Chilean architect Smiljan Radić Clarke has been named the 2026 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, regarded globally as architecture’s highest honour. Born and based in Santiago, Chile, Radić, who founded his practice, Smiljan Radić Clarke in 1995, is recognised for a body of work defined by experimentation, sensitivity to context and an emphasis on human experience.

Rejecting a signature style, Radić approaches each project as a distinct inquiry shaped by first principles, context and history. His work prioritises site as a layered construct, encompassing not only physical surroundings but also cultural, social and political dimensions.

“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,” the 2026 Jury Citation states.

Chile Antes de Chile_5_1000px.jpg — *Chile Antes de Chile, photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma*

Across projects, site-specific strategies ensure buildings respond directly to their environments such as Restaurant Mestizo (Santiago, Chile 2006), which is partially embedded in the ground; Pite House (Papudo, Chile, 2005), which is oriented for climate; and Chile Antes de Chile, the extension of the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art (Santiago, Chile, 2013), which is shaped through adaptive reuse.

“In every work, he is able to answer with radical originality, making the unobvious obvious. He reverts to the most irreducible basic foundations of architecture, exploring at the same time, limits that have not yet been touched,” observes Alejandro Aravena, Chair of the Jury and 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate.

Radić’s architecture often appears elemental, yet reveals technical precision through its construction. At the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, a translucent fibreglass shell rests on large stones, filtering light while allowing visitors to experience shelter without being separated from the surrounding park. Similarly, the Teatro Regional del Biobío (Concepción, Chile, 2018) modulates light and acoustics through a restrained, semi-translucent envelope.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion_2_1000px.jpg — *Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan*

“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. His buildings are not conceived simply as visual artifacts; rather, they demand embodied presence,” the Jury Citation further notes.

His projects frequently explore introspection and sensory experience, as seen in House for the Poem of the Right Angle (2013), which features thoughtfully placed openings, oriented upwards to capture light and time, while his own studio, Pequeño Edificio Burgués (Santiago, Chile, 2023), balances shelter and privacy with openness to the urban and natural environment below.

House for the Poem of the Right Angle_5_1000px.jpg — *House for the Poem of the Right Angle, photo courtesy of Smiljan Radić Clarke*

Radić also engages with adaptive reuse such as the NAVE project (Santiago, Chile, 2015), where a damaged residential heritage structure was reimagined as a cultural venue, retaining the existing structure while introducing new volumes to accommodate performance, rehearsal, and workshop spaces.

“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,” says Radić.

*Teatro Regional del Biobío, photo courtesy of Iwan Baan*

Beyond built work, he founded Fundación de Arquitectura Frágil in Santiago in 2017 as a platform for research and public exchange. Featuring experimental works, studies and references from other architects, the foundation’s collection often informs his own projects.

With a career spanning more than three decades, Radić’s portfolio includes projects across several European countries as well as Chile, from cultural institutions and commercial buildings to private residences and installations. Some of his defining works include Guatero, for the XXII Chilean Architecture Biennial (Santiago, Chile, 2023); London Sky Bubble (London, United Kingdom, 2021); Chanchera House (Puerto Octay, Chile, 2022); Prism House (Conguillío, Chile, 2020); Vik Millahue Winery (Millahue, Chile, 2013); The Boy Hidden in a Fish, with Marcela Correa, for the 12th International Architecture Biennale of Venice (Venice, Italy, 2010); and CR House (Santiago, Chile, 2003).

Radić is the 55th Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and continues to practice from Santiago, with several projects underway internationally.

Main image: Smiljan Radić Clarke, photo courtesy of The Pritzker Architecture Prize

All images sourced from https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/smiljan-radic-clarke

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