Biographical notes

Born in Milan, after graduation at Politecnico, Simona Malvezzi founded KUEHN MALVEZZI in Berlin in 2001 together with Wilfried Kuehn and Johannes Kuehn. Museum and exhibition design is the main focus of their work. They designed the architecture for the Documenta 11, the Flick Collection in the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin as well as the Julia Stoschek Collection in Duesseldorf. Recently KUEHN MALVEZZI has completed the extension for the Museum Berggruen in Berlin and is currently planning the new-presentation of the collection of the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. Their projects have been shown in international solo and group exhibitions, amongst others in the German Pavilion at the 10th Architecture Biennale in Venice 2006 and were nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award. In 2012 KUEHN MALVEZZI was invited to the main exhibition "Common Ground" at the 13th Architecture .

Biographical notes
Marco Mancuso is a critic and curator in the field of Digital Technologies applied to Arts, Design and Contemporary Culture. Founder and Editor-In-Chief at Digicult and Digimag Journal (part of The Leonardo Affiliate Program), he teaches “Multimedia Arts Theory” at MAIND Interaction Design Master at SUPSI in Lugano, "Web 2.0 & Media Art Management" at NABA Academy in Milan, “Digital Publishing for the Arts” at Academy of Fine Art in Bergamo and is visiting professor at Transmedia-Postgraduate Program in Arts+Media+Design in Brussels.

With the Digicult Agency he curated and co-curated a number of exhibitions, screenings, lectures, meetings and partnered with most of the main media art festival in Italy and worldwide. Marco Mancuso has been expertising from years on wider subjects like open communication, social networking and digital publishing and is now studying new economical Internet models for art and culture: with the project “Fracty: Trasformazioni Affini”, he theorized an online platform creating open and p2p professional links between investors, public and private, from the scientific-technological field, professionals and students in the field of technologies applied to art, design and contemporary culture. He recently developed the “Digicult Editions” open-publishing online service.

Lecturing internationally and writing critical texts for media art publications and catalogues, articles, interviews and essays for Digicult, Marco Mancuso curated for MCD-Musiques et Cultures Digitales the publication “The Open Future” - Issue 63 in 2012 and the carde-blanche “Art Industries” - Issue 74 in 2014. He was included in the publication Cultural Blogging in Europe by LabForCulture.org in 2010.Twitter: @digicult – http://www.digicult.it

Biographical notes

Born in Spain’s Navarre region in 1957, Francisco Mangado completed his university studies in 1982 at the School of Architecture of the University of Navarre and then embarked on a teaching career. He has worked as Guest Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and at the Eero Saarinen college at the Yale School of Architecture and as Guest Lecturer at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne. He currently has a full professorship at the University of Pamplona and a guest professorship at Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

He has won numerous awards, including the Thienne Architecture Award, the Architéchti Prize, the FAD for architecture and Costrumat. In 2009 he received the Giancarlo Ius Gold Medal given by the UIA (International Union of Architects), the García Mercadal award, the Copper in Architecture Award and the Spanish Architecture Award 2009 granted by Spain’s National Council of Architects’ Associations (CSCAE). In December 2011 he was named RIBA International Fellow by the Royal Institute of British Architects and in February 2013 he was granted an AIA Honorary Fellowship by the American Institute of Architects. In June 2013, his project for the Auditorium in Teulada received the RIBA EU award from the Royal Institute of British Architects for EU buildings located outside the UK.

Some of Mangado’s best known works include the Congress Centre and Auditorium of Pamplona, Place Pey Berland in Bordeaux, the Congress Centre of Ávila, the Archaeology Museum of Vitoria, the stadium in Palencia, the Spanish pavilion at Expo Zaragoza 2008 and the Auditorium in Teulada. His latest projects include the Congress Centre in Palma de Mallorca and the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias in Oviedo.

The Baluarte Auditorium and Congress Centre in Pamplona and the Lienzo Norte Exhibition and Congress Center in Ávila featured in the exhibition on Spanish architecture held at the MoMA in New York. Personal exhibitions of Mangado’s work have also been held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, the Auditorium in Teulada, the Palacio del Condestable in Pamplona, the Aedes Gallery in Berlin, the EPFL in Lausanne, the FAUP in Porto and the Galerie d’Architecture in Paris.

