The world's four greatest statisticians never took a course in statistics, Mr Ackoff would point out, and three of America's greatest architects (Henry Hobson Richardson, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright) never took a formal course in architecture.

ECONOMIST: In praise of the ideas of Russ Ackoff

And as the Pritzkers and so many others here can attest, if you love architecture there are few better places to live than in my hometown of Chicago. (Applause.) It is the birthplace of the skyscraper -- a city filled with buildings and public spaces designed by architects like Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry, who is here tonight.

WHITEHOUSE: The Pritzker Architecture Prize

It was Louis Sullivan's apprentice, Frank Lloyd Wright, who endowed Chicago with its most distinctive style, the "Prairie School", from a small studio in Oak Park.

BBC: The infamous architecture of Chicago