Meet Renée Gailhoustet
Find out more about the work of this year’s Royal Academy Architecture Prize winner, Renée Gailhoustet.
RA Architecture Awards 2022
RA Architecture Awards 2022
The Royal Academy Architecture Awards 2022 reflect the RA’s unique place at the heart of public debate about art, architecture and civic life.
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Renée Gailhoustet
Royal Academy Architecture Prize 2022
This year’s Prize highlights housing as one of the most pressing and complex issues of our time and is awarded to French architect Renée Gailhoustet. The jury highlighted her extraordinary contribution to social housing in France and her inspirational approach to building communities and urban planning.
Born in 1929, Gailhoustet dedicated her entire career to developing better social housing in Paris’ suburbs. Her approach to architecture evolved from early projects such as the Spinoza complex, to the distinctive style of her best-known works: La Maladrerie and Le Liégat. The latter has been her home and studio since the project was completed.
Her interest in Parisian suburbs was piqued in 1962, when she joined the office of French architect Roland Dubrelle and participated in the urban renewal of Ivry-sur-Siene. It was in this hugely influential project that she eventually became, together with Jean Renaudie, chief architect.
One of the instantly recognisable features of Gailhoustet’s projects are the staggered and planted terraces that allow nature to permeate domestic spaces in ways that are rarely seen in high-density housing. By using innovative geometries and mixing uses in her buildings, Gailhoustet has created a compelling argument for blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, and, collective and individual.
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Works by Renée Gailhoustet
Auberviliers
Renée Gailhoustet, Ecole maternelle, La Maladrerie, Aubervilliers, s. d. Plan 1er étage, décompte des surfaces et plan des limites par rapport aux logements, éch. 1:100.
Renée Gailhoustet, Logements de personnes âgées en foyer soleil et logements HLM, bâtiment AD, La Maladrerie, Aubervilliers, 1976 Axonométrie vue est, éch. 1:50, 1976.
Ivry-sur-Seine
Interior of Renée Gailhoustet's Apartment
Renée Gailhoustet, Ilot 1, zone 1, Marat, centre ville rénovation, Ivry-sur-Seine, s. d. Plan de permis de construire, plan masse.
Renée Gailhoustet, ZAC Casanova, La Maladrerie, Aubervilliers, s. d. Esquisse de plan masse, éch. 1:200.
Ivry-sur-Seine
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Renée Gailhoustet’s achievements reach far beyond what is produced as social or affordable housing anywhere today. Her work has a strong social commitment that brings together generosity, beauty, ecology, and inclusivity.
Farshid Moussavi RA, Chair of the Jury
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The 2022 Jury
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Farshid Moussavi (chair)
Farshid Moussavi OBE RA is an Iranian-born British architect and the founder and principal of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA). Her most notable projects include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, the Victoria Beckham flagship store in London and the John Lewis department store in Leicester. Moussavi also co-founded Foreign Office Architects (FOA), recognised as one of the world’s most creative design firms. She currently holds the positions of Professor in Practice of Architecture at GSD Harvard and Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy Schools. She was elected as Royal Academician in 2015 and was awarded an OBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday honours in 2018.
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Farrokh Derakhshani
Farrokh Derakhshani is the director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, which seeks to identify and encourage architectural excellence in societies across the world in which Muslims have a significant presence. Since 1982, his association with the Award has brought him into contact with architects, builders and planners throughout the world. Derakhshani specializes in the contemporary architecture of Muslim societies, an area of expertise that has led him to participate in numerous international debates, seminars and conferences on this topic. He was named a RIBA International Fellow in 2018.
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Hisham Matar
Hisham Matar was born in New York to Libyan parents, spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo and has lived most of his life in London. His memoir The Return was the recipient of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of the novels In the Country of Men, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Anatomy of a Disappearance. His most recent book is A Month in Siena. Matar is Professor in Comparative Literature, Asia & Middle East Cultures, and English at Barnard College, Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts.
