Shinonome Canal Court CODAN, Tokyo
2002Dantsuka Clinic, Saitama
2001Tokyo Weld Technical Center, Shizuoka
2001Ban Building
2000Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station, Hiroshima
2000Future University Hakodate, Hokkaido
2000Yokohama Public Housing, Kanagawa
1999Saitama Prefectural University, Saitama
1996Iwadeyama Junior High School, Miyagi
1996Yamamoto Mental Clinic, Okayama
1996Shimoizumi Community / Care Center, Kanagawa
1995House in Kamakura, Kamakura
1992 to 1994Inter-Junction City series, Kanagawa
1991Hotakubo Housing, Kumamoto
1988HAMLET, Tokyo
1987ROTONDA, Kanagawa
1986GAZEBO, Kanagawa
1978STUDIO STEPS, Kanagawa
1977Yamakawa Villa, Nagano
1976Mihira House, Kanagawa
