ZHA's Patrik Schumacher and Palestinian architect Suad Amiry named 2025 European Prize for Architecture winners

The 2025 European Prize for Architecture has been bestowed upon two laureates: Suad Amiry and Patrik Schumacher. 

Awarded annually by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, the Prize recognizes architects who have made a commitment to advance the principles of European humanism and the art of architecture. It also honors the commitment and achievements of European Architects who are championing a more critical, intellectual, and artistic approach to the design of buildings and cities.

Palestinian architect, scholar, activist, educator, and preservationist Suad Amiry is being honored for her exhaustive research, advocacy, and heritage protection of historic buildings in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank in Palestine.

Through her non-for-profit, Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation, which she founded in 1991, Amiry has been responsible for cataloguing thousands of historic structures, as well as restoring and rehabilitating hundreds of key cultural monuments and landmarks throughout Palestine.

Earlier this year, Amiry was awarded the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture.

As stated by Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, architecture critic and museum president of The Chicago Athenaeum: “In her mission to preserve Palestinian architecture, she has focused on the challenging complexities of preserving Palestinian collective memory through projects that document and restore architectural heritage sites across Palestine. Through initiatives such as the ‘50-Village Rehabilitation Project’ and the ’Life Jacket Project,’ the Riwaq Centre has turned the field of heritage into a medium of thinking of urgent and emergent socio-economic-culturalpolitical concerns.”

“In her work, she places residents and users at the center of design and preserves buildings that are both frugal and generous, but with the end-product advocating for a national identity and a complete architectural history of the Palestinian State,” added Narkiewicz-Laine.

Joining Amiry this year is German architect and architectural theorist Patrick Schumacher, whose critical discourse on the subject of architecture and his leadership of Zaha Hadid Architecture (ZHA), where he stands as the firm’s sole remaining partner, is being recognized.

“Possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and embracing radical theories, he has never merely replicated the status quo of ZHA, but his search for meaningful architecture has been reflected in buildings that to this day, defy stylistic categorizations, are constantly evolving, and always fresh in their approach,” said Narkiewicz-Laine.

Also known as a prominent and controversial theorist, Schumacher’s current research and design interest is focused on the metaverse and the integration of real and virtual communication spaces. 

Relisten to Archinect's 2016 podcast conversation with Schumacher about working with Zaha Hadid and taking over the firm following Hadid's untimely death.

Both Amiry and Schumacher were awarded the European Prize for Architecture at a formal ceremony and gala dinner in Athens, Greece this past Saturday. An exhibition titled “Suad Amiry” and one showcasing the latest projects by ZHA opened in Athens that same evening.