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Cornelia Parker
Cornelia Parker OBE RA is a British visual artist. Her work spans a variety of mediums, but is mainly focused on sculpture and large scale site-specific installations. Through a combination of visual and verbal allusions, her work triggers cultural metaphors and personal associations, engaging with important issues of our time, from violence, ecology to human rights. She has been featured in solo exhibitions internationally, from the Galeria Civica de Arte Moderna in Turin to the MCA Sydney. In 2016 she was commissioned by The Met Museum New York to make a work for the roof garden. She has major survey exhibition at Tate Britain 19th May – 16th October 2022. She was elected Royal Academician in 2009 and received an OBE in 2010.
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Zoë Ryan
Zoë Ryan is a British curator and writer currently serving as Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to this, she was the John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her research explores the socio-political impact of the arts on society and focuses on projects that open up new and more inclusive readings of our time. Recent exhibitions include, In a Cloud, in a Wall, in a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Midcentury (2019); Past Forward: Architecture and Design at the Art Institute (2017–ongoing); and Making Place: The Architecture of David Adjaye (2015). In 2014, Ryan was the curator of the second Istanbul Design Biennial, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be. She is a member of the Design Trust International Advisory Council, Hong Kong and on the Executive Committee of the International Confederation of Architecture Museums.
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Peter St John
Peter St John is a British architect, founder of Caruso St John Architects and Royal Academician alongside Adam Caruso. This partnership has collaborated on wide-ranging projects, from major urban developments and cultural projects to intricate interventions in complex historic settings. In 2016, the practice was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for the Newport Street Gallery in South London. They also worked alongside artist Marcus Taylor to curate the British Pavilion for the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture. They were elected Royal Academicians in 2018.
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Royal Academy Dorfman Award 2022
Meet the finalists
The Royal Academy Dorfman Award champions architecture from around the world that looks forward to the future of architecture and architectural practice. In 2022 it was awarded to Wallmakers from India, in recognition of the practice’s innovative use of materials and sensitivity to local context and climate.
The 2022 finalists were Semillas, from Peru, Dot Architects, from Japan and Apparata, from the UK.
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Wallmakers
Vinu Daniel founded the architecture firm Wallmakers in 2007. Over the past 15 years, they have engaged with sustainability in architecture in a variety of ways, from building with mud blocks to using urban waste as a material to reduce the embodied energy in construction. They are an office-less firm that is constantly on the move, looking for ways to make construction more sustainable. One of their most known projects is the IHA Residence in Trivandrum, where the use of base plates of washing machines as scrap grills is a prime example of their take on up-cycling. Other projects such as St. George Orthodox Church in Mattancherry or Pirouette House in Trivandrum showcase their use of Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB) and how it can create an original work of contemporary architecture, maintaining a balance between innovative and utilitarian design.
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Meet Wallmakers
Meet the winner of the Royal Academy Dorfman Award and find out more about their practice.
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Works by Wallmakers
Jackfruit Garden Residence, Wallmakers
IHA, Residence, Wallmakers
The Ledge, Wallmakers
The Ledge, Wallmakers
Pirouette House, Wallmakers
Shila (under construction), Wallmakers
Chirath, Residence, Wallmakers
Chirath Residence, Wallmakers
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The jury was impressed by Vinu’s willingness to improvise and take the risky route of exploring unprecedented interventions, as much as his insistence treading lightly on the planet. There is a strong sense that this is an architect who is just getting going and we will all follow Wallmakers’ career with the keenest interest.
Farshid Moussavi RA, Chair of the Jury
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Apparata
APPARATA is an architectural practice founded in 2015 by Astrid Smitham and Nicholas Lobo Brennan. Based in London, they are known for their community work emphasising collective life and the construction of buildings as a critical practice. The firm has recently completed A House for Artists, a new form of low rent co-housing combined with a community arts centre in Barking, London. APPARATA’s design defines a new model of housing, where social relations can be developed thanks to the shared spaces throughout the building. It is one of the Observer’s best 5 buildings of 2021 and has been covered in the Guardian and The RIBA Journal amongst other places. Astrid and Nicholas currently lead a studio at Kingston School of Art where Nicholas is Associate Professor of Tectonics.
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Meet APPARATA
Meet the Royal Academy Dorfman Award finalist and find out more about their practice.
