Architect Smiljan Radic, Chilean master of modest design, is winner of the 2026 Pritzker Prize

The 60-year-old is feted for his understated and quiet buildings, including the Teatro Regional del Biobio in Chile. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SANTIAGO – Wind, light, stone, timber and time. These are some of the essential elements that infuse the work of Mr Smiljan Radic of Santiago, Chile. He was announced the winner of the 2026 Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honour, on March 12.

Not imposing or commanding, his projects are instead understated and quiet, content to serve their purpose – be it a bus stop, winery or sculptor’s studio.

While he gained some international attention with his 2014 Serpentine Pavilion – the prestigious annual commission for a structure on the gallery’s front lawn in London – the 60-year-old has otherwise been mostly working under the radar on modest projects in Chile.

“Through a body of work positioned at the crossroads of uncertainty, material experimentation and cultural memory, Smiljan Radic favours fragility over any unwarranted claim to certainty,” the jury’s citation said.

“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 announcement of the laureate had been delayed by revelations about the connection between Mr Tom Pritzker, director of the foundation that awards the prize, and Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced American financier.