Liu Jiakun receives the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize

By Editorial Staff - 5 March 2025

Liu Jiakun, Chinese architect and founder of Jiakun Architects since 1999, is the 54th winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the highest international recognition in the field of architecture.

He will be celebrated this spring at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and with a virtual event in the fall. The 2025 Winner’s Lecture and the Round Table will take place in May, open to the public both in person and online.

The annual prize, sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation, recognizes the talent, vision, and commitment of living architects whose completed projects have made a consistent and significant contribution to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town Courtesy of Arch-Exist

The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town, courtesy of Arch-Exist

Born and residing in Chengdu, Liu Jiakun proposes an architecture that celebrates the daily lives of citizens. Through the careful use of local materials and construction techniques, he preserves Chinese cultural heritage, offering a model where history, nature, and society intertwine to create meaningful spaces that respond to contemporary challenges without losing connection to the past. His projects promote collective life, transforming urban density into a resource and redefining the concept of public and community spaces.

Liu Jiakun’s Projects

Shuijingfang Museum Courtesy of Arch-Exist

Shuijingfang Museum, courtesy of Arch-Exist

Through his works, Liu Jiakun imagines and constructs new worlds, free from aesthetic or stylistic constraints, designed to meet the fundamental needs of each project, focusing on the social dimension and interpreting local history in a modern way. Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick Courtesy of Yao Li

Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick, courtesy of Yao Li

In his museums, such as the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick in Suzhou and the Shuijingfang Museum in Chengdu, history is not just told but translated into built space: archetypal forms reinterpret elements of classical Chinese architecture, while local materials and techniques strengthen the bond with the territory. Novartis Block - C6 Courtesy of Arch-Exist

Novartis Block - C6, courtesy of Arch-Exist

Another project deeply connected to the site's history is Novartis in Shanghai, which echoes the symbolic towers of various dynasties. Hu Huishan Memorial Courtesy of Jiakun Architects

Hu Huishan Memorial, courtesy of Jiakun Architects

In the Hu Huishan Memorial, Liu explores the value of memory, placing individual experience at the heart of creating a space that revitalizes the sense of community. West Village Courtesy of Chen Chen

West Village, courtesy of Chen Chen

This sensitivity extends to the urban scale with interventions such as West Village in Chengdu, which experiments with new forms of coexistence within a dense city, and the Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum and the Tianbao Cave District in Erlang Town, where the natural landscape merges with the built environment in a relationship of mutual exchange. Design Department on new campus, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Courtesy of Jiakun Architects

Design Department on new campus, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, courtesy of Jiakun Architects

In the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute project, debris from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was recovered and transformed into fiber-reinforced bricks made of wheat and cement, showcasing how the architect's approach goes beyond simple conservation, becoming a transformational process that gives new life to available resources.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize 2025 Jury

The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town Courtesy of Arch-Exist

The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town, courtesy of Arch-Exist

The members of the 2025 Prize Jury are not only from the fields of architecture and design but are also engaged in the political, academic, and legal spheres: Alejandro Aravena, Jury President (architect, professor, and 2016 Pritzker Prize winner), Barry Bergdoll (historian, professor, curator, and architectural writer), Deborah Berke (architect and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture), Stephen Breyer (Justice of the United States Supreme Court), André Aranha Corrêa do Lago (architecture critic and Secretary for Climate, Energy, and Environment of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Anne Lacaton (architect, professor, and 2021 Pritzker Prize winner), Hashim Sarkis (architect, professor, and scholar), Kazuyo Sejima (architect and 2010 Pritzker Prize winner), and Manuela Lucá-Dazio, serving as Executive Director.

Jury’s Statement

Design Department on new campus, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Courtesy of Xu Lang

Design Department on new campus, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, courtesy of Xu Lang

“Cities tend to segregate functions, but Liu Jiakun takes the opposite approach, maintaining a delicate balance to integrate all dimensions of urban life. In a world that tends to create endless monotonous suburbs, Liu has found a way to create places that are buildings, infrastructure, landscape, and public space all at once. His work offers valuable insights into addressing the challenges of urbanization in an era of rapidly growing cities.”

Alejandro Aravena, Jury President and 2016 Pritzker Prize Winner

>>> Also discover Riken Yamamoto, the 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner at Cersaie in Bologna

Department of Sculpture, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Courtesy of Arch-Exist