Fujimoto will be in Houston this fall to formally accept the RDA prize. He will present his firm’s work at the annual Spotlight lecture, September 7

As this year’s award committee deliberated about whom to give the second annual Spotlight: The Rice Design Alliance Prize, the up and coming architect Sou Fujimoto rose to the top as a unanimous choice. The award, which recognizes an exceptionally gifted architect in the early phase of their professional career, carries a cash prize of $1,500.

Graduating from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Architecture in 1994, Fujimoto established his eponymous practice, Sou Fujimoto Architects, in 2000. Fujimoto’s work, which he defines as “formless form” where the architecture exists between nature and artifact, has garnered multiple awards and much praise. Many of his projects employ material layering to heighten sensory experience, perhaps most evident in the log-stacking of his award-winning and highly-lauded Wooden House.

Spotlight committee member and professor at the Rice School of Architecture Carlos Jimenez says,“Fujimoto has managed in a short time to build his own unmistakable position through works that surprise with their multifaceted simplicity. These works might be initially read as minimal yet on closer inspection they reveal a more complex reading where program, culture, and nature produce an abundance of architecture.”

Eligible honorees for the Spotlight Prize must be within their first 15 years of professional practice. An RDA committee of architects and academics convenes annually to consider local, national, and international architects who demonstrate design excellence and promise a great design future. Fujimoto will be in Houston this fall to formally accept the RDA prize. He will present his firm’s work at the annual Spotlight lecture.

DATE: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
TIME: 7 p.m. (pre-lecture wine reception begins at 6 p.m.)
PLACE: Brown Auditorium, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
1001 Bissonnet. Additional parking is available until 7 p.m. for $6 in the museum garage located at the corner of Binz and Fannin Streets.
TICKETS: This event is free for RDA Members and students presenting identification. Tickets for nonmembers are $25, but those who join RDA that evening will receive a free ticket. Tickets are required for entry and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6 p.m. the evening of the lecture. Seating is limited; attendees are encouraged to arrive early.