Smiljan Radić Clarke Wins Pritzker Prize

Smiljan Radić Clarke, the Chilean architect, has been awarded the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's highest honor. The jury, chaired by Alejandro Aravena, praised Radić for his experimental approach that embraces the human condition. The award recognizes Radić's body of work that invites people to experience architecture through atmosphere, material presence, and a sense of discovery. Radić's architecture often balances apparent opposites, such as permanence and fragility, creating spaces that feel both surprising and natural. His buildings do not dominate their surroundings but enter into a dialogue with landscape, history, and collective memory. Tom Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, noted that Radić's work embraces fragility and imperfection while creating spaces that bring people together. Born in Santiago in 1965, Radić studied architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He established his practice, Smiljan Radić Clarke, in 1995, maintaining a deliberately small studio to foster close collaboration and unique project development. Radić's designs resist a recognizable signature style, emerging instead from careful observation of place, material, and social context. Key projects include the Serpentine Pavilion in London (2014), a translucent fiberglass shell on quarry stones, and the Teatro Regional del Biobío in Concepción (2018), wrapped in a translucent polycarbonate envelope. Another notable project is the underground expansion of the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in Santiago, creating a subterranean space that emphasizes archaeology. Radić's ability to transform simple materials into powerful spatial experiences is evident in Guatero, a pneumatic installation created for the Chilean Architecture Biennial in 2023. Radić's work reflects a deep sensitivity to the emotional and psychological experience of architecture, creating spaces that feel protective and attentive to human vulnerability. The jury highlighted the emotional dimension of his architecture and the way his buildings encourage reflection through spatial experience. Radić himself has described architecture as existing in a constant tension between permanence and fragility.