The Chilean Alejandro Aravena is the new winner of the Pritzker, an award which the Hyatt Foundation has given yearly since 1979. In the words of its president, Thomas J. Pritzker, the work of Aravena (director of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale)”gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters... and provides welcoming public space.” At 48, the Chilean architect joins the list of Latin Americans who have landed the prize, after the Mexican Luis Barragán (1980) and the Brazilians Oscar Niemeyer (1988) and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006). The awarding ceremony will be held on 4 April in New York.