Zaha Hadid awarded Praemium Imperiale

The Japan Art Association announced Zaha Hadid as one of the recipients of the 21st Praemium Imperiale. Previous Laureates of the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture include Peter Zumthor, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster. The other Praemium Imperiale Laureates for 2009 are (Painting), Richard Long (Sculpture), Alfred Brendel (Music) and (Theatre/Film). On October 22nd the Laureates will travel to Japan to attend the Awards Ceremony, presided over by the honorary patron of the Japan Art Association, Prince Hitachi, younger brother of the present Emperor of Japan. “It is indeed an honour to receive this recognition from the Japan Art Association.” said Hadid. “Working in Japan has been critical to the development of my work around the world. I will always be grateful for this support early in my career. My Japanese clients shared a passion for architecture - allowing us to investigate many things and design very powerful projects, interesting in their complexity and essential in developing our repertoire of work. Through our architecture, we can enthuse people and make them excited about new ideas.”