Philippe Rotthier
2025 Henry Hope Reed Award laureate
The Richard H. Driehaus prize jury members have named Philippe Rotthier the next Henry Hope Reed laureate for his lifelong initiatives and continuing commitment to the cause of a new traditional architecture and urbanism. For more than 50 years he has dedicated his time and personal resources to resist the modernist disruption that followed WWII and lay the groundwork for reestablishing a culture of architectural continuity. Among his notable accomplishments was his renewal of vernacular architecture on the Island of Ibiza, Spain, where he built 80 houses using local materials and crafts.
The Philippe Rotthier Foundation, based in Brussels, Belgium, has provided the institutional framework for supporting this movement for architectural renewal through publications, exhibitions, occasional design competitions and his eponymous triennial architectural awards. His relentless advocacy for architectural change has enabled the emergence of two generations of significant young architects capable of exploring alternative forms of architectural modernity, including the 2025 Driehaus Prize laureate, Liam O’Connor.
Rotthier created the European Prize for the Reconstruction of the City that has been a catalyst for spreading the message of the intellectual, social and environmental merits of a contemporary classical and vernacular culture across the European continent. Since 1982, 86 award-winning works from 33 different countries have been awarded a Rotthier Prize.
Rotthier has been a significant contributor to the movement to rebuild existing and new communities and to steward nature in ways that have been proven to help humans flourish over thousands of years. The encouragement that he has provided to architects has begun to transform the practice of a new traditional architecture and urbanism worldwide at all scales, from repair through local design and craft, to new classical and vernacular architecture at the multi-block scale, to the urbanism of large-scale infill or city extension projects.