The Pritzker Prize 2025 is more than an annual headline. It functions as a global compass that points to where architecture wants to go next. Created in 1979 by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation, the prize is often called the Nobel of architecture and comes with 100,000 US dollars and a bronze medallion that cites Vitruvius’ triad of firmness, utility and beauty.
This year the compass turns firmly toward care, memory and everyday urban life. The jury selected Liu Jiakun, based in his native Chengdu, as the 54th laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize for work that “celebrates the lives of ordinary citizens” and for a strategy that adapts to each site instead of repeating a signature look.