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Works by Apparata
House For Artists, Apparata
House for Artists, Apparata
House for Artists, Apparata
House for Artists, Apparata
House for Artists, Apparata
Old Manor Park Library, Apparata
Pavilion of Bahrain, Apparata
White House, Apparata
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dot architects
dot architects is a practice based in Osaka, Japan. Founded in 2004 by Toshikatsu Ienari and Takeshi Shakushiro, they have since evolved into an office of five including Wataru Doi, Keiko Miyachi and Ai Ikeda, with a focus on the impact architecture has on the social and natural environment. Their projects are characterised by reuse of materials and simplification of construction methods, which allows various people to take part in the construction process. dot architects is not just involved in the design of their projects. They are also involved with on-site construction and engaged in art, research, and education activities that go beyond their built work. Key projects include the Umaki camp (Kagawa, 2013), Chidori Bunka (Osaka, 2017) and On-hold house (Shizuoka, 2022).
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Meet dot architects
Meet the Royal Academy Dorfman Award finalist and find out more about their practice.
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Works by Dot Architects
Umaki camp, Toshikatsu Ienari (dot architects)
Umaki camp, Toshikatsu Lenari (dot architects)
Chidori Bunka, Toshikatsu Ienari (Dot architects)
Chidori Bunka, Toshikatsu Ienari (Dot architects)
Momonoura Village-Triangle Hut, Toshikatsu Ienari(Dot architects)
Momonoura Village-Triangle Hut, Toshikatsu Lenari (Dot architects)
Hinui Hitohi-Yasudatei, Toshikatsu Lenari (dot architects)
On Hold House, dot architects
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Semillas
Semillas is a non-profit organization founded in Perú in 2014 by Marta Maccaglia. Consisting of an interdisciplinary team, Semillas develops architectural projects in marginalized contexts, mainly in the settlements of Lima and the rural areas of the Peruvian Amazon. The firm’s aim is to revitalise these areas, which are often abandoned by state policies, and create respectful and high-quality teaching environments. Its work utilizes participatory practises as they believe they are an effective way of promoting cooperation between institutions, knowledge exchange, and sustainable development. Semillas has worked on a diverse range of public projects across Perú, including schools, community-based, cultural, and residential commissions. Key projects include the Primary School Jerusalén de Miñaro (2017) and the Nursery and Primary School Union Alto Sanibeni (2019), the Community Centre for the Otica native community (2019), and the Alto Anapati pre-school (2021).
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Meet Semillas
Meet the Royal Academy Dorfman Award finalist and find out more about their practice.
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Works by Semillas
Chuquibambilla School
Alto Anapati School, Semillas
Jerusalen de Miñaro School, Semillas
Union Altosanibeni School, Semillas
Union Alto Sanibeni School, Semillas
Alto Anapati School, Semillas
Union Alto Sanibeni School, Semillas
Parque Bambu, Semillas
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Thank you to all our nominators
Nastaran Azimi, BC Ang, Marie Bak Mortensen, Renata Becerril, Rana Beiruti, Adelia Borges, Davood Boroojeni, Nerea Calvillo, Fernanda Canales, Matevž Čelik Vidmar, Ang Chee Cheong, Minsuk Cho, Amica Dall, Yasmine El Rashidi, Homa Farjadi, Kristin Feireiss, Sophie Gironnay, Philip Goad, Spencer de Grey RA, Piers Gough RA, Stefan Gzyl, Harriet Harriss, Itsuko Hasegawa, Thomas Heatherwick, Samia Henni, Cristina Iglesias and Cristina Iglesias Studio, Mariam Kamara, Pouya Khazaeli, Georgina King, Amanda Levete, Penny Lewis, Han Lo, Christoph Lueder, Marta Maccaglia, Freo Majer, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Behrouz Mansouri, Andrea Claire McLeod, Rahul Mehrotra, Dong Mei, Josephine Michau, Michał Murawski, Peter Murray, Neda, Eric Parry RA, Sebastian Pena, Maria Isabel Peña, Penélope Plaza, Boonserm Premthada, Quilian Riano, Mikki Ristola, Ian Ritchie RA, Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Ata Rouhbakhsh, Raymund Ryan, Joseph Rykwert, Flora Samuel, Claudia Scholz, Richard Sennett, Ellie Stathaki, Fernando Tapia, Norman Teague, Abraham Thomas, Jeremy Till, Elisa Valero, Dirk van den Heuvel, Austin Williams, Saman Zare, Camille Zakharia.
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