Chile’s Smiljan Radic Clarke wins 2026 Pritzker Prize

Chilean Architect Smiljan Radić Clarke Wins 2026 Pritzker Prize

Chilean architect Smiljan Radić Clarke has been named the laureate of the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field’s most prestigious honor, organizers announced Thursday. The 60-year-old architect, known for buildings that appear deliberately unfinished or fragile yet carry deep material intelligence, becomes the second Chilean and fifth Latin American to receive the award in its 47-year history.barrons

An Architecture of Fragility

The jury, chaired by fellow Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, praised Radić for a practice that “favours fragility over any unwarranted claim to certainty,” according to the official citation. His buildings often appear provisional or lightly anchored to the ground, embracing uncertainty and impermanence while offering what the jury described as optimistic shelter.archdaily

> “To render the qualities of his architectural work in spoken language is intrinsically difficult, for in his designs he works with dimensions of experience that are immediately palpable but escape verbalization — like the perception of time itself: immediately recognizable, yet conceptually evasive,” the jury wrote.archdaily

Born in Santiago in 1965 to a family of Croatian heritage, Radić studied at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile before continuing his education at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice. He founded his practice in Santiago in 1995 and has maintained an intentionally compact studio, developing projects that range from private residences to cultural institutions and installations.hazu

Notable Works

Among Radić’s best-known projects are the 2014 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, a semi-translucent structure elevated on large quarry stones, and the Teatro Regional del Bíobío in Concepción, Chile, a performing arts center whose facade glows like a paper lantern at night. His portfolio also includes the Vik Millahue Winery, the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art extension in Santiago, and Restaurant Mestizo, also in Santiago.metalocus

A Delayed but Historic Announcement

The announcement had been postponed from its traditional early March date following revelations that Tom Pritzker, vice president of the Pritzker Foundation, appeared more than a thousand times in Jeffrey Epstein email archives released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January. Pritzker subsequently stepped down as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, though he remains involved with the Hyatt Foundation, which administers the prize.archdaily

Radić follows Alejandro Aravena, who in 2016 became the first Chilean laureate, and joins Latin American predecessors Luis Barragán of Mexico (1980), Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil (1988), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha of Brazil (2006). Reflecting on the recognition, Radić noted that Aravena’s victory a decade ago had a “major effect” on architects in Chile, fostering a sense of inclusion in a global conversation.pritzkerprize