Smiljan Radić, Pritzker Prize 2026

DATE

12.03.2026

The Chilean architect Smiljan Radić has been announced as the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Prize, the most important recognition in the world of architecture. The jury highlighted a highly singular career, marked by a way of designing that moves away from grand media gestures and instead embraces a quieter, almost poetic architecture. Radić thus becomes one of the Latin American figures continuing to strengthen the region’s presence on the international architectural stage.

Radić’s work is difficult to classify within a specific style. His buildings often occupy a territory somewhere between architecture, sculpture, and landscape. Many of his projects appear to emerge naturally from their surroundings, combining heavy materials such as stone or concrete with lighter structures or unexpected elements. This combination produces an architecture that simultaneously conveys fragility and strength, inviting people to experience it rather than simply observe it.

One of the projects that helped bring him international recognition was the Serpentine Pavilion 2014, built in London. The structure, composed of a translucent capsule-like volume resting on large rocks, appeared to hover above Hyde Park. The intervention clearly summarized his way of working: an architecture that seems simple at first glance but is rich in references, atmospheres, and possible interpretations.

Among his best-known works is the Mestizo Restaurant in Santiago, a building open to the landscape and supported by a large concrete roof. Another is the so-called House for the Poem of the Right Angle, a project inspired by Le Corbusier’s text that explores the relationship between architecture, literature, and space. These are joined by works such as the Biobío Regional Theatre, where his architecture reaches a public scale without losing its experimental character.

Something the Pritzker jury particularly emphasized is Radić’s ability to work with intuition and imagination within architectural practice. His buildings do not seek to impress through size or spectacle, but through the intensity of the experiences they generate. In them, light, materiality, and the relationship with place play a central role.

With the 2026 Pritzker Prize, Smiljan Radić joins the group of architects who have shaped the direction of the discipline in our time. His work demonstrates that architecture can still be an open field of exploration, where research, artistic sensitivity, and a deep connection to territory coexist. At a moment when many cities tend to become increasingly homogenized, his work reminds us that each project can also be an opportunity to imagine new ways of inhabiting the world.