Chilean architect Smiljan Radic Clarke receives the Pritzker Prize, the world’s highest distinction in architecture, recognizing a singular work based on experimentation, sobriety and the unfinished.
L’Chilean architect Smiljan Radic has been named the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The jury praised the coherence of a journey marked by a permanent evolution of forms and concepts, refusing any assignment to a single style in favor of an open approach, in constant dialogue with uses and contexts.
“Conclusion is complex: a shelter creates a distance from reality, while a refuge invites us to feel the uniqueness of the life that takes place there. But what we need is protection – a place of stability to accept our fragility” explains Smiljan Radic Clarke, the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Prize, pictured here. © Pritzker Prize
Professionally known as Smiljan Radiche however wished associate his identity with the name of his mother, Clarke, when the award was officially announceda personal gesture which underlines the intimate dimension of his journey. Radic thus becomes the 55th winner of the Pritzker Prizecreated in 1979 by Jay Pritzker in order to distinguish architectural excellence on a global scale. Previous winners include Renzo Piano, Francis Kéré and Zaha Hadid, confirming the international prestige of this distinction.
An explorative architecture
Born in Santiago and graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the sixty-year-old architect has built an eclectic body of work covering very varied programs – residences, cultural facilities, commercial projects – without ever seeking to impose a repetitive formal signature. His work favors sensitive experience: the relationship with materials, the perception of atmospheres and a exploratory dimension which invites the user to discover the architecture rather than consuming it like a fixed object.
This wine cellar, the work of Smiljan Radic Clarke, is located within the domain of Vik Resort, Chile. © Cristobal Palma / © Pritzke Prizer
The spaces that Smiljan Radic Clarke designs are characterized by a form of ambiguity, even a certain destabilization, like the House for the Poem of the Right Anglein Chile, a building which frees itself from traditional orthogonal landmarks to open the field to interpretation and contemplation. Architecture is then akin to an art of withdrawal, capable of offering a peaceful refuge in the heart of a world crossed by uncertainty. © Cristobal Palma
A work praised for its sobriety, between iconic installations and cultural equipment
In his press release, the Pritzker jury 2026 highlighted a work located “at the crossroads of uncertainty, material experimentation and cultural memory“, favoring fragility rather than a demonstration of architectural certainty. Many of his buildings appear deliberately temporary, unstable or unfinished, questioning traditional conventions of permanence and monumental expression.
Among Smiljan Radic Clark’s most notable achievements is the temporary structure designed for the Serpentine Gallery pavilions in Kensington Gardens, London. The work, which sparked numerous reactions in the international press, was designed as a tribute to vernacular architecture and spontaneous constructions – market stalls, itinerant marquees or rudimentary shelters – based on available resources such as simplicity of means. © Iwan Baan / © Pritzker Prize
Another emblematic project of Smiljan Radic Clarkthe Teatro Regional del Biobío, located in Concepción, Chile, which illustrates a more institutional approach, with a semi-translucent envelope designed to modulate light and optimize acoustic performance in a system of great formal sobriety.
The Teatro Regional del Biobío, in Concepción, Chile. © Iwan Baan / © Cristobal Palma
Behind the price, the controversy
THE Pritzker Prize, in the amount of $100,000, is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation. The foundation usually holds an awards ceremony in May in different locations around the globe, but it has not yet announced the date and location of this year’s 2026 ceremony.
Indeed, Tom Pritzker, Jay Pritzker’s son, resigned from his position last month as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corp. after his Links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein revealed in latest documents released by US Department of Justice. Tom Pritzker also resigned from Pritzker Prize-related dutiesaccording to a Pritzker Prize spokesperson, but he remains president of the Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the Pritzker Prizeand executive chairman of the Pritzker Organization, the family’s Chicago-based investment firm.
© Smiljan Radic Clarke
