Elegance and restraint.
This week David Chipperfield was selected as the 2023 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Described as “architecture’s highest international accolade” .
His buildings are “characterised by elegance, restraint, a sense of permanence and refined detailing.”
Elegance and restraint. Two words which succinctly define his work.
Some architecture inspires awe. The design, the materials and the space lift the spirits. Like the finest art, I want to revisit beautiful buildings again and again.
I have only seen two David Chipperfield buildings and both inspire that sense of wonder. I want to see them all.
San Michele Cemetery, Venice
I visited San Michele Cemetery in 2018.
David Chipperfield Architects began work here in 2004. The second phase was completed not long before my visit in 2017, which may explain the emptiness of some of its courtyards.
It is a refined, becalmed space with, unsurprisingly, an air of mortality.
Hepworth Gallery, Yorkshire
I have visited the Hepworth Gallery a few times. Sometimes just to experience the building. Sometimes to see an excellent exhibition such as Bill Brandt / Henry Moore in 2020.
My most recent visit was last November:
Like San Michele Cemetery, the elegance of its materials and the restraint of both the exterior and interior are, to me, a thing of beauty.
David Chipperfield is perhaps better known abroad than here in the UK. The then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, introduced him to British Prime Minster, David Cameron, in 2013 as “one of our most famous German architects”. Despite him being born in London.
If I had followed my grandfather, father and brother into architecture these are the types of buildings I would wish to design.
There are four further buildings in the UK I want to find time to visit sooner rather than later.
The Royal Academy in London
River and Rowing Museum in Henley
Turner Contemporary in Margate
Hoxton Press in London
If you are near one of his masterpieces, I heartily recommend a visit. I hope you are moved in the same way as I am.
Reported in The Guardian on 7th March 2023.
Sam Michele became a cemetery island in 1807 when it was decreed that burial on the main Venetian islands was unsanitary.
Elegance and restraint.
You have such a wonderful way of capturing this seemingly plain architecture in a way that becomes almost hypnotic.
I am a regular visitor of the Turner Contemporary in Margate and the Royal Academy too. So as a photographer too, if you ever need tips for when to visit or any other help definitely feel free to let me know.
Hi from London! Here for my Big London Walk. Around six hours from now I will be pacing my way alongside the Barbican. A favourite of yours I believe. Much enjoyed this piece. I do not have the deeper appreciation of architecture that you possess. Though I know what I enjoy and over my decades in London certainly enjoy visits to the RA. Not just to admire the artwork but the building too. I'll salute the Barbican on your behalf as I pass it by... 😉