Madrid, January 28, 2009 – Steven Holl has been awarded the first BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Arts Category.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, organized in partnership with Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC), seek to recognize and encourage world-class research at an international level. The Arts Award honors creative works of excellence in areas that help define the cultural identity of a given year. Fields considered for the award include architecture, contemporary classical music, painting and sculpture.
In discussing its selection of Steven Holl, the jury highlighted his role as a leader in the architectural field, in particular his concern for social and environmental fundamentals. According to the jury, he was singled out because of the “the progressive position of the work of Steven Holl in more than 30 years of professional practice, in its rigorous discipline and consistency,” along with the “the formal, spatial, and functional processes of his personal artistic vision.”