Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto has been named the winner of this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize for his buildings that are a "background and foreground to everyday life".
Yamamoto, who is the 53rd Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate and the ninth from Japan, was honoured for his buildings that aim to foster community.
Top: Riken Yamamoto has won this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize. Photo by Tom Welsh. Above: one of his early projects was his own house. Photo by Ryuuji Miyamoto
"For me, to recognise space, is to recognise an entire community," said Yamamoto.
"The current architectural approach emphasises privacy, negating the necessity of societal relationships. However, we can still honour the freedom of each individual while living together in architectural space as a republic, fostering harmony across cultures and phases of life." Hotakubo Housing was his first social housing project. Photo by Tomio Ohashi
The jury, led by Chilean architect and 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Alejandro Aravena, believed that many of the ideals in Yamamoto's work, including the blurring of public and private spaces, could be applied to future cities.
"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," explained Aravena.

Read: Fifteen key projects by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner ...