The Pritzker Prize is the most important award in the field of architecture, awarded to a living architect whose built work “has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture.” The Prize rewards individuals, not entire offices, as took place in 2000 (when the jury selected Rem Koolhaas instead of his firm OMA) or in 2016 with Alejandro Aravena selected instead of Elemental however, the prize can also be awarded to multiple individuals working together, as took place in 2001 Herzog & de Meuron 2010 Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA and 2017 Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta of RCR Arquitectes
The award is an initiative funded by Jay Pritzker through the Hyatt Foundation, an organization associated with the hotel company of the same name that Jay founded with his brother Donald in 1957.
The award was first given in 1979, when the American architect Philip Johnson, was awarded for his iconic works such as the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut
The Pritzker Prize has been awarded for almost forty straight years without interruption, and there are now 18 countries with at least one winning architect. To date, half of the winners are European; while the Americas, Asia, and Oceania share the other twenty editions. So far, no African architect has been awarded, making it the only continent without a winner.