Jiakun’s notable works include the West Village in Chengdu, a five-story urban hub blending culture and commerce, and the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing.
The prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to Liu Jiakun, a visionary architect from Chengdu, China, whose work redefines how architecture serves everyday people.
The 69-year-old architect and founder of Jiakun Architects “upholds the transcendent power of the built environment through the harmonising of cultural, historical, emotional and social dimensions, using architecture to forge community, inspire compassion and elevate the human spirit,” Pritzker organisers said in a statement.
He is only the second Chinese citizen to receive the prize, following Wang Shu in 2012, a remarkable achievement considering private architectural practice was banned in China until the 1990s.
Liu, based in China’s southwestern Sichuan region, has said that the purpose of his architecture “is to create a beautiful, just and dignified living environment,” and that he tries to balance commercial needs with the human needs of the public.
Organisers cited his West Village in Chengdu, a 2015 five-story project that spans a block. It includes a perimetre of pathways for cyclists and pedestrians around “its own vibrant city of cultural, athletic, recreational, office and business activities within, while allowing the public to view through to the surrounding natural and built environments.”
They also noted the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Department of Sculpture in Chongqing, which they said displays an alternate solution to maximising space, “with upper levels protruding outward to extend the square footage of a narrow footprint.”
In a recent interview in his office in Chengdu, Liu said he was not one of those architects who likes to have a strongly recognisable visual style. Rather, he said, he pays more attention to method and strategy.
“Many architects use a strong personal style and form to gain a foothold in the world,” Liu told the AP, speaking in Mandarin. “No matter where it is, people can tell immediately that it is his or her work with a very strong symbolism. But I am not such a kind of architect.”
“I don’t want to have a very clear or obvious style that can be recognised as mine just at a glance,” he said. “I take a more methodological and strategic approach. I hope that when I go to a specific place, I can use my methodology and strategy to adapt to local conditions. I like to fully understand the place, and then look for resources, problems … and then distill and refine, and finally turn (this) into my work.”
Among his other projects are a mysterious clock museum in Chengdu, where a grand circular courtyard evokes the timeless elegance of a sundial, and a striking brick museum in Suzhou. More recently, he has sparked new life into a historic temple district in Lishui and transformed a dramatic cliffside cave complex in Luzhou.
Liu also said he tries to balance his country’s artistic and architectural heritage with the realities of modern technology. “I think China’s traditional architecture is of course brilliant and very classic,” he said, “but it is a product of its time.”
He said he hopes to deeply understand “the thematic part of tradition that can survive,” and then express it with contemporary technology and language. In that way, he said, “tradition can be used as a core … but the presentation of your work is contemporary.”
Asked if he thought the honour would impact his life, Liu replied: “I have thought about it. But I want to maintain normalcy … I don’t want to become nervous about everything. Of course, it has its advantages. I will definitely not need to promote myself too much. But will it also make me better at work? Not necessarily. Excessive expectations may become a pressure.”
