Congratulations to Liu Jiakun, 2025 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Chicago, IL (March 4, 2025) – The Pritzker Architecture Prize announces Liu Jiakun, of Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, as the 2025 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the award that is regarded internationally as architecture’s highest honor.
“Architecture should reveal something—it should abstract, distill and make visible the inherent qualities of local people. It has the power to shape human behavior and create atmospheres, offering a sense of serenity and poetry, evoking compassion and mercy, and cultivating a sense of shared community,” expresses Liu.
West Village, photo courtesy of Qian Shen Photography
Intertwining seeming antipodes such as utopia versus everyday existence, history versus modernity, and collectivism versus individuality, Liu offers affirming architecture that celebrates the lives of ordinary citizens. He upholds the transcendent power of the built environment through the harmonizing of cultural, historical, emotional and social dimensions, using architecture to forge community, inspire compassion and elevate the human spirit.
“Through an outstanding body of work of deep coherence and constant quality, Liu Jiakun imagines and constructs new worlds, free from any aesthetic or stylistic constraint. Instead of a style, he has developed a strategy that never relies on a recurring method but rather on evaluating the specific characteristics and requirements of each project differently. That is to say, Liu Jiakun takes present realities and handles them to the point of offering sometimes a whole new scenario of daily life. Beyond knowledge and techniques, common sense and wisdom are the most powerful tools he adds to the designer’s toolbox,” states the 2025 Jury Citation, in part.
Photo courtesy of Liu Jiakun
“Cities tend to segregate functions, but Liu Jiakun takes the opposite approach and sustains a delicate balance to integrate all dimensions of the urban life,” comments Alejandro Aravena, Chair of the Jury and 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate. He continues, “In a world that tends to create endless dull peripheries, he has found a way to build places that are a building, infrastructure, landscape and public space at the same time. His work may offer impactful clues on how to confront the challenges of urbanization, in an era of rapidly growing cities.”
Museum of Clocks, Jianchuan Museum Cluster, photo courtesy of Bi Kejian
Throughout his works, Liu demonstrates a reverence for culture, history and nature, chronicling time and comforting users with familiarity through modern interpretations of classic Chinese architecture. Flat eaves of the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick (Suzhou, China, 2016) and window walls of Lancui Pavilion of Egret Gulf Wetland (Chengdu, China 2013) reimagine the form of pavilions dating back many millennia. Tiered balconies of Novartis (Shanghai) Block – C6 (Shanghai, China, 2014) are reminiscent of towers representing many dynasties. Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum (Chengdu, China, 2002), housing Buddhist sculptures and relics, is modeled after a traditional Chinese garden, balancing water and ancient stones to reflect the natural landscape. Believing that the human relationship with nature is reciprocal, buildings both emerge and dissolve within their surroundings, such as The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town (Luzhou, China, 2021) nestled in the lush cliffside landscape of Tianbao Mountain. Local and wild flora is featured in all of his works, as bricks are paved upended to enable grasses to flourish through the core holes, indigenous bamboo groves are planted in new sites, and floors and ceilings are designed with openings to allow the continuance of existing trees.
The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town, photo courtesy of Arch-Exist
Liu is the 54th Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the founder of Jiakun Architecture, established in 1999. Born in Chengdu, China, he resides and works in his native city. He will be honored at a celebration in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this spring, and globally with a virtual ceremony video this fall. The 2025 Laureate Lecture and Panel Discussion will be held in May and open to the public in-person and online.
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