London's Royal Academy of Arts has named Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias the winner of its 2020 architecture prize for her urban sculptures in public spaces.
This is the third year the 2020 Royal Academy Architecture Prize has been awarded. Previous winners are Diller Scofidio + Renfro founders Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, and Japanese architect Itsuko Hasegawa.
Iglesias, who is based in Madrid, produced a series of works called Rivers and Public Spaces between 2006 and 2018 that used water suspended on organic textures cast in metal to reflect the city around them.
Cristina Iglesias' created Deep Fountain, a pool over an abyss in Antwerp. Photo by Kristien Daem.
She designed Forgotten Streams, the bronze water feature outside the Foster + Partners-designed Bloomberg London headquarters, which resurrects a lost ancient river that used to flow though the site. "Successive generations of urbanists and artists have enhanced open civic spaces with public art in the form of statuary and fountains," said Norman Foster, the founder of Foster + Partners, who chaired the awards.
"The Royal Academy Architecture Prize pays homage to that enduring and vital tradition in its choice of Cristina Iglesias."
Forgotten Streams recreates a lost river by Foster + Partners London offices for Bloomberg, Photo by Nigel Young
The jury of the 2020 Royal Academy Architecture Prize also included Alan Stanton, co-founder of Stanton Williams, the artist's Jane Wilson and...