Triple threat

Founders of RCR Architects, designers of Muraba Residences Palm Jumeirah, win the 39th Pritzker Architecture Prize

Founders of RCN Arquitectes, Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta, have each been selected as 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates. Known for their extraordinary capability for choreographing landscape and architecture to create buildings with a highlyattuned sense of place, they have brought their exemplary style to Dubai’s Muraba Residences, Palm Jumeirah.

“It is a great joy and a great responsibility. We are thrilled that this year three professionals, who work closely together in everything they do, are recognised,” says Pigem.

Originally from Olot, in the Catalonian region of Spain, the team has worked together since 1988. The awards mark the first time that three architects have been honoured with the prize. Their work captured the attention of the Pritzker jury due to their ability to create an emotional architectural experience.

The 2017 Pritzker Prize Jury Citation explained the decision: “We live in a globalised world where we must rely on international influences, trade, discussion, transactions, etc. But more and more people fear that because of this international influence…we will lose our local values, our local art, and our local customs… Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta tell us that it may be possible to have both. They help us to see, in a most beautiful and poetic way, that the answer to the question is not ‘either/or’ and that we can, at least in architecture, aspire to have both; our roots firmly in place and our arms outstretched to the rest of the world.”

RCR’s designs for Muraba Residence reflect the design philosophy that led to their coveted awards. They closely followed an unusual brief, rather than designing using the traditional approach, which is to design the outside of the building and then ‘fit’ the apartments into that space.