Liu Jiakun is the recipient of the 2025 Pritzker Prize. [Photo/tidenews.com.cn]

Chinese architect Liu Jiakun was awarded the United States-based 2025 Pritzker Prize – the highest honor in international architecture, which has been dubbed the Nobel Prize of the profession – on March 4.

Liu – from Chengdu, capital of China's Southwest Sichuan province – is the second Chinese architect to receive the award after Wang Shu in 2012.

The jury praised Liu for his ability to balance history and modernity, utopia and reality, using architecture to foster community spirit.

Born in Chengdu in 1956, Liu graduated from Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering, now Chongqing University, in 1982. Initially drawn to literature and painting, he rediscovered his passion for architecture in the 1990s and founded Jiakun Architects in 1999.

His works reportedly emphasize the inner qualities of a place, blending materials, craftsmanship and the environment into poetic spaces.

Among his notable projects is the Hu Huishan Memorial in Wenchuan, located in Sichuan, which commemorates a 15-year-old girl lost in the massive and devastating 2008 earthquake there. Designed as a concrete relief tent, the structure embodies collective mourning with its unembellished form.

In Hangzhou, Liu's work can be seen at the Hangzhou Steelworks Park, a newly opened cultural hub on the Grand Canal. Once the site of a steel factory, the park retains its industrial heritage while incorporating art, cultural spaces and public areas. Liu describes it as a project that breathes new life into historical structures.

Pritzker Prize Jury Chair Alejandro Aravena commended Liu for integrating infrastructure, landscape and public spaces to address the challenges of urbanization. Thomas Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation – which overseas the international prize – highlighted the ability of Liu's work to reveal the symbiotic relationship between history, materials and nature.

Founded in 1979, the Pritzker Prize is the preeminent accolade in architecture. Liu joins Wang Shu (2012) and Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei (1983) among past laureates.

The Hangzhou Grand Canal Steelworks Park is now a popular site for public relaxation. [Photo/tidenews.com.cn]