geoff: David chipperfield is one
of the world's most prolific
architects, with buildings all
around the world.
And today, the British architect
was awarded his profession's
most distinguished honor, the
Pritzker prize.
Jeffrey brown spoke to him for
our arts and culture series,
canvas.
Jeffrey: David has designed
museums.
The turner contemporary in the
U.K., the James Simon gallery in
Berlin.
Civic buildings, retail stores,
apartment houses, more than 100
built works over four decades
and an espresso maker.
He is less known for his
signature look or style band for
work that responds to specific
places and needs.
>> I would hope that there is a
certain consistency of approach
and a certain consistency of
process and he so's -- ethos in
our work but I am very concerned
that buildings are of their
location more than of their
author.
The important thing is to make a
building from Mexico City or des
Moines, Iowa, or Berlin.
It shouldn't be an obsessive
idea that it is a recognizable
signature building.
That is reducing architecture to
becoming a sort of product come
objects.
Jeffrey: As I get older, I am
much less interested in
architecture per se and were so
interested in the societal
issues of architecture.
What does that mean?
>> Putting it very bluntly, as
architects, we are very
concerned with our products.
The buildings we make.
We can see them as sculptures.
We can see them for their
physical and creative qualities.
But we also should be seeing
them for their societal worth
and their purpose.
There is a lot of mismatching in
that.
I am increasingly concerned with
what architecture is for and in
what ways we build our cities
and how useful or useless
architecture is for the general
public.
Jeffrey: One unusual aspect of
his work, transforming older
buildings, preserving what holds
history and beauty while
adapting them for today.
Among these in Berlin, the 19th
century noise museum, left
devastated during World War II,
given a new life in 2009.
And completely different, a
refurbishment of what is
considered a 20th-century
masterwork.
The new national gallery.
In Venice, a recent restoration
of the building that dates to
the 16th century.
It is a challenge he believes
his profession must embrace
rather than focusing so much on
the new.
>> From a sustainability
perspective and resource
perspective, we will be working
much more with existing
buildings.
Not just monumental ones,
obviously significant ones.
We are going to change our
attitude towards the reuse and
refurbishment and refitting of
more ordinary buildings and I
think this will be a big shift
in the next 10 years.
Jeffrey: Does that require a
shift in thinking among
architects in your profession?
>> I think it does for it I
think it makes a big shift.
It's challenging but also I
believe quite rewarding.
There is something very
collaborative about restoration
projects and I believe that that
is very important for the
profession to embrace and I
think that it is a way back for
my profession to become slightly
more useful to society.
We sorof seem to be artistic
at the best and commercial at
the worst and we have not quite
made up our minds whether we are
profiteers or artists.
I believe that architects, you
know, we have all been trained
to believe that we can help
build better cities, better
places, and that is the basis of
quality of life.
Jeffrey: What do you think is
most important for the health of
cities today and what architects
can bring to it?
>> The most obvious is global
warming and the fact that we are
going to have to be more clever
about how we use resources.
The construction industry
contributes an enormous amount
of damage to our environment so
we have to think about how we
might mitigate that, limit that,
and address that, and the second
existential crisis is social
inequality.
And again, cities and where we
live contribute or compensate
for inequality.
They exaggerate or they level
out to some degree.
So again, I think as architects,
we should be provoking and
encouraging politicians in our
society at large to take more
care about the cities we live
in, not just the rich bids and
glamorous bits, not just the
shopping centers, but where
people live, and I believe the
reflection that we have all been
able to make or have been forced
to make with covid, staying at
home much more, being in our
locality much more.
Being with our families much
more has reminded us of these
simple facts.
>> David is now working on what
could be his biggest project in
the northwest of Spain.
He has created a foundation to
help plan and develop the
region's long-term economy and
environmental sustainability.
For the pbs newshour, I am
Jeffrey brown.