In June 2008 he set up the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad.

Grafton Architects was established in 1978. Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara not only direct the studio, but also taught at the Dublin University School of Architecture from 1976 to 2002. They are currently visiting professors at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, and have also held prestigious positions at Harvard and Yale. Their projects have been exhibited at New York's MOMA, and this year they will be participating at the Venice Architecture Biennial with their project for the University of Lima. They were recently selected to design a new building for the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Biographical notes
Born in Tremezzina (Como) in 1945, Alberto Meda graduated in mechanical engineering from Milan Polytechnic in 1969.
In 1973 he became technical director of Kartell, heading up product development of the labware division and the furnishing accessories division. In 1979 he became a freelance designer, collaborating with Brevetti Gaggia and for four years from 1981 onwards working on the design of Alfa Romeo cars.
He currently works as an industrial designer with a number of companies including Alias, Alessi, Arabia-Finland, Cinelli, Colombodesign, Italtel Telematica, JcDecaux, Mandarina Duck, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Kartell, Omron Japan, Philips, Olivetti. Kohl and Vitra.

Exhibitions
 “Creativitalia” (Tokyo 1990) and a personal exhibition at the Design Gallery of Matzuia Ginza (Tokyo 1990).  
18th Triennale, ‘La leggerezza’ section of ‘Il Giardino dellle cose’ (Milan 1992)
“Mestieri d’autore” (Siena 1993)
“Mutant materials in contemporary design” at MOMA (New York 1995)
“Meda-Rizzatto” at Galerie Binnen (Amsterdam 1996)
Personal exhibition at the Salon du Meuble (Paris 1999)
 “Italy and Japan, design as lifestyle” (Yokohama , Kobe 2001)

Teaching and research activities
From 1983 to 1987 lecturer in industrial technologies at Domus Academy
From 1995 to 1997, lecturer on the Degree Course in Industrial Design at Milan Polytechnic with a design workshop
From 1995 to 1997, member of the board of directors of Designlabor of Bremerhaven
From 2003 to 2007 lecturer at the IUAV in Venice with a design workshop on the master’s course in industrial design
Numerous conferences and seminars in Europe, Japan and the United States, including Chicago, St. Louis, the Washington University School of Architecture, Stockholm (with a workshop entitled ‘And now….”), Boisbuchet, Miami, Sao Paulo, Ulm. Istanbul, Toronto, and Mexico.

Awards
1989 Compasso d’Oro for the Lola lamp series, in 1994 for the Metropoli series and in 2008 for the Mix lamp by Luceplan
1992 Design Plus Internationale for the Titania lamp by Luceplan
1994 European Design Prize for his work with Luceplan.
1997 I.D. design review – “Best of category” for Meda chair for Vitra
1998 Good design Gold Prize-Japan with Vitra - Meda chair
1999 Designer of the year - Salon du Meuble de Paris
2000 Bundespreis Produktdesign 2000/2001 with Meda chair
2001 Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum with Arabia’s Water
2003  Reddot Award for Iittala knives, Finland
2005  Hon. Royal Designer for Industry, London RSA
2006 Design Plus and Light of the future for MIX lamp by Luceplan
2007  INDEX: award with Solar Bottle
2011 Compasso d’Oro with Teak table by Alias
2012 Design Plus with Otto Watt by Luceplan

Since 1994, the chairs Light light 1987, Soft light 1989 and Longframe 1991 for Alias and the On-Off lamp 1988 for Luceplan have featured in the Design Collection at MOMA - Museum of Modern Art of New York.

Bibliography
Alberto Meda by Francesca Picchi
Collana Prontuario- Abitare Segesta edizioni- 2003
Il design di Alberto Meda-Una concreta leggerezza
By Domitilla Dardi , Ed. Electa 2005
Alberto Meda -I protagonisti del design- Hachette 2012

He lives and works in Milan.

