Guatero infalatable Pavilion by Smiljan Radić – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
Architecture. Smiljan Radić Clarke has been named this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate — the 55th architect to receive the honour widely regarded as the Nobel Prize of the built world. The Chilean architect is celebrated for his poetic sensibility and a body of work that moves fluidly between experimental pavilions and major public buildings. Rather than following a signature style, his architecture tends toward the site-specific, threading a delicate balance between fragility and strength in every project.
House for the Poem of the Right Angle – Photo courtesy of Smiljan Radić.
That spirit is quietly stated than in the House for the Poem of the Right Angle in Vilches, Chile — a black, inward-facing building inspired by an abstract Le Corbusier painting. Three rooflights extend at odd angles from the exterior, lending the structure an almost eerie quality. Inside, the mood shifts entirely: curved walls embrace a central courtyard, while cantilevers, right angles, and wood-lined interiors encourage stillness and reflection.
House for the Poem of the Right Angle – Photo courtesy of Smiljan Radić.
From the Chilean countryside to Hyde Park, Smiljan Radić’s 2014 Serpentine Pavilion in London remains one of his most recognisable works. A translucent fibreglass shell, doughnut-shaped and weightless in appearance, rested on immense locally sourced boulders, a recurring element in the architect’s projects. Light was filtered rather than displayed, and the structure offered shelter without severing visitors from the park around them — a quietly generous architectural gesture.
2014 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion – Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan.
That same tension between permanence and the provisional recurs in Guatero, a reflective inflatable installation created with Nicolás Schmidt for Santiago’s architecture biennial, sited in the Plaza de la Cultura. Multiple weights anchored the structure at its edges, while the cavernous interior housed chairs and screens for presentations — a temporary pavilion that playfully straddled the boundary between the lasting and the fleeting.
Inside Guatero inflatable Pavilion by Smiljan Radić – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
A more civic ambition surfaces at the Teatro Regional del Bío-Bío in Concepción, designed in collaboration with Eduardo Castillo and Gabriela Medrano. Its carefully engineered semi-translucent envelope shines like a lantern at night, modulating light and supporting acoustic performance through restraint. Here, construction becomes a kind of storytelling, where texture and mass carry as much meaning as form — a building that earns its presence quietly, without announcement.
Teatro Regional del Bío-Bío by Smiljan Radić – Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan.
Site specificity remains a constant thread across Smiljan Radić’s practice. At the Mestizo restaurant in Santiago, large boulders support a dining space shaped by traditional craftsmanship and experimental geometry. Curved timber walls and textured finishes foster a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Partially embedded in the ground, the design feels rooted in its surroundings rather than imposed upon them.
Restaurant Mestizo – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
The Pite House in Papudo takes a more dramatic stance, hanging off a cliffside in reinforced concrete and timber cladding. A cantilevered pool is suspended above the water below, while large windows line the cliffside facade, flooding the open-plan interior with light and views.
Pite House – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
The Prism House + Room Terrace near Conguillío National Park pairs two angular black volumes — one with a gabled roof, the other with a striking triangular shape that went on to influence a number of contemporary Chilean projects — around a tree growing through a wooden deck between them.
Prism House + Room Terrace – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
The majority of the VIK Winery in Millahue sits underground, covered by a low-lying stretched-fabric roof. Its sprawling entrance is guided by a rock garden designed by Radić and his wife, sculptor Marcela Correa, leading visitors through stone pathways toward the building’s transparent facade.
Vik Millahue Winery – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
At the NAVE museum in Santiago, Radić breathes new life into an early-twentieth-century heritage building damaged by natural disaster. Retaining the existing structure, he weaves in new volumes dedicated to performance, rehearsal, and workshop spaces. A rooftop terrace sheltered by a circus tent introduces an “unexpected lightness,” sustained by ongoing community programming.
NAVE, Performing Arts Center – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
In the Carbonero House, concrete, timber, and masonry combine into a composition of interlocking volumes — some angular, some curved — that guide movement through a sequence of spaces bathed in carefully considered light and air. Where structure is left exposed, it becomes part of the aesthetic conversation, and the boundaries between inside and outside dissolve gradually rather than abruptly.
Carbonero House – Photo courtesy of Smiljan Radić.
All photos are courtesy of The Pritzker Architecture Prize.
NAVE, Performing Arts Center – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
Pite House – Photo courtesy of Cristobal Palma.
Teatro Regional del Bío-Bío – Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan.
