Liu Jiakun is the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, making him the 54th recipient of the annual prize.Jiakun is based in Chengdu, China, the same city he was born in. He founded his eponymous practice, Jiakun Architects,in 1999. The Pritzker Prize jury recognized Jiakun for honing an approach that oscillates between utopia versus everyday existence, history versus modernity, and collectivism versus individuality. The jury praised his work for being rooted in local Chinese philosophy and traditions. Jiakuns portfolio is expansive, ranging from small-scale exhibition designs, vast institutional buildings, to masterplans for cities. His largest project is West Village, a 5-story building completed in 2015 in Chengdu which takes up an entire city block.West Village (Chen Chen/)In describing his own approach, Jiakun said in a statement: Architecture should reveal somethingit should abstract, distill and make visible the inherent qualities of local people. It has the power to shape human behavior and create atmospheres, offering a sense of serenity and poetry, evoking compassion and mercy, and cultivating a sense of shared community. This attention to place and community is discernible in projects like West Village, where a central courtyard lined with trees serves as a public gathering place. Jiakun was educated at the Institute of Architecture and Engineering in Chongqing (renamed Chongqing University) and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Architecture in 1982. When he started out on his career in architecture, it was a transformative time politically and economically for China as a nation. Soon after, he contemplated giving up on architecture but attended a solo architectural exhibition of a former classmate and was inspired to continue practicing design.Courtyard view of West Village ()In Liu Jiakuns work, identity is as much about the individual as it is about the collective sense of belonging to a place. He revisits the Chinese tradition as a springboard for innovation devoid of nostalgia or ambiguity, the jury noted in its citation.For him, identity refers to a countrys history, the traces of its cities and the relics of its communities. At the same time, he integrates the local and global dimensions with unprecedented results, it added.The Renovation of Tianbao Cave of Erlang Town (Arch Exist/)Museum projects from Jiakun include, Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum (2002); Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (2006); Museum of Clocks, Jianchuan Museum Cluster (2007); Lancui Pavilion of Egret Gulf Wetland (2013); and Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick (2016). Beyond institutional work Jiakun has tried his hand at city planning, projects such as the Songyang Culture Neighborhood (2020) are emblematic of his practices ability to apply an understated modernity with ancient heritage. Another example of work on an urban scale is the renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town, which fully takes advantage of its mountainous landscape. Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum (Bi Kejian/)Songyang Culture Neighborhood (Arch Exist/)Alejandro Aravena, chair of the jury and 2016 Pritzker laureate, commended Jiakun for his work in exurban peripheral areas throughout China.Cities tend to segregate functions, but Liu Jiakun takes the opposite approach and sustains a delicate balance to integrate all dimensions of the urban life, Aravena said. In a world that tends to create endless dull peripheries, he has found a way to build places that are a building, infrastructure, landscape and public space at the same time, his work may offer impactful clues on how to confront the challenges of urbanization, in an era of rapidly growing cities.Atrium at Museum of Clocks, Jianchuan Museum (Bi Kejian/)The Pritzker Prize jury was comprised of several prominent architecture and cultural figures, some of which are past winners of the award: Alejandro Aravena, Barry Bergdoll, Deborah Berke, Stephen Breyer, Andr Aranha Corra do Lago, Anne Lacaton, Hashim Sarkis, Kazuyo Sejima, and Manuela Luc-Dazio.This spring, Jiakuns award will be celebrated in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This will be followed by a global, virtual ceremony this fall. His recognition follows that of Riken Yamamoto, an architect from Japan.