Liu Jiakun Wins the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize

The Pritzker Architecture Prize, regarded as the highest honour in architecture, has announced Chinese architect Liu Jiakun as its 2025 Laureate. Known for his deeply contextual and socially conscious designs, Liu’s work champions people’s everyday experiences, bridging history, modernity, and the essence of collective memory.

Liu Jiakun, based in Chengdu, China, has consistently rejected rigid stylistic constraints in favour of an adaptive, context-driven approach. “Architecture should reveal something—it should abstract, distill, and make visible the inherent qualities of local people,” Liu states. His philosophy goes beyond form and function, seeking to shape human behaviour, cultivate shared spaces, and elevate everyday life through design.

“Architecture has the power to shape human behaviour and create atmospheres, offering a sense of serenity and poetry, evoking compassion and mercy, and cultivating a sense of shared community,” expresses Liu.

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 harmonising of cultural, historical, emotional and social dimensions, using architecture to forge community, inspire compassion and elevate the human spirit.

Rather than imposing singular architectural signatures, Liu employs strategies that respond uniquely to each project’s cultural, historical, and social contexts. This versatility allows him to redefine urban spaces, transforming density into opportunity and fostering relationships between built environments and their communities.

Redefining Civic Spaces and Urban Identity

Liu’s commitment to public engagement is evident in projects like West Village (Chengdu, 2015), a five-story complex that defies the monotony of high-rise cityscapes. The open-yet-enclosed space integrates pathways for pedestrians and cyclists while blending cultural, athletic, and commercial activities—offering a dynamic, multi-layered urban environment.

His Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Department of Sculpture (Chongqing, 2004) rethinks the constraints of limited urban space by extending the building outward, maximizing usable square footage while maintaining an innovative structural integrity.

His work, according to Pritzker Prize jury chair and past laureate Alejandro Aravena, offers “impactful clues on how to confront the challenges of urbanisation in an era of rapidly growing cities.” Liu’s projects blur boundaries between infrastructure, landscape, and public space, ensuring that urban environments remain inclusive, interactive, and deeply rooted in local culture.

The Poetry of Materiality and Craftsmanship

Liu’s reverence for tradition extends beyond spatial planning—his material choices pay homage to historical techniques while addressing contemporary environmental concerns. His Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick (Suzhou, 2016) and Lancui Pavilion of Egret Gulf Wetland (Chengdu, 2013) reimagine classic Chinese architectural forms, using flat eaves and intricate window walls to evoke centuries-old pavilion structures.

His sensitivity to materiality also manifests in innovative sustainability efforts. The aftermath of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake led to the development of his now-iconic “Rebirth Bricks” a construction material formed from disaster debris, strengthened with wheat fiber and cement.

These bricks, used in projects like West Village, Shuijingfang Museum (Chengdu, 2013), and the Novartis Shanghai Block – C6 (Shanghai, 2014), showcase his belief in architecture’s power to both memorialize and regenerate.

At a more intimate scale, the Hu Huishan Memorial (Chengdu, 2009)—a permanent cement relief tent—serves as a tribute to a 15-year-old victim of the earthquake while symbolising the collective grief and resilience of an entire nation.

A Legacy of Thoughtful Innovation

Liu Jiakun’s career spans over four decades, with a portfolio exceeding 30 major projects across China. His work encompasses academic institutions, cultural centers, civic spaces, and urban planning initiatives, each reflecting his enduring commitment to human-centric design.

Notable works include the *Museum of Clocks, Jianchuan Museum Cluster (Chengdu, 2007), Design Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (Chongqing, 2006), and the Songyang Culture Neighborhood (Lishui, 2020).

Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, commended Liu’s philosophical approach: “There is a wisdom in his architecture, philosophically looking beyond the surface to reveal that history, materials, and nature are symbiotic.”

Looking Forward

Liu Jiakun, the 54th Laureate of the Pritzker Prize and the founder of Jiakun Architecture (est. 1999), will be honoured in Abu Dhabi this spring, with a virtual global ceremony scheduled for fall 2025. A Laureate Lecture and Panel Discussion in May 2025 will further explore his body of work, providing insight into his approach and the future of urban architecture.

In an era where cities are rapidly expanding, Liu’s work serves as a reminder that architecture is not merely about buildings—it is about people, memory, and the delicate balance between past and future. His designs, deeply rooted in local narratives yet universally resonant, offer a compelling vision for the urban landscapes of tomorrow.