What’s Happening: Architecture’s highest honor goes to the Japanese designer whose transparent buildings remind us how “space must be created by the resolve of the people.”

The Download: Riken Yamamoto grew up in a house that would have a formative impact on his architecture. Modeled after the traditional machiya, the wooden townhouses found in Japan, the structure housed his mother’s pharmacy in the front and their living space in the back. “The threshold for one side was for family, and on the other side was for community,” he said. “I sat in between.” After graduating from Nihon University and Tokyo University of the Arts, he spent months traveling the world with his mentor to study the dynamics between public and private space. Launching his own practice, Yamamoto & Field Shop, followed shortly after, where he designed a few private residences before launching into large-scale social housing projects inspired by how machiya foster community and collectivism among neighbors.

Yamamoto has spent his career designing buildings deeply embedded in upholding community life, a pursuit that earned the 78-year-old this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize, regarded as the industry’s highest honor. His selection is a welcome addition for a prize that, especially in recent years, has eschewed fashionable “starchitects” in favor of more obscure practitioners who prioritize local vernacular, social housing, and a commitment to place. Yamamoto fits that bill—his five-decade career has yielded a consistent body of work defined by cubic forms built in pursuit of collectivism. “To recognize space is to recognize an entire community,” he says. “The current architectural approach emphasizes privacy, negating the necessity of societal relationships. We can still honor the freedom of each individual while living together in architectural space as a republic, fostering harmony across cultures and phases of life.”

Whether a mixed-use development, airport facility, or primary school, nearly all of Yamamoto’s buildings reflect this approach. The Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station is almost entirely transparent, revealing the daily activities and training of firefighters to passersby. Ditto for the nine glass-clad buildings at Saitama Prefectural University, which allow views from one classroom to another to spark curiosity. When Japan entered rebuild mode following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, Yamamoto founded the Local Area Republic Labo, an institute dedicated to community activities that leverage architecture in service of revitalization. “One of the things we need most in the future of cities is to create conditions through architecture that multiply the opportunities for people to come together and interact,” says Alejandro Aravena, jury chair and the prize’s 2016 laureate. “He is a reassuring architect who brings dignity to everyday life. Normality becomes extraordinary. Calmness leads to splendor.”

In Their Own Words: “Architects in Japan face a tough challenge—the power of conformity here is very strong,” Yamamoto explains, nodding to his status as the ninth architect from Japan to receive the honor, following the likes of Shigeru Ban, Toyo Ito, and Tadao Ando. “Everyone wants to do things according to the norm, including many designers. But talented architects are trying to create architecture for communities that address the characteristics of that place. To do that, they must have a strong point of view. [They] put forth bold ideas in opposition to the prevailing standards.”

Surface Says: Sounds like Yamamoto sold himself short when he wrote “I am not very good at design” in his monograph.

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How can clever design pay respect to the bygone days of a rundown theater that once housed a convent, school, and chemistry library? In the Dutch city of Dordrecht, Studio Modijefsky seems to have an answer. The Amsterdam-based studio recently unveiled De Witt, an all-day brasserie swathed in hues of tangerine, taupe, and Dutch blue that adhere to Dordtse kleuren, or the city’s color palette for historic spaces. Arched lighting throughout illuminates brass mesh shades shaped like the archways adorning monastic cloisters—a nod to De Witt’s past life as a convent. Other lighting features, such as the dining room’s long cylindrical pendants, are subtly evocative of test tubes in a gesture to De Witt’s prior chapter as a chemistry laboratory, and school, too.

A mix of lounge chairs with cocktail tables, bistro seating, barstools, and booths provide ample options for everything from a beer before a movie or lunch after taking in exhibitions at the nearby art museum Kunstkerk. The menu balances light and hearty fare with a family-friendly approachability befitting its location. Main course highlights include haddock served with romanesco, and Bavette steak with baba ganoush—then again, you can’t go wrong with oysters and a classic smashburger.

Trevyn McGowan had only been to Los Angeles twice before deciding to open an outpost of her gallery, the stalwart South African art and collectible design hub Southern Guild in East Hollywood this month during Frieze week. “Los Angeles felt welcoming from the start in a way that flowed and felt authentic,” she tells Surface of the network of collectors, interior designers, publicists, gallerists, curators, and entertainers that she and her husband Julian quickly amassed while preparing for their move.

