Chipperfield and Eisenman Win Israel's Prestigious Wolf Prize

Last Wednesday, Israel’s Wolf Foundation announced that British architect David Chipperfield is being recognized for overseeing the reconstruction of Berlin’s Neues Museum in a building that had been abandoned since World War II. His new building incorporated bricks, stairs and bullet holes from the original museum, which opened in 1855.

The other Wolf Prize laureate, American architect Peter Eisenman, designed the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, inaugurated in 2005. The foundation says Eisenman’s work “provides a new paradigm for memorialization.” The winners will share the $100,000 award.

The Wolf Foundation says 38 past winners have gone on to win Nobel prizes. The winners will receive the awards in a ceremony on May 13. The Wolf Foundation was founded by the late German-born Dr. Ricardo Wolf, an inventor, philanthropist and former Cuban ambassador to Israel. The private nonprofit foundation’s council is chaired by Israel’s education minister.