The next day, on the remarkable and sprawling modernist campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)—strewn with works by Juan O’Gorman, Félix Candela, and Mario Pani—Radić, in a revelatory talk that showcased his eclectic work, brought the crowd to its feet. He shed light on his process and his inspiration, involving extensive travel—from the Atacama Desert to the Lindos Acropolis and Igualada Cemetery—and observation.

Afterward, 2025 Pritzker laureate Liu Jiakun put into his own words Radić’s contributions to architecture. “Smiljan’s work has a temperament that is both complex and distinctive. It is radical, profound, sensitive, and uncompromising. It’s subtle yet enchanting, saturated with imagination and poetic grace,” he noted. “His innovative architectural organizational methods reveal the true essence of materials, awaken individual perceptions, and extend the language of expression in architecture. Architecture is a form of art. Smiljan has advanced very far in the pursuit of architectural artistry.”

Pritzker laureates over the decades—their work and their personalities—have varied as widely as those initial selections of Johnson and Barragán. At times, the award has honored architects at the ends of their careers. At other times, it has brought attention to designers with a less substantial body of work, catapulting them to the top of short lists around the world. The most recent honorees—Radić, Liu, and 2024 laureate Riken Yamamoto—are not exactly household names. But the decision by the jury to distinguish them reflects a search for those who continually invent new design approaches and solutions. It also mirrors a current shift in the consciousness of the profession, a changing of the guard, if you will.

We take a closer look at the state of the profession in a special section exploring the legacies—both symbolic and practical—of more familiar names, and former Pritzker laureates, like Rem, Zaha, and Frank. The section also delves into topics confronting individual practitioners, such as the evolving hybrid model of teaching and practice, and into some firms’ conscientious efforts, such as contributing to the repayment of employees’ overwhelming student loans. After all, architecture is a business.

And yet . . . As the 2026 Pritzker jury citation notes of Smiljan Radić Clarke, we sometimes need reminding “that architecture is an art, in that it touches the very core of the human condition.” Beauty, inspiration, and magic are not words to erase from architectural discourse. Instead, those words should continue to remind us how and why we came to architecture in the first place.