Smiljan Radić, 2026 Pritzker Prize Winner, Reflects on Distraction in Architecture
Chilean architect Smiljan Radić, the 55th Pritzker Prize laureate, delivered an acceptance speech in Mexico City that framed his career as a series of 'distractions'—encounters with art, cities, materials, landscapes, poetry, and memory. He cited influences ranging from the black light of Chandigarh and the interior of San Salvatore in Rialto to stone piles on the Croatian island of Brač, fallen columns at the Temple of Poseidon, abandoned villages across Chile, Kazuyo Sejima's 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale 'People Meet in Architecture,' the itinerant Chilean circus, and the silence of water inside the cisterns of Hagia Sophia. The speech unfolded as a collage of moments that shaped his architectural imagination.
Key facts
- Smiljan Radić is the 55th winner of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture.
- He gave his acceptance speech in Mexico City.
- Radić thanked 'architecture itself' and described his inspirations as 'distractions.'
- Influences include Chandigarh's black light, San Salvatore in Rialto, stone piles on Brač, Temple of Poseidon columns, abandoned Chilean villages, Kazuyo Sejima's 2010 Venice Biennale, Chilean circus, and Hagia Sophia cisterns.
- The speech was structured as a tribute to moments, encounters, and distractions.
- Radić is a Chilean architect.
- The Pritzker Prize is awarded annually for architecture.
- The speech referenced art, cities, materials, structures, compositions, landscapes, poetry, nature, forms, stories, and memories.
Entities
Artists
- Smiljan Radić
- Kazuyo Sejima
- Smiljan Radić Clarke
- Le Corbusier
- Aldo Rossi
- Sverre Fehn
- Ryue Nishizawa
- Enric Miralles
- Lina Bo Bardi
- João Vilanova Artigas
- Sigurd Lewerentz
- Francesco di Giorgio
- León Battista Alberti
- Constant Nieuwenhuys
- John Hejduk
- Kazuo Shinohara
- Miguel Eyquem
- Francesco Venezia
- Peter Wilson
- Rem Koolhaas
- Joris Ivens
- Raúl Ruiz
- Marcela Correa
- George Seferis
- Vladimir Nazor
- Bartolomeo Colleoni
- Andrea del Verrocchio
- Giovanni Bellini
- Andrea Mantegna
- Alberto Burri
- Alexander Calder
- Luis Barragán
- Álvaro Siza
- Juan Herrera
Institutions
- Pritzker Prize for Architecture
- Venice Architecture Biennale
- Pritzker Architecture Prize
- National Museum of History Castillo de Chapultepec
- Arquine
- Biennale Architettura di Venezia
- SESC Pompéia
- Kunsthal Rotterdam
- Museo de Arte de Teshima
- Naoshima
- Punta della Dogana
- Cemetery of San Cataldo
- Monastery of Simonos Petra
- Monte Athos
- Meteora
- Acropolis of Lindos
- Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion
- Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
- Duomo of Syracuse
- Church of San Giovanni e Paolo
- Church of San Salvatore in Rialto
- Church of San Peter in Klippan
- Cathedral of Hedmark in Hamar
- Pantheon
- Santa Andrea in Mantua
- La Tourette
- Hagia Sophia
- Mosque of Córdoba
- Pyramid of Giza
- Cave of Oya in Utsunomiya
- Casa Tanikawa
- Casa con Suelo de Tierra
- Roca di Mondavio
- Rocca di Sassocorvaro
- Aqueduct of Água de Prata
- Cretto di Burri
- Cemetery of Igualada
- Capilla Ovetari
- Teatro del Mondo
- New Babylon
- Valparaíso
Locations
- Mexico City
- Chandigarh
- San Salvatore in Rialto
- Brač
- Croatia
- Temple of Poseidon
- Chile
- Venice
- Hagia Sophia
- Mexico
- India
- Italy
- Greece
- Turkey
- Limuy Island
- Easter Island
- Rapa Nui
- Ocaña
- Spain
- Atacama Desert
- Klippan
- Sweden
- Hamar
- Norway
- Cape Sounion
- Cos
- Lindos
- Aegina
- Syracuse
- Mount Athos
- Meteora
- Thessaly
- Évora
- Portugal
- Sassocorvaro
- Mondavio
- Mantua
- Rome
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Naoshima
- Japan
- Teshima
- Tinos
- Padua
- Rotterdam
- Netherlands
- Jaisalmer
- Ganges River
- Constantinople
- Córdoba
- Lyon
- France
- Indonesia
- Santiago
- Tanumé
- Giza
- Egypt
- Cairo
- Sicily
- Igualada
- Valparaíso
- Utsunomiya
- Creta
- Oya
- Simonos Petra