Souto de Moura Wins Pritzker Prize

Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura won this year’s Pritzker Prize, often dubbed the “Nobel” of architecture. "His buildings have a unique ability to convey seemingly conflicting characteristics—power and modesty, bravado and subtlety, bold public authority and a sense of intimacy—at the same time," said Lord Peter Palumbo, the prize jury chairman. Souto de Moura has built a stadium in Braga, Portugal, the Burgo Tower and a subway in Porto, a convent-turned-inn in Amares, and the Paula Rego Museum in Cascais. The jury described his stadium, with its granite mountain-like face, as "muscular, monumental and very much at home within its powerful landscape." The prize wasn’t supposed to be announced until next month and awarded in Washington D.C., but a news outlet broke the news early, a prize spokesman said.