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Moshe Safdie awarded 2019 Wolf Prize for Architecture

Moshe Safdie (center) at the final review for the Spring 2017 option studio “The High Line as Urban Spine,” which he led with Jaron Lubin.

Architect and urban planner Moshe Safdie has been named the 2019 recipient of the Wolf Prize for Architecture. Awarded by Israeli nonprofit The Wolf Foundation, the honor recognizes leaders in the arts and sciences whose accomplishments have contributed toward the benefit of humanity, according to the Foundation’s website.

“Over a long and distinguished career spanning 50 years, Moshe Safdie has produced a body of work of great originality and artistry in the field of architecture and urbanism,” noted the Prize jury in their remarks. “The projects undertaken by his architectural studio consistently seek experimentation and can be understood as an evolving form of research. He is also a distinguished educator and in his numerous publications he has articulated a clear and coherent position as an academic and critic.”

Among other activities, Safdie currently serves as Design Critic in Architecture and Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Along with Jaron Lubin, Safdie is leading the Spring 2019 option studio “Re-thinking a Humanist Skyscraper City.” The pair also led the Spring 2017 option studio “The High Line as Urban Spine.”

Born in Haifa, and a citizen of Israel, Canada, and the United States, Safdie established his own firm in 1964 to realize his breakthrough project, “Habitat 67.” His prolific portfolio can be seen around the world, and includes airports, museums, performing arts centers, libraries, housing, mixed use, and entire cities. Some of his most recognizable and beloved projects include Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem; United States Institute of Peace Headquarters, Washington, D.C.; Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex, the national museum of the Sikh people in India; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas; and Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Singapore. Safdie Architects holds offices in Jerusalem, Shanghai, Singapore, and Boston.

Awarded since 1978, the Wolf Prize recognizes luminaries in the categories of agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, physics, medicine, and the arts, which encompasses music, architecture, painting, and sculpture. Winners receive $100,000. Israel’s President will administer the Prize at a ceremony in Jerusalem in May 2019.