Smiljan Radic Clarke was born in Santiago de Chile in 1965. He studied at the Catholic University of Chile's School of Architecture, where he graduated in 1989. Later, he studied at the Istituto di Architettura di Venezia, Italy. After travelling for three years, he opened his own practice in Santiago in 1995. In 2001, he was named ‘Best under 35-year-old architect’ by the Chilean College of Architects, and in 2009, he was appointed as an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, USA.
Smiljan Radic has lectured extensively and has mounted several architecture exhibitions on his work, including in 2013 - The Wardrobe and the Mattress, Hermes Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Bus Stop for Krumbach, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Ilustraciones, Galeria AFA, Santiago; in 2012 - An Orange Tree Noise at the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; and in 2010 Global Ends, Ma Gallery in Tokyo, and People Meet in Architecture, with sculptor Marcela Correa at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. Smiljan Radic has won numerous contests, such as the Regional Theatre (Concepción, 2011) and the Telecommunication Tower (Santiago, 2014). His work has been published in several architecture journals and monographs, the most recent being El Croquis N° 167, Madrid, Spain. He currently lives and works in Chile.
In 2017, Radić founded the Fundación de Arquitectura Frágil, housed within his home studio in Santiago, to support experimental architecture that challenges disciplinary boundaries. Through exhibitions, workshops, and shared inquiry, the foundation reflects his belief in architecture as a collective and evolving practice.
Radić’s work has been recognized with numerous international honors, including being named Best Architect Under 35 by the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile (Chile, 2001), the Architectural Record Design Vanguard Award (United States, 2008), the Oris Award (Croatia, 2015), the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (United States, 2018), and the Grand Prize at the Pan-American Architecture Biennial of Quito (Ecuador, 2022). He is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects and an Honorary Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, since 2009 and 2020, respectively.
Radić’s work has been featured in major exhibitions internationally, including Global Ends at Gallery Ma (Tokyo, Japan, 2010); Un Ruido Naranjo at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Hiroshima, Japan, 2012); The Wardrobe and the Mattress, Hermès Gallery, Tokyo, with Marcela Correa (Tokyo, Japan, 2013); Bus Stop for Krumbach at Kunsthaus Bregenz (Bregenz, Austria, 2013); Smiljan Radić: BESTIARY at TOTO Gallery Ma (Tokyo, Japan, 2016); The House for the Poem of the Right Angle in Endless House: Intersections of Art and Architecture at The Museum of Modern Art (New York, United States, 2015–2016); and Guatero Bubble at the XXII Bienal de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de Chile (Santiago, Chile, 2023).
Radić continues to live and work from Santiago, Chile, sustaining an experimental architectural practice.
