Meet the Chilean Architect Who Just Won the Industry’s Highest Accolade

The jury continued: ‘Alejandro Aravena epitomises the revival of a more socially engaged architect, especially in his long-term commitment to tackling the global housing crisis and fighting for a better urban environment for all. He has a deep understanding of both architecture and civil society, as is reflected in his writing, his activism and his designs.’

Shown here is an example of the innovative ‘incremental housing’ approach that Aravena developed. The process allows him to design ‘half of a good house’ on more expensive land near economic opportunity, and leave space for residents to complete their house themselves, giving ‘residents a sense of accomplishment and personal investment’, the foundation says.

On top is Aravena’s initial development financed with public money. Below is what residents added themselves. ‘What we’ve been trying to do is communicate that architecture, instead of an extra cost, is an added value,’ Aravena told The New York Times. ‘We would like to apply our talent – our knowledge – to challenges that affect the majority of the population.’

Shown: Villa Verde Housing (2013); Constitucion, Chile

Photos by Elemental

Praise for the architect flooded social media soon after the announcement. Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic at The New York Times, wrote on Twitter that he was very pleased with the announcement and that Aravena is a ‘humane and elegant architect’.

Aravena told Architectural Record after he got the news: ‘For a couple of minutes, I misunderstood what I was being called for. Then when I realised, the emotion was so overwhelming I couldn’t speak. I was too touched.’

Here, Aravena’s challenge was to accommodate 100 families living in a 30-year-old slum using a subsidy of around £5,300 ($7,500). He provided the families with the ‘half house’ that would have been difficult for the families to build themselves, and left space for them to complete the house as they saw fit. ‘After a year, property values tripled, and yet all the families have preferred to stay and keep on improving their homes,’ Aravena says.

Shown: Quinta Monroy Housing (2004); Iquique, Chile

Photos by Cristobal Palma

Here’s another example of Aravena’s ‘half of a good house’ design approach. Again, on top is Aravena’s initial development financed with public money. Below includes what residents added themselves.

Shown: Villa Verde Housing (2013); Constitucion, Chile

Photos by Elemental

Shown: Bicentennial Children’s Park (2012); Santiago, Chile

Photo by Cristobal Palma

Shown: Metropolitan Promenade (1997 to ongoing); Santiago, Chile

Rendering by Elemental

Aravena and his partners at Elemental – Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddo and Diego Torres – were tapped to work on the reconstruction of the city of Constitucion, Chile, following a 2010 earthquake and tsunami.

Shown: Post-tsunami Sustainable Reconstruction Plan of Constitucion (2010 to ongoing); Constitucion, Chile

Image by Elemental

As for what’s ahead for Aravena and Elemental, the architect wrote in an email to the foundation that he and his colleagues ‘hope to use its momentum to explore new territories, face new challenges, and walk into new fields of action’.

He adds, ‘After such a peak, the path is unwritten. So our plan is not to have a plan, face the uncertain, be open to the unexpected.’

Shown: Elemental, left to right: Alejandro Aravena, Claudio Tapia, Gonzalo Arteaga and Paula Livingstone; Santiago, Chile

See previous Pritzker Prize winners: Frei Otto | Shigeru Ban | Toyo Ito | Wang Shu

Photo by Elemental

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