Junya Ishigami wins 2026 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize | News

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Junya Ishigami’s ‘excavated’ restaurant & residence in Ube, Japan. Image ©︎ junya.ishigami+associates

The American Academy of Arts and Letters‘ prestigious Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize goes to Japanese architect Junya Ishigami this year. The annual prize awards US$20,000 to an architect of any nationality who has made a significant contribution to architecture as an art. 

Ishigami, who worked with Kazuyo Sejima at SANAA before branching out with his own practice junya.ishigami+associates in 2004, is known for his brand of Japanese minimalism that takes inspiration from its natural surroundings, notably the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion in London, KAIT Plaza in Atsugi, Japan, the Glass Pavilion in Park Groot Vijversburg, the Netherlands, and the cave-like ‘excavated’ restaurant & residence in Ube, Japan.  

Other Brunner Prize winners in recent years were Farshid Moussavi, SelgasCano, W. G. Clark, Carme Pinós, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Francis Kéré, and this year’s Pritzker winner Smiljan Radic.

The Junya Ishigami-designed 2019 Serpentine Pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery, London. Image © Junya Ishigami + Associates, Photography © 2019 Iwan Baan

The announcement of the Academy’s 2026 Awards in Architecture also included four winners of a $10,000 Arts and Letters Award: Hervé Descottes and Ultramoderne (Aaron Forrest and Yasmin Vobis) are being recognized as architects “whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction,” while Keller Easterling and K. Michael Hays receive the honor for “excellence in those who explore ideas in architecture through any medium of expression.”

Chicago Horizon by Ultramoderne (in collaboration with Guy Nordenson and Associates), winner of the 2015 Chicago Lakefront Kiosk design competition. Image: Naho Kubota, courtesy of Ultramoderne.

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