Architect with Croatian roots wins prestigious 2026 Pritzker Prize

ZAGREB, 13 March (Hina/dpa) – This year’s prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to Chilean architect Smiljan Radić Clarke.

Radić was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1965. His paternal grandfather emigrated to Chile from the Croatian island of Brač in 1919, while his mother’s family originates from the United Kingdom.

He studied architecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, graduating in 1989, according to the architecture website ArchDaily.

“Like his architecture, the layers of Smiljan Radić Clarke’s life form a noncontinuous history shaped by movement, openness, and the gradual construction of meaning. Born in Santiago to an immigrant family, his father’s parents from Brač, Croatia, and his mother’s from the United Kingdom, Radić grew up with a heightened awareness of belonging, fostering an understanding of life as something assembled, not merely inherited,” according to the information on the website of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

“Sometimes, you have to produce your own roots. That gives you freedom,” Radić was quoted as saying. 

Smiljan Radić Clarke (Photo: Tomáš Znamenáček/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Radić’s key works include the Serpentine Pavilion in London (2014), a semi-translucent, cylindrical “shell” structure that sat on large quarry stones.

Another notable project is Casa Pite, a house embedded in the rocky landscape along Chile’s Pacific coast.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (Photo: Ardfern/CC BY-SA 3.0)

The international prize, which is awarded each year to a living architect/s for significant achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. It is granted annually and is often referred to as “architecture’s Nobel” and “the profession’s highest honor.”

The award consists of $100,000 (US) and a bronze medallion. The award is conferred on the laureate/s at a ceremony held at an architecturally significant site throughout the world.