The 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.
Smiljan Radić Clarke is the newly awarded 2026 Pritzker winner!
"Architecture exists between large, massive, and enduring forms—structures that stand under the sun for centuries, waiting for our visit—and smaller, fragile constructions—fleeting as the life of a fly, often without a clear destiny under conventional light. Within this tension of disparate times, we strive to create experiences that carry emotional presence, encouraging people to pause and reconsider a world that so often passes them by with indifference."
Smiljan Radić.
Smiljan Radić Clarke is the 55th winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the founder of the practice, Smiljan Radić Clarke, established in 1995. Born in Santiago, Chile, he resides and works in his native city with upcoming projects in Albania, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
“Through a body of work positioned at the crossroads of uncertainty, material experimentation, and cultural memory, Smiljan Radić favours fragility over any unwarranted claim to certainty. His buildings appear temporary, unstable, or deliberately unfinished—almost on the point of disappearance—yet they provide a structured, optimistic and quietly joyful shelter, embracing vulnerability as an intrinsic condition of lived experience.”
2026 Jury Citation.
Teatro Regional del Bío-Bío, by Smiljan Radić Clarke. Photograph courtesy of Iwan Baan.
Throughout his work, various site-specific strategies are repeated, allowing each building to emerge from its particular conditions rather than responding to a recognizable formula. Some constructions are partially inserted into the terrain instead of resting on it, as in the Mestizo Restaurant (Santiago, Chile, 2006); others are oriented to protect themselves from prevailing winds or intense sunlight, as in the Pite House (Papudo, Chile, 2005); and in other cases, the form of the project is defined through adaptive reuse rather than replacement, as in Chile Before Chile, the expansion of the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art (Santiago, Chile, 2013).
Radić's architecture manifests its rigour not through explicit formal statements, but through the discipline of its construction. His works often present an austere or elemental appearance, though this impression conceals highly precise engineering and construction. Materials such as concrete, stone, wood, and glass are arranged in carefully considered relationships to configure weight, light, sound, and enclosure.
In the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (London, UK, 2014), a translucent fiberglass envelope rests on large, locally sourced load-bearing stones. Light filters through rather than being displayed, and the enclosure remains incomplete, allowing visitors to experience shelter without being entirely separated from the surrounding park. In the Biobío Regional Theater (Concepción, Chile, 2018), a carefully designed semi-translucent envelope regulates the entry of light and enhances acoustic performance through a strategy of containment. The construction thus becomes a form of narrative, where texture and mass acquire as much importance as form.
House for the Poem of the Right Angle by Smiljan Radić Clarke. Photograph courtesy of Gonzalo Puga.
The last awardees were.-
2025 LIU JIAKUN.
2024 RIKEN YAMAMOTO.
2023 DAVID CHIPPERFIELD
2022 FRANCIS KÉRÉ
2021 ANNE LACATON AND JEAN-PHILIPPE VASSAL
2020 YVONNE FARRELL AND SHELLEY MCNAMARA
2019 ARATA ISOZAKI
2018 BALKRISHNA DOSHI
2017 RAFAEL ARANDA, CARME PIGEM AND RAMÓN VILALTA
2016 ALEJANDRO ARAVENA
2015 FREI OTTO
2014 SHIGERU BAN
2013 TOYO ITO
2012 WANG SHU
2011 SOUTO DE MOURA
.../...
The award consists of USD 100,000 (equivalent to €93,631.50) and a bronze medallion with the inscription of "firmness, commodity, and delight", about the classic Vitruve motto "firmitas, utilitas, venustas".
The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are headquartered in Chicago. Their name is synonymous with Hyatt Hotels, located throughout the world. The Pritzkers have long been known for their support of educational, scientific, medical, and cultural activities. Jay A. Pritzker, (1922-1999), founded the prize with his wife, Cindy. His eldest son, Thomas J. Pritzker, the current president of The Hyatt Foundation, explains,
"As native Chicagoans, it’s not surprising that our family was keenly aware of architecture, living in the birthplace of the skyscraper, a city filled with buildings designed by architectural legends such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and many others."
Restaurant Mestizo, by Smiljan Radić Clarke. Photograph courtesy of Gonzalo Puga.
2026 JURY
This year, there are no changes to the jury. The independent jury of experts ranges each year from five to nine members. Jury members, who have the mission of selecting the laureate each year, serve for multiple years to ensure a balance between past and new members. The jury members are selected for their high recognition in their fields of architecture, business, education, publishing, and culture. No members of the Pritzker family or outside observers are present during jury deliberations, which usually take place during the first months of the calendar year.
Alejandro Aravena, 2020-present (Chair 2021-present) - 2016 Pritzker Laureate.
Barry Bergdoll, 2019-present.
Deborah Berke, 2019-present.
Stephen Breyer, 2012-present.
André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, 2017-present.
Anne Lacaton, 2025-present, 2021 Pritzker Laureate.
Hashim Sarkis, 2025-present.
Kazuyo Sejima, 2017-present - 2010 Pritzker Laureate.
Manuela Lucá-Dazio, 2020-present (Executive Director).
