The annual Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to Liu Jiakun of China, who earned the field's highest honour for affirming architecture that celebrates the lives of ordinary citizens, organizers announced Tuesday. Liu, based in Chengdu in China's southwestern Sichuan region, has said that the purpose of his architecture is to create a beautiful, just and dignified living environment, and that he tries to balance commercial needs with the human needs of the public. The architect upholds the transcendent power of the built environment through the harmonizing of cultural, historical, emotional and social dimensions, using architecture to forge community, inspire compassion and elevate the human spirit, Pritzker organizers said in a statement. Liu is known for creating public areas in highly populated cities where there is little public space, forging a positive relationship between density and open space, the statement said. Organizers cited his West Village in Chengdu, a 201