Liu Jiakun, a Chengdu-based architect known for his sensitive, place-driven approach to design, has been awarded the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious honor in architecture. Liu, who has spent decades crafting a body of work rooted in the traditions and materials of his native Sichuan province, is only the second Chinese citizen to receive the prize, following Wang Shu in 2012.
The Pritzker jury praised Liu for using “Chinese tradition without nostalgia, but as a springboard for innovation,” crafting spaces that function as historical records, infrastructure, landscapes, and public forums. His projects, which range from museums and universities to entire urban districts, reject the monumentalism of contemporary Chinese architecture in favor of structures that quietly integrate into the rhythms of everyday life.
One of his most notable works, West Village in Chengdu, exemplifies this style. The five-story mixed-use complex functions as a vertical city block, with walkways and ramps connecting open-air plazas, shops, restaurants, and sports facilities in a dynamic, multi-level public space. The structure was briefly “a victim of its own success” The Guardian said after 9,000 people flocked to the rooftop promenade on a single day, authorities shut down access. It has since reopened.
Liu’s work is also deeply tied to social and environmental concerns. After the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, he pioneered the use of “rebirth bricks,” repurposing rubble mixed with wheat fiber to rebuild devastated areas. His recent projects, including the revitalization of historic sites and a 45-hectare transformation of a former steelworks in Hangzhou, continue his philosophy of blending past and present.
“I aspire to be like water,” Liu says. “To seep into a place without carrying a fixed form of my own.”