AUSTRALIA’S most awarded architect, Glenn Murcutt, has been honoured with an esteemed  prize during a ceremony at the residence of the Japanese ambassador this evening (December 14).

The Praemium Imperiale, a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association, was officially conferred upon Prof Murcutt by Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami.

The Australian Institute of Architects says this honour adds to previous domestic and international recognition of Murcutt’s work including having been awarded the 2009 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002, the 2001 Thomas Jefferson Medal for Architecture in America, the 1999 Green Pin International Award for Architecture and Ecology from the Academy of Architects, Demark, the Finnish Alvar Aalto Medal and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal in 1992.

“Glenn Murcutt is a giant of the architectural profession whose contribution is truly immense,” national president of the institute Tony Giannone said, adding that he was the first Australian to be named a Praemium Imperiale Laureate of architecture.