Teatro Regional del Bío-Bío, 2018, Concepción, Chile Iwan Baan/The Pritzker Architecture Prize hide caption

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Iwan Baan/The Pritzker Architecture Prize

Smiljan Radić Clarke was named the newest Pritzker Prize-winner — an award often called the Nobel of architecture — Thursday morning.

Was he surprised by his win?

"Yes, completely," the Chilean architect told NPR in an email. "[It's] a huge honor. And possibly, in the very near future, a bit of a headache, since it will probably mean being far more exposed than I would like."

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Smiljan Radić Clarke Tom Welsh for The Pritzker Architecture Prize hide caption

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Tom Welsh for The Pritzker Architecture Prize

The designer, known professionally as Smiljan Radić, is not exactly underexposed. But he is not as well known internationally as earlier Pritzker winners, such as Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei.…