Designing to the Rhythms of Time

Meet the Speaker: Ben Pentreath

Ben Pentreath, architect, designer, educator and author, is the recipient of the 2023 Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame. He was awarded the $200,000 prize during a ceremony on March 25, 2023 in Chicago. 

“Ben’s artistry and architecture combine to create urbanism across all contexts while he works effortlessly in harmony with the local landscape, heritage, climate and culture of the settings where his work is rooted — lending an aura of both authenticity and cultural continuity to it,” said Stefanos Polyzoides, Driehaus Prize jury chair and the Francis and Kathleen Rooney Dean of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture. “Most importantly, the work conveys a sense of stewardship of the Earth and its resources at a time when an attitude of conservation and investment should be an essential part of the solutions to address the environmental crisis of our time.” 

The jury citation states: “As a luminary within a rising generation of architects, his work encompasses what the prize celebrates most: beauty, durability and commitment to place.”

Graduating with first-class honors in history of art and architecture in 1995, Pentreath excelled at the University of Edinburgh. While attending the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture in London, he won the student competition for his design for the Poet Laureate Pub on Pummery Square, Poundbury. After working in New York and with the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, he established his own architecture practice in 2004 and now employs more than 40 architects, urban designers and interior designers at his London studio. His interior design shop, Pentreath & Hall, which he co-owns with artist Bridie Hall, is one of the most influential studios in the London design world. 

Pentreath’s firm has designed residential and commercial buildings in Poundbury and other new towns throughout the United Kingdom, including Truro and Tornagrain. 

“The designs unerringly establish a sense of place, whether new or in the transformation of the existing,” according to the citation. “The durable construction, arrangement of interior spaces to take advantage of natural lighting and ventilation and placement and siting in mixed-use, walkable cities and towns and villages offer alternatives to the current notions of green architecture which typically rely solely on technological solutions.”

Pentreath is the 21st recipient of the Driehaus Prize, named for Richard H. Driehaus, founder and chairman of Chicago-based Driehaus Capital Management LLC.

The 2023 Driehaus Prize laureate was selected by a jury composed of Robert Davis, developer and founder of Seaside, Florida; Melissa DelVecchio, partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Michael Lykoudis, professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame; Léon Krier, architect and urban planner; Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, founding principal of DPZ; and Demetri Porphyrios, principal of Porphyrios Associates.
 

Originally published by Carrie Rulli at news.nd.edu on January 17, 2023.

View the Live Event

Presented by The School of Architecture

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 5:15 pm

The 2023 Richard H. Driehaus Prize Laureate Ben Pentreath will join us to discuss the importance of combining architecture and artistry to create urban environments that are beautiful and sustainable for generations. He will lean on his experience as a master planner to illustrate how designing in harmony within local landscape, heritage, and climate allows for an authentic experience for its community members. He will also share his views on the importance of beauty alongside conservation and how to best design for the communities of the world.

Attendees may earn AIA credit from any of these lectures. Architects must maintain a certain amount of continuing education credits each year to keep their license.

Listen to Ben Pentreath’s acceptance of the 2023 Richard H. Driehaus Prize below.

View Event