On March 12, the Chilean architect of Croatian descent, Smiljan Radić Clarke, was awarded the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The jury highlighted his "unorthodox approach to design," which "may initially appear unusual, unexpected, even rebellious; yet, far from producing alienation or estrangement, his anti-canonical stance feels fresh and unprecedented. It conveys the unmistakable sensation of encountering something new." This recognition will be celebrated with the annual Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Lecture and Panel Discussion, to be held in Mexico City at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), at the Faculty of Architecture's Teatro Estefanía Chávez, on May 12, 2026.
This year's lecture and panel discussion are themed under the title Architecture: Distraction and Knowledge. The keynote speaker will be the 2026 Pritzker Laureate, who, according to the organization, will reflect on travel as a formative and ongoing dimension of architectural practice. The architect will elaborate on his position that architecture is shaped not only by formal knowledge but also by the accumulation of lived experiences. The event promises not to be a conventional discourse, but rather an invitation to "engage architecture as a personal and reflective pursuit, suggesting that understanding emerges from observation, movement, and individual perception."
When I travel, I don't collect photographs. Rather, I collect moments that at the time may appear incidental, difficult to explain, or even seemingly ordinary. Yet, these references stay with me, acquiring distinct meaning through attention and accumulating into a kind of knowledge. — Smiljan Radić
Following the lecture, Radić will be joined by Laureates, including Liu Jiakun (2025) and Francis Kéré (2022), for a discussion on the successes and challenges of their careers. About Radić, the Chinese architect Liu Jiakun, 2025 Pritzker Prize Laureate, has stated that his work "possesses a powerful sense of originality and a cultural temperament that is both complex and distinct. It is radical, profound, sensitive, uncompromising, subtle yet enchanting, saturated with imagination and poetic grace. He has innovated architectural organizational methods, revealed the true essence of materials, awakened individual perception, and expanded the language of expression. Architecture is an art, and Smiljan has advanced far in the pursuit of architectural artistry."
The lecture and panel discussion will take place at the Faculty of Architecture's Teatro Estefanía Chávez at UNAM in Mexico City on Tuesday, May 12, at 10:00 a.m. CST. The Faculty Dean, Mónica Cejudo Collera, has expressed her enthusiasm for hosting Smiljan Radić at the Faculty of Architecture at UNAM, highlighting his singular vision of architecture and his critical thinking, reflected in both his built work and his writings, as fundamental to the formative stage of UNAM's students. The event is free and open to the public, with limited capacity; registration can be accessed via this form. The program will also be available via livestream. This educational event will follow the 2026 Ceremony, hosted at the historic monument Castillo de Chapultepec. The ceremony video is expected to be released this fall.
Smiljan Radić was the fourth architect to be named a deserving winner in the ArchDaily readers' survey. He has been recognized for his sculptural approach to design and his exploration of materials across various public structures, in both urban and artistic contexts. He was awarded for a body of work that explores architecture through material experimentation, spatial perception, and a careful engagement with landscape and context. In upcoming events, he will appear as a speaker at the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026, taking place in Barcelona from June 28 to July 2, and will participate in this year's Concéntrico urban laboratory edition with a light, foldable, temporary structure made from industrial plastic fabrics, following the Chilean concept of a "poor circus."
