Cristina Iglesias is awarded the 2020 Royal Academy Architecture Prize

The Royal Academy of Arts today announced that Cristina Iglesias has been awarded the 2020 Royal Academy Architecture Prize, honouring her inspiring contribution to the culture of architecture.

To mark the third year of the annual prize, which is supported by the Dorfman Foundation, the distinguished international jury have recognised the enduring and vital tradition of public art in enhancing the quality of open civic spaces.

Iglesias’s works, such as the Rivers and Public Spaces series (2006 – 2018), create a sense of public gathering, with their filling and emptying of water combining both spectacle and an antidote to the noise and pace of urban life surrounding it.

Her collaborations both inspire and act as a reminder for architects on the crucial role of public space provision in our cities.

“I am very happy to be the recipient of this recognition by the Jury and the Royal Academy of Arts, in particular because it values what I believe is the integral role of sculpture in the city, in the public space. I am interested in the crossings between architecture and sculpture, creating spaces and moments for contemplation and reflection in the midst of contemporary urban life.”

Cristina Iglesias.

“Cities are our future – now and for generations to come. Successive generations of urbanists and artists have enhanced open civic spaces with public art in the form of statuary and fountains. The Royal Academy Architecture Prize pays homage to that enduring and vital tradition in its choice of Cristina Iglesias.”

Norman Foster RA, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners and Chair of the Jury.

The jury also selected the finalists for the Royal Academy Dorfman Award, which champions global talent that represents the future of architecture and the winner will be announced on 17 March 2020 during the Royal Academy Architecture Awards Week. The four practices are:

AAU Anastas (Palestine)
AOR Architects (Finland)
BCKJ Architects (China)
WHBC Architects (Malaysia)

Chaired by the Royal Academician and founder of Foster + Partners, Norman Foster, jury members include co-founder of Stanton Williams, Alan Stanton RA, artist duo Jane and Louise Wilson RA, Pondicherry and Berlin-based architect, Anupama Kundoo and Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics, Ricky Burdett.

The Royal Academy Architecture Awards Week, taking place 16-19 March 2020 is a cultural outreach programme which is developed with the British Council as International Partner for the Awards. The week will end with a free event featuring installations, film screenings, talks and music, celebrating the work of the four Royal Academy Dorfman Award finalists, inspiring a new generation of audiences for architecture. The partnership with the British Council has been instrumental in maintaining and amplifying the global reach of the Awards, both by creating connections with nominators and by supporting the RA in its ongoing promotion of the finalists and winners through the British Council’s global network.

“The Awards are now in their third year, and go from strength to strength. I congratulate Cristina Iglesias on winning the Royal Academy Architecture Prize. Moreover, I am delighted to see so many strong nominations from world-wide experts again for the Dorfman Award, particularly from Asia. The Awards have become truly global in terms of applications and interest.”

Sir Lloyd Dorfman CBE, Trustee of the Royal Academy Development Trust, and Founding Partner of the Awards.

“The Royal Academy’s Architecture Award Programme champions inspirational architecture and architects from across the globe. We delight in developing longstanding relationships with all involved, from architects to jurors, following their progress and reflecting on the evolution of global architectural culture. The public events during Awards Week celebrate dialogue between continents and generations. For the first time it will culminate in a free closing party that invites London practitioners to take over the RA with exciting activations alongside their international counterparts.”

Kate Goodwin, Head of Architecture and Drue Heinz Curator, Royal Academy of Arts.

Rivers and Public Spaces by Cristina Iglesias. Bloomberg's European HQ by Foster + Partners. Photograph © Nigel Young

Cristina Iglesias. Photograph by José Luis López Zubiria. Image courtesy of Royal Academy

Detail of "Pozo XI" (In and around the Walls). Cristina Iglesias, 2014. Image courtesy of Ivorypress.

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CRISTINA IGLESIAS

Cristina Iglesias. Born in San Sebastian in November 1956. She studied Chemical Sciences in her home town (1976-1978) and then after a brief period in Barcelona practising ceramics and drawing, she studied Sculpture at the Chelsea School of Art in London, UK (1980-1982). Was granted a Fullbright scholarship to study at Pratt Institute, 1988. In 1995 she was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich (Germany) and in 1999 she won Spain's National Visual Arts Prize.

Cristina Iglesias lives and works in Madrid. She has represented Spain twice at the Venice Biennale, at the 42nd edition in 1986 and at the 45th edition in 1993 and has had solo exhibitions of her work hosted by Kunsthalle Berne (1991); Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1993); Guggenheim Bilbao (1997); Museu Serralves, Portugal (2002); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2003); the Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2006); and Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (2013).

In 2012 she won the Große Kunstpreis Berlin. Iglesias has made several notable large scale works in civic spaces, including Deep Fountain in front of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the bronze doors for the extension of the Prado Museum in Madrid.