Chilean architect Smiljan Radić Clarke wins the 2026 Pritzker Prize
Chilean architect Smiljan Radić Clarke has been named the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the highest international honor in architecture, organizers announced Thursday. Radić, 60, becomes the second Chilean and the fifth Latin American architect to receive the award in its 47 year history.
The jury praised Radić for an architectural practice that embraces fragility, uncertainty and experimentation with materials. In its official citation, the panel described his work as favoring “fragility over any unjustified claim to certainty,” highlighting buildings that often appear temporary or delicately anchored to their surroundings while still providing what it called a sense of optimistic shelter.
Radić’s projects frequently evoke a sense of incompleteness or lightness, challenging conventional expectations of permanence in architecture. The jury noted that the experience of his buildings is often difficult to describe in words because they rely on sensory and spatial qualities that are immediately felt but difficult to explain conceptually.
Born in Santiago in 1965 to a family of Croatian descent, Radić studied architecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile before continuing his education at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice. He established his architecture studio in Santiago in 1995 and has maintained a deliberately small practice, developing projects ranging from private residences to cultural institutions and installations.
Among his best known works is the 2014 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, a semi translucent structure elevated on large quarry stones. Another prominent project is the Teatro Regional del Bíobío in Concepción, Chile, a performing arts center whose façade glows at night like a paper lantern.
Radić’s portfolio also includes the Vik Millahue winery, the extension of the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in Santiago, and the Mestizo Restaurant, also located in the Chilean capital.
The announcement of the prize was delayed from its traditional early March schedule following revelations that Tom Pritzker, vice chair of the Pritzker Foundation, appeared more than a thousand times in email archives linked to Jeffrey Epstein released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January. Pritzker later stepped down as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, although he remains involved with the Hyatt Foundation, which administers the Pritzker Prize.
Radić follows fellow Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, who became the country’s first Pritzker laureate in 2016. He also joins a group of Latin American winners that includes Mexico’s Luis Barragán in 1980 and Brazilian architects Oscar Niemeyer in 1988 and Paulo Mendes da Rocha in 2006.
Reflecting on the recognition, Radić said Aravena’s victory a decade earlier had a significant impact on architects in Chile, helping them feel included in a broader global architectural conversation.
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