Architecture should 'bring joy to people' says Japanese Pritzker Prize winner

“My long-term goal is to design architecture that can bring joy to people, not just my clients,” said an emotional Yamamoto while speaking to reporters in Tokyo.

“Listening to you talk about me in this way, I feel that it is possible for me to accept that I am a good architect,” said the 78-year-old, on the verge of tears.

Renowned for his work combining architecture and social concerns, on Tuesday he became the ninth Japanese to receive the Pritzker Prize.

"Riken Yamamoto, architect and social activist" works towards "harmonious societies despite the diversity of identities, economies, politics, infrastructure and housing", greeted in a press release the organizers of the Pritzker Prize, often compared to the " Nobel Prize" for architecture.

It was chosen "first of all because it reminds us that in matters of architecture, as in democracy, spaces must be created by the determination of populations", judged the jury of the prestigious award.

The majority of Yamamoto's works and architectural ensembles are located in Japan but also in Zurich, Switzerland and China.

For example, he created a primary school in Yokohama, whose terraces connect all the classrooms, thus encouraging the thousand students to mix.

The transparency of its Hiroshima Fire Station allows the public to see the fire engines and personnel inside, while the Yokosuka Art Museum makes visitors feel like they are immersed in the natural landscape.

"Nearly 20 percent of our honorees are from Japan, which is unsurpassed by any nationality in the world," said Tom Pritzker, whose father Jay Pritzker of the Hyatt hotel chain is behind the price.

"Having spent a lot of time in Japan, I think it comes down to Japanese culture's relationship with nature," he said at a ceremony Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.