Architecture

Souto de Moura Wins Pritzker Prize

Designs convey “bravado and subtlety.”

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.