Pei Lands German Prize

NUREMBERG, Germany – Noted U.S. architect I.M. Pei took one of the top honors this year in the first split decision of the German Natural Stone Awards.
The awards, to be formally presented at Stone+tec 2005 later this month, took the unprecedented step of awarding two first prizes in different categories.
New York-based Pei received the top honor in the public- and cultural-projects category for his work with the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. According to the jury, the building with its special shape – a triangle – shows a high degree of architectural imagination in both exterior and interior design, including the outdoor closed facades of light Jura limestone.
The winner in the category of private and commercial properties of natural stone is the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Apartment Tower Berlin, designed by architects Hilmer & Sattler and Albrecht, Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH, Berlin. The almost-white Branco Rosal Portuguese limestone facade is interrupted like a net by openings for windows, with flutings and projections profiled and woven tectonically with a textile effect.
A special merit award went to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum – Fondation Corboud, Cologne, designed by architect Oswald Mathias Ungers, Cologne, using a combination of basalt lava/tuff/slate. Another special merit award goes to the General Medical Council’s building in Berlin, designed by architects Heinle, Wischer und Partner, Berlin, using Dorfer Grün slate.
This year’s jury chaired by BDA President Kaspar Kraemer of Cologne, also commended seven other works in Berlin, Potsdam and Würzburg.
The German Natural Stone Award is a recognized architecture prize, worth a total of €30,000, offered every two years by DNV – Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband. The official presentation will be May 27 at Stone+tec in Nuremberg.