Alejandro Aravena of Chile has been selected as the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. We take a look at his work, which includes remarkable buildings in Chile, China, Switzerland and the US.
Aravena, 48, is an architect based in Santiago, Chile. He is the 41st laureate of the Pritzker Prize, the first Pritzker Laureate from Chile, and the fourth from Latin America, after Luis Barragán (1980), Oscar Niemeyer (1988), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006). The award has come to be known internationally as architecture’s highest honour.
Mr. Pritzker said, “The jury has selected an architect who deepens our understanding of what is truly great design. Alejandro Aravena has pioneered a collaborative practice that produces powerful works of architecture and also addresses key challenges of the 21st century. His built work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space. Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people’s lives.”
Aravena has completed remarkable buildings at the esteemed Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, including the UC Innovation Center – Anacleto Angelini (2014), the Siamese Towers (2005), Medical School (2004), School of Architecture (2004), and the Mathematics School (1999). These energy-efficient buildings respond to the local climate with innovative, efficient facades and floor plans and offer the users natural light and convivial meeting places.
Since 2001, Aravena has been executive director of the Santiago-based ELEMENTAL, a “Do Tank,” as opposed to a think tank, whose partners are Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó, and Diego Torres. ELEMENTAL focuses on projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure, and transportation. ELEMENTAL has designed more than 2,500 units of low-cost social housing. A hallmark of the firm is a participatory design process in which the architects work closely with the public and end users.
In response to being named the 2016 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Mr. Aravena emailed: “Looking backwards, we feel deeply thankful. No achievement is individual. Architecture is a collective discipline. So we think, with gratitude, of all the people who contributed to give form to a huge diversity of forces at play.”
Find out more about the Pritzker Prize here.

Siamese Towers 2005 San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile University classrooms and offices. Photo by Cristobal Palma.

Siamese Towers 2005 San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile University classrooms and offices. Photo by Cristobal Palma.

St. Edward’s University Dorms 2008 Austin, Texas, USA. Photo by Cristobal Palma

UC Innovation Center – Anacleto Angelini 2014 San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Nina Vidic.

UC Innovation Center – Anacleto Angelini 2014 San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Nina Vidic.

UC Innovation Center – Anacleto Angelini 2014 San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by James Florio.

Quinta Monroy Housing 2004 Iquique, Chile. Photos by Cristobal Palma. Left: “Half of a good house” financed with public money Right: Middle-class standard achieved by the residents themselves.

Monterrey Housing 2010 Monterrey, Mexico. “In the Mexican housing market, the cheapest solution that is offered is about $30,000 dollars. So the poor are not being reached. We developed an improved version of Iquique, Chile (pp. 12–14), where houses underneath and duplex apartments on top, have an initial cost of $20,000 dollars, but can achieve a middle income standard of 72 m2 after self built expansions. The efficiency in land use without overcrowding, allowed us to purchase land in a neighborhood where the average cost is $50,000 dollars. We expect the families to benefit from that value gain, and from the fact that cost of land expresses close availability of services and opportunities.”

St. Edward’s University Dorms 2008 Austin, Texas, USA. Photo by Cristobal Palma.

St. Edward’s University Dorms 2008 Austin, Texas, USA. Photo by Cristobal Palma

Architecture School 2004 Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Martín Bravo. “We were asked to remodel a building from the 1990’s. We wrapped a building that had too many lines with a rather tense and straight envelope that meliorated the energy performance, offered a more neutral volume towards the historical building in front and added review spaces in between the two skins.”

Constitución Seaside Promenade 2014 Constitución, Chile. Photos by Felipe Diaz. “Developed in the context of the Post-Tsunami Sustainable Reconstruction Plan (PRES) of Constitución, Chile, the project consists of a series of coastal lookout points along the way from Maule River’s mouth (downtown) to Maguellines Port, in order to reinforce and highlight the natural heritage embodied by the huge rocks of this landscape. The platforms are connected to a 4.5 km bicycle lane.”

Constitución Seaside Promenade 2014 Constitución, Chile. Photos by Felipe Diaz.

Writer’s Cabin 2015 Jan Michalski Foundation Montricher, Switzerland.

Writer’s Cabin 2015 Jan Michalski Foundation Montricher, Switzerland. Photoby +2 Architectes.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena.

Medical School 2004 Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Roland Halbe. “We were asked to do all kinds of classrooms, from seminars to auditoriums, in a very dense context. The only way out, was to go high. Given that massive student occupancy in higher floors has always been hard to solve, we decided to bring the courtyard closer to each upper floor. This building is a vertical cloister.”

Medical School 2004 Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Roland Halbe.

Mathematics School 1999 Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Tadeuz Jalocha.

Mathematics School 1999 Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile. Photo by Tadeuz Jalocha.