Speaking to CNN ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, the founder of one of China’s first private architecture firms reflects on a career designing unpretentious buildings in an era of excess.

The Chinese architect was recognized by the jury for his ability to draw on every site’s unique heritage and challenges.

Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to Liu Jiakun of China, who earned the field’s highest honor for “affirming architecture that celebrates the lives of ordinary citizens.”

Liu, known for understated structures that respond to their surroundings, has been awarded the profession’s highest honor.

You have to provide poetry’ as well as function, says Chengdu-based Liu. Awards jury hails Liu’s designs that ‘elevate the human spirit’.

Liu Jiakun has a reputation for ‘forging a positive relationship between density and open space’ in designs of public areas.

This week on Dezeen, Chinese architect Liu Jiakun was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his buildings that aim to prioritise people over architectural style. Liu became the 54th laureate and third architect from China to receive the award in its 46-year history,

Today, the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to Chinese architect Liu Jiakun, a Chengdu-based talent whose human-centered designs aim to elevate everyday life. The 69-year-old architect and founder of Jiakun Architects has created over 30 projects,

The Chinese architect just won the highest honor in architecture for his thoughtful approach to density and public spaces. Across the city of Chengdu, China, the quiet but remarkable buildings of Liu Jiakun have slowly pierced through the dominant stereotype of bombastic Chinese architecture.

The 69-year-old architect and founder of Jiakun Architecture is known for work that underscores the way people are intended to use a space. Not just the way they use the space, in fact, but who, and where,

Liu was recognized for designs that celebrate ‘everyday lives of people as well as their communal and spiritual identities’