It started when the Haas Brothers, longtime friends and collaborators, directed them to property developer Tyler Stonebreaker. He helped the duo locate a cavernous 5,000-square-foot former laundromat that perfectly suited the large-scale sculpture Southern Guild has specialized in showing since emerging onto South Africa’s art market in 2008. “We felt great kismet with him,” Trevyn says. “Everything felt seamless and integrated.” He, in turn, introduced them to Evan Raabe Architecture, an art-world favorite firm that trusted Trevyn and Julian with the details.

The resulting property, which encompasses a courtyard, restaurant, and trio of exhibition spaces, may be smaller than Southern Guild’s original location, but rivals it in ambition. It also enabled its roster of bold-faced talents to make a welcome entry into the dynamic art scene percolating in Los Angeles.

As spring’s warmth bears down on New York, the hardships posed to the city’s arts scene during the year 2020 are a distant memory. After all, gala season has picked up again in full swing, fairs have found their momentum, galleries are making big moves, and museums are enjoying the kind of multi-year planning runway needed to stage the kinds of awe-inspiring shows taken for granted in the before-times. Alma Communications founder Hannah Gottlieb-Graham is one of the architects of some of the art world’s biggest comebacks and new beginnings since then.

That was when Gottlieb-Graham struck out on her own as a founder. After a career that began at Surface, then took her through the art department of The New Yorker, the grind of the city’s most prestigious public relations agencies, and then to the Aperture Foundation where she ran communications, she’s accumulated an industry know-how far beyond her years. Since then, she’s grown her staff of two—herself and husband Andrew Samuels—to a powerful group of six women with diverse interests and career backgrounds, helping her growing client roster tell thousands of meaningful stories about their work in the process.

“I’ve often shared with friends that I feel like Alma has grown as much in the last four years as some companies grow in 20,” she says. Gottlieb-Graham spoke with Surface about the photographers who have shaped her, leading as a woman, and the endless quest to unplug.

Château La Coste has seen many notable artists pass through its storied grounds—Jennifer Guidi, Tia-Thuy Nguyen, Pierre Paulin—but no artist has staged a full takeover of the Provençal destination’s 500-acre estate. That changed this month, when Damien Hirst pulled back the curtain on a landmark show across the property’s five pavilions designed by the likes of Oscar Niemeyer and Richard Rogers. “The Light That Shines” spans never-before-seen pieces to recognizable career highlights like the formaldehyde work The Ascension and The Empress Paintings, which use red and black butterfly wings arranged into kaleidoscopic patterns.

Sprawling as it is, the exhibition hints at even more ambitious works to come. According to the Financial Times, the British superstar and Château founder Paddy McKillen plan to erect an on-site chapel taking the form of a 100-foot-high bronze hand pointing toward the sky. “I designed this arm as a sculpture,” Hirst says. “It was based on a hand holding a mobile phone. But it was a bit like Christ’s fingers. And then I thought, it’s like a spire. It was Paddy’s idea to put steps inside it so you could go up it.” The chapel is scheduled to open in late 2025.

Last week, Sanford Biggers partnered with Jenni Benzaquen of Marriott’s Luxury Group to host an after-hours gallery tour, cocktail, and private dinner at the Hammer Museum’s restaurant, Lulu. The festivities offered guests an up-close view of the Harlem-based artist’s Oracle sculpture, which was commissioned by Art Production Fund and journeyed to the museum after its Rockefeller Center debut last year. The evening offered friends and associates a chance to mingle in the fresh evening air—far from the sinuous white-box environment of the fair scene.

When was it? March 1

Where was it? The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Who was there? Christine Y. Kim, Awol Erizku, Annie Philbin, Casey Fremont, Storm Ascher, Ikechukwu Casmir Onyewuenyi, Alessandra Codinha, Jahi Sundance, and more.

Art for Change connects socially conscious art collectors with accomplished contemporary artists and their work. It offers exceptionally high-quality artwork created exclusively for Art for Change at manageable price points. Art for Change donates a percentage of the net proceeds of print or painting purchases to nonprofits to effect positive change in the world.

Surface Says: Art for Change gives socially conscious emerging collectors entry to the world of acquisitions with an emphasis on shared values.

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