The Jane Drew Prize for Architecture 2024 and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture 2024 have been awarded to Polish-French architect Iwona Buczkowska and American political activist and author Angela Davis, respectively. Honoring their work and commitment to their practices, the awards highlight their efforts to raise the profile of women in architecture. The Jane Drew Prize celebrates Buczkowska’s innovative approach to social housing and public buildings in France. Meanwhile, the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize recognizes Angela Davis’s leadership in the movement to abolish the prison system.
The design of the Cité Pierre Sémard, a 225-unit timber housing complex in Seine-Saint-Denis that was completed in 1992, is one of Iwona Buczkowka 's most renowned achievements. Using arcs and oblique planes to create intimate, well-lit living spaces, Buczkowska defies convention and highlights architecture's role in promoting social ecology. Her vision emphasizes her progressive ideals and the importance of preserving her architectural heritage.
On the other hand, Angela Davis has been active in the struggle to abolish the modern prison system. Her forthcoming book “Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Volume 1,” will be released this March. Davis has also had a significant influence on the architectural field, where her observations have sparked discussions about spatial fairness and the intersection of architecture with broader societal issues. Recent architectural analyses demonstrate how her work “Are Prisons Obsolete?” (2003), has played a significant role in rethinking alternatives to incarceration.
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The Legacy of Jane Drew: A Trailblazer for Women in ArchitectureThe award is named in honor of Jane Drew, an advocate for women in a male-dominated profession. Through her practice, Jane Drew also contributed to introducing the Modernist movement into the UK and was responsible for bringing Le Corbusier’s work to India. The Ada Louise Huxtable Award takes its name from the famous architecture critic, who was the first full-time critic at an American newspaper and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1970.
Last year, the awards were given to Kazuo Sejima and Phyllis Lambert. Honored for her work in the Pritzker Prize-winning office SANNAA, Kazuo Sejima has worked on many internationally recognized projects, such as the New Museum in New York and the Louvre Lens gallery in France. Last month, the RIBA Gold Medal for Architecture was awarded for the first time to an African Woman, a Ghanian-Scottish architect, academic, and curator, Lesley Lokko.
