Emilio Ambasz

Born in Resistencia (Argentina) in 1943, he lives and works in New York. After the degree in architecture at Princeton University, he taught at Princeton, at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm (Germany). From 1969 to 1979 he was design curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Among the exhibitions he put on during his commission must be remembered Italy: The New Domestic Landscape (with the related catalogue, 1972), that contributed to promote in the United States the works of Italian architects and designers. Architect and designer himself, Emilio Ambasz realised numerous works such as the offices of the Financial Guaranty Insurance Company in New York (1986); the offices of the Banque Bruxelles Lambert in Milan (1981), Lausanne (1983) and New York (1984); the Lucille Halsell Conservatory in San Antonio, Texas (1987); the Casa de Retiro Espiritual near Seville (MoMA recently devoted an exhibition to it). As a designer his creation is wide and manifold: from diesel engines (among which the models Cummins N14 Liter Engine, 1982, awarded the ID’s Designer Choice and Annual Design Review, and Cummins Signature 600, 1996-1997, awarded the Bronze Medal IDSA/IDEA) to furniture (among which the series Qualis Office Furniture for Tecno, awarded the “Compasso d’Oro” 1991) to lighting and consumer products.

Laurent Beaudouin

Born in Nancy in 1955, he graduated from the Ecole d’Architecture in Nancy, where in 1980 he opened his own architectural firm. Since 1988 he works in association with his wife Emmanuelle and founds Atelier Beaudouin. He had designed and realised several public buildings, among which the libraries in Poitiers, in Besançon, in Belfort, in Le Mans; the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy, the renovation of the Malraux Museum in Le Havre, the Matisse Museum at Cateau-Cambrésis, the Lee Ung-No Museum in Daejon (South Korea), as well as school and university buildings in Nancy, Dijon, Luxembourg. Since 1999 he is professor at the Ecole d’Architecture in Nancy.

Gonçalo Byrne

Graduated in architecture from the Escola Superior de Belas Artes (Lisbon), in 1975 he opened his own architecture studio. His work, diversified in terms of scale, theme and programme, includes the Headquarters of the Government of the Province of Vlaams-Brabant in Leuven, the Marine Traffic Control Tower for the Port of Lisbon Authority, the “Império” Quarter in the Chiado area of Lisbon, the Faro Theatre in the Algarve and the National Museum Machado de Castro, in Coimbra (under construction). He has taught in several universities in Portugal and abroad. In 2005 he received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Faculty of Architecture, Technical University of Lisbon, and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Santiago da Espada by the President of the Portuguese Republic.

Alberto Campo Baeza

Born in Valladolid in 1946, he graduated in architecture from Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid (1971, PhD in 1982), where he became chairman and professor of design in 1986. He has taught in several universities in Europe (ETH Zurich, Dublin, Naples, EPFL Lausanne, Bauhaus Weimar) and United States (Virginia Tech Blacksburg, University of Pennsylvania, IIT Chicago). Among his works: Fene Town Hall (1980), S. Fermin Public School in Madrid (1985), Drago Public School in Cadiz (1992), Centre BIT in Mallorca (1998), the Cathedral’s square in Almeria (2001), SN Editorial offices in Madrid (2003) and the houses Turegano, Garcia Marcos and De Blas, in Madrid, and Gaspar, Asencio and Guerrero in Cadiz.

Massimo Carmassi

Professor of Architecture Design and Urban Planning at the University IUAV of Venice; he has taught at the Schools of Architecture of Ferrara, Genoa, Turin and Reggio Calabria. He was professor in the course of Designing Reuse at the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin and visiting professor at Syracuse New York and Syracuse Florence. He received the Premio Gubbio from the Associazione Nazionale Centri Storici and the H. Tessenow Gold Medal in Hanover awarded by the Schumacher Foundation. He is an Academician of San Luca, a member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence and Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He conducts his professional activity in his practice in Florence in the fields of restoration and new architecture.

Kenneth Frampton

Graduated from the Architectural Association in London. He has been professor at the Columbia University, New York, and visiting professor at various schools, as the Royal College of Art in London, the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio. He has published numerous studies of the history of the Modern Movement, among which the volumes Modern Architecture: A Critical History (London 1980, translated in nine languages), Studies in Tectonic Culture (Cambridge 1995) and Labour Work and Architecture (London 2000).

Dan S. Hanganu

Born in Iasi (Rumania, 1939), graduated in architecture from the University of Bucharest. In 1970 he went to Canada, where he opened in 1978 his own architecture studio in Montreal. Among his works: the Museum of Archaeology and History in Montreal (1990-1992), the Abbey Church of St Benoît du Lac (Quebec, 19891994), the Centre of the Archives of Quebec (1997-2000). Visiting professor at various universities in North America and Europe, he is honorary fellow of the Canadian Centre of Architecture. He was awarded with numerous prizes, among which the Golden Medal concealed by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (2008) and the Prix Paul-Emile Borduas (1992).

Kengo Kuma

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1954, he established Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. His numerous residential works, museums, and other public facilities have received on-going critical acclaim and have won him several national and international awards including the prestigious Architectural Institute of Japan Award in 1997. Recent projects include the LVMH Group Japan headquarters completed in 2003, Suntory's new Tokyo office building, and the Kodan apartments. In addition to his professorship at Keio University's Faculty of Science and Technology (since 2001), he frequently lectures at other institutions in Japan and abroad.

Boris Podrecca

Born in Beograd in 1940, he graduated in architecture in 1968 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he opened his own studio. Among his works: the Vienna headquarters of the Basler Insurance Company (1990-1993), the Millennium-Tower in Vienna (1995-1999, in association with G. Peichl and R.F. Weber) and, most recently, the Museum of Science and Technology in Beograd (2007, under construction). He also designed several exhibitions in major European centres. Since 1988 he is professor at the Stuttgart Technical University and director of the Institute of Architectural Design and Theory of Space. He has taught in several schools of architecture, in Europe and North America.

Bruno Reichlin

Graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich), he has taught at the Ecole d’Architecture in Nancy and at the Institut d’Architecture in Geneva; he is professor at the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio. As an historian of architecture he has written on themes and figures of the architecture of the XX century and restoration. As an architect, he has designed and built in association with Fabio Reinhart, Betrix & Consolascio, Santiago Calatrava; he has designed pieces of furniture in association with Gabriele Geronzi.

Zhi Wenjun

Born in Shanghai on April 5, 1962. In 1983 he got his bachelor’s degree in Architecture and in 1986 his master’s degree in History and Theory of Architecture at Tongji University, Shanghai. After his graduation, he began to teach at Tongji University and to work as an editor for “TIME + ARCHITECTURE” (the most influential academic architectural journal in China). Currently he is its editor-in-chief. Professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, he is regularly invited to give lectures and conferences in Asia, Europe and United States.