Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Lifetime Achievement Award

We believe in a consistent and excellence practice, in relevant work and in the preeminence of it. Without focusing in the end of their career, but rather in the boldness of their actual practice, the Lisbon Architecture Triennale believes that the Lifetime Achievement Award should be delivered to an active atelier or individual whose approach is relevant, impelling their career.

This talent – individual or collective – is elected by an international jury that discusses this relevance and the awarded is chosen my plural voices. Leonor Antunes is the invited artist responsible for the work of art that will be awarded winner. This prize was received by her son, Jim Venturi, Saturday, 5 October.

Denise Scott Brown is the winner of the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Lifetime Achievement Award, with the distinction of excellence. Hers is one of the indispensable voices in architecture of 20th century and her innovative thinking continue to be the starting point for multiple buildings around the world. The jury’s decision is based on the consistency of her work as an architect, teacher, writer, designer and urban planner.

“We are delighted to be able to recognize Denise Scott Brown for all she has contributed to the field of architecture and the built environment. At a time when architects, urban scholars and practitioners are invited to think through all of the scales of the built environment together, Denise Scott Brown’s work stands as an inspiring example of what is possible: moving beyond disciplinary boundaries to project new possibilities for architecture as a form of research and as practice. Lifetime achievements are often recognizing the past, but with this award we are thrilled to be celebrating Denise Scott Brown’s legacy for the future, as a gift to the next generations of architects around the world.”

From Zambia, where she left at the age of two, Scott Brown lived in Johannesburg until she moved to London, after finishing the academic career. Philadelphia is her current home and the place where she developed all her research and body of work. From there, she broadened the roots of her activity, founded by the multidisciplinarity of areas. In architecture, she worked in distinct territories ranging from the United States of America to Morocco and was an advisor on the development of the World Trade Center (1973). As a teacher, she taught at the Universities of Berkeley, Pennsylvania, Yale, Michigan, Harvard, Kentucky, Brown, Princeton and Beijing and was dean in Santa Barbara, California.

Over the past 40 years, her vision has influenced the evolution of architectural research. She’s a regular writer for several specialized publications and the author of six books. The first, co-authored with her partner Robert Venturi, “Learning from Las Vegas” (1972), is translated into nine languages, including Portuguese, investigates the emerging mobile city of the 20th Century, the relationship between social and physical, symbolism and communication, both in architecture and urbanism. Her most recent book “AA Words 4: Having Words” (2009), is an anthology of texts that explores her practice and thought throughout her fifty years of experience. From 1985 to 2019 Scott Brown received fifteen awards, from the Vilcek to the Design Mind Award, from the AIA Gold Medal to Benjamin Franklin’s, and her work is now recognized with this Lifetime Achievement Award.

“It is still one of the most inspiring and significant sources for the establishment of critical architectural discourses and practices. The writings and thought of Denise Scott Brown unlocked a paradigm shift that broadened interdisciplinary and critical thinking through the design process. Scott Brown taught us freedom.”

The Millennium bcp Lisbon Triennale Lifetime Achievement prize is awarded after an independent selection that goes through two distinct phases. Initially, a few dozen international architects are invited by the Triennale to nominate up to three names each that they consider worthy of the award. The resulting list includes a dossier with brief information on each name. The list is then given to the jury, whose composition includes seven personalities from various continents and who select the winner or the winner.

Jury

Amale Andraos, Claudia Taborda, Enrique Walker, Éric Lapierre, Kunlé Adeyemi, Momoyo Kaijima, Sharon Johnston.

Nominators List

Ana Luiza Nobre, Anastassia Smirnova, André Tavares, Ariadna Cantis, Arturo Scheidegger, Dalila Rodrigues, Deniz Ova, Emilia Giorgi, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Fabrizio Gallanti, Fernanda Fragateiro, Filipa Oliveira, Hanna Dencik Petersson, Hanna Harris, Herbert Wright, Ilka Ruby, Ivan Blasi, James Taylor-Foster, Jimenez Lai, João Belo Rodeia, Josephine Michau, Juan Coll-Barreu, Kaye Geipel, Kenneth Frampton, Leonor Cintra Gomes, Luís Santiago Baptista, Marianne Burki, Mimi Zeiger, Moisés Puente, Nathalie Weadick, Ning Ou, Pedro Baía, Ricardo Gomes, Ruzica Saric, Saimir Kristo, Taro Igarashi, Tatiana Bilbao, Tetsuo Kondo, Tim Abrahams, and Victoria Thornton.

In past editions, the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Lifetime Achievement Award distinguished Lacaton & Vassal (2016), Kenneth Frampton (2013), Álvaro Siza (2010) and Vittorio Gregotti (2007).
Architecture is a premium subject which deserves their authors to be known.