EL Croquis 232: Smiljan Radic (2019–2025) -9788412823479

描述

A monographic issue presenting a selection of Chilean architect Smiljan Radić’s projects since 2019. Among these are the Sky Bubble, a temporary pavilion in London; the rehabilitation of Chanchera, a former rural shed in Puerto Octay, Chile; Petty Bourgeois in Santiago; Solo Hotel in Matarraña, Spain; and Artifact, the winning proposal for the Montjuïc Fairground in Barcelona. The issue also includes a conversation between Radić and Christian Kerez, a short essay by architect Enrique Walker on the Pavilion for the XXII Chilean Architecture and Urbanism Biennial, and an analysis of key terminology by Radić himself. The architect currently lives and works in Chile.

Presentation

Smiljan Radić Clarke (Santiago, Chile, 1965) graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1989 and subsequently studied at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, Italy. After three years of travel and exploration, he founded his own architecture studio in Santiago in 1995.

Throughout his career, Radić has received numerous awards and distinctions. In 2001, he was named Best Architect Under 35 by the Chilean College of Architects. In 2008, he received the Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record magazine and was named an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2009. In 2013, he was recognized for his professional career. His works were recognized as the best Chilean buildings in 2015 and 2018 by Universidad Mayor de Chile. Also in 2015, he received the Oris Prize in Croatia. In 2018, he received the prestigious Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and that same year, his Teatro Bío Bío was nominated among the best buildings of the year by Architectural Record. In 2020, he received the Attolini Medal from Anáhuac University in Mexico and was named an honorary member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2022, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Pan-American Architecture Biennial in Quito, Ecuador.

Radić currently lives and works in Chile. His work ranges from small, fragile structures, such as the extension to the Casa del Carbonero in Alhué (1999), the Bus Stop in Krumbach, Austria (2010), and the Pavilion of the Vatican Chapels in Venice (2018); to domestic-scale constructions such as Casa Cooper 2 in Talca (2005), Casa Pite in Papudo (2007), and the House for the Poem of the Right Angle in Vilches (2014), whose complete archive was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2015. Other significant works in Chile include the Mestizo Restaurant in Santiago (2007) and NAVE, a performing arts space, also in Santiago (2014). Internationally, notable projects include the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London (2014) and the Alexander McQueen store (2018), also in London. Among his medium-scale projects are the Civic District of Concepción (2000), the expansion of the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art (2014), the VIK Winery in Millahue (2014) and the Bío Bío Theater (2018).

In addition, he has won several international competitions, such as the Bío Bío Regional Theater in 2012, together with Eduardo Castillo and Gabriela Medrano; the Santiago Telecommunications Tower (2014); the Chile Pavilion at Expo Dubai (2019), together with Paula Velasco and Cecilia Puga; the Secret Garden of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag in The Hague (2023), together with Marcela Correa; and the Multifunctional Palace project and the renovation of the Telecommunications Palace at Fira Barcelona (2025), together with Miquel Marina, César Rueda and Beatriz Borque.

Radić has presented his work internationally in exhibitions, installations, and pavilions. Some of his most notable exhibitions include “Global Ends” at Gallery MA, Tokyo (2010); The Child Hidden in a Fish, with Marcela Correa, at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale (2010); An Orange Noise at the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (2012); The Wardrobe and the Mattress at the Hermès Gallery, Tokyo (2013); “Illustrations,” with Alejandro Lüer, at Galería AFA, Santiago (2013); “Smiljan Radić Works” at Gallery MA, Tokyo (2016); The House for the Poem of the Right Angle in the “Endless House” exhibition at MoMA, New York (2016); and “Bestiary” at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in České Budějovice, Czech Republic (2017). “Ready-Mades Belong to Everyone” at the Swiss Institute in New York (2018); Drops, for the Lungomare art program on the island of KRK, Croatia (2020), together with Marcela Correa; London Sky Bubble in England (2021); and Guatero at the XXII Architecture and Urbanism Biennial of Chile (2023).

Smiljan Radić is also president of the Fragile Architecture Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting the study and dissemination of experimental architecture, or an improbable reality where the traditional boundaries of the discipline are blurred. The Foundation has organized seminars and exhibitions such as “Other People Have Dogs” at the D21 Gallery in Santiago (2017), in collaboration with the Miralles Foundation in Barcelona; “Cloud ’68: Paper Voices,” in collaboration with Hans Ulrich Obrist at ETH Zurich (2017) and later in Santiago (2018); and “Test Strips,” which opened in October 2025 at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago. 

Biography in PDF

Contents

 

Table of Contents in PDF

Texts

Some preliminary words
by Smiljan Radić

How to carry the world on your shoulders.
A conversation between Smiljan Radić and Christian Kerez

Enrique Walker Pavilion

Works and Projects