Architect ALESSANDRO MENDINI was born in Milan. He has worked as editor of the magazines Casabella, Modo and Domus. Monographs about his work and his projects conducted with the practice Alchimia have been published in a number of languages.
His design work embraces objects, furniture, ambiences, paintings, installations and architecture. He cooperates with international companies such as Alessi, Philips, Cartier, Bisazza, Swatch, Hermés and Venini and works as a consultant for industrial companies worldwide, especially in the Far East, helping to solve problems relating to image and design. He is an honorary member of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design of Jerusalem. He won the Compasso d’oro award for design in 1979 and in 1981. He holds the title of “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” in France, as well as an honorary title from the Architectural League of New York and an honorary degree from Milan Polytechnic. He has held the appointment of professor of design at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna and is honorary professor at the Academic Council of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China. His works are featured in numerous museums and private collections.
In 1989 he and his brother Francesco Mendini opened the practice Atelier Mendini in Milan. Their projects in Italy include Fabbriche Alessi in the town of Omegna; the new Olympic swimming pool in Trieste; a number of underground stations and restoration of the Villa Comunale in Naples; the Byblos Art Hotel-Villa Amistà in Verona; the Trend Group’s new offices in Vicenza; a tower in Hiroshima, Japan; the Groningen Museum in Holland; a district in Lugano in Switzerland; the Madsack office building in Hanover and a commercial building in Lörrach in Germany; the new Triennale building in Milan, the Exhibition Centre and Ceramic Museum in Incheon, South Korea, as well as other buildings in Europe and the USA. Atelier Mendini won the Gold medal for Italian architecture in 2003 at the Triennale in Milan for project for the Naples Metro and the Villeggiature Awards 2006 in Paris for the Byblos Art Hotel in Verona, as “Best Hotel Architecture and Interior Design in Europe”. He works as an urban planning consultant in a number of cities in South Korea.
Alongside his projects, he is also engaged in theoretical and written work encompassing art, design and architecture.

MIDE architetti are an architectural practice based in Venice providing urban, architectonic and interior design services; MIDE’s approach looks at the use of clean and simple volumes and lines, extreme attention to detail, finish and choice of materials; The ideas that inspire the designs arise from the functional analysis of the client’s needs and responsive understanding of the location. The characteristics of the environment and its main features are included and reinterpreted in the development of functional and creative architectonic solutions; The practice’s reputation is founded on developing projects focussing on the themes of environmental and energetic sustainability, achieved through the collaboration with experts in the sector; MIDE’s main clients include organisations such as Volvo Trucks talia, Renault Trucks, Intrerbrau, Philippe Model, Ipercoop, Rubner Haus, Stilenatura, John Barritt, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Benetton, Birrificio Antoniano, and public administrations: Regione Emilia Romagna, Comune di Mirandola, Comune di Viadana, Comune di Massa Finalese, Comune di San Felice sul Panaro e Comune di Mira; In parallel to client based work and as part of continuing improvement MIDE architetti invest in research and development, through participation in national and international design contests; Since it was established MIDE architetti has received many rewards and their projects have been published in a number of prestigious magazines and publications.

Biographical notes
Francesca Molteni studied Philosophy (University of Milan) and Film Production (New York Uni-versity). She worked for RAI, Italian National TV channel. Since 2002, she produces and directs documentaries, television formats, videos, and curates design exhibitions. Writer and director of “Ultrafragola” TV series, a Sky TV program on design, she managed the launch and the pro-duction of the platform www.ultrafragola.com, the first web TV channel dedicated to design. In 2009 she founded MUSE Factory of Projects, her production company based in Milan, muse-web.it.
She directed Giocare l’Arte, an art format for RaiSat Ragazzi, Happy Birthday Dino Risi, a docu-mentary produced by Rai Cinema, Art Basel Miami Beach, L’Urlo, 50 Years of Beat and Peggy Guggenheim for RaiStoria, Ron Gilad, Loving Gio Ponti, and Alessandro Mendini. I wanted to be Walt Disney – three films presented at Festivals worldwide.
In 2016 she travelled the East coast documenting the US election for “La Casa Bianca [The White House]”, a seven episodes TV program on air on Rai3, the third Italian National channel.
In 2012 she won the “Premio dei Premi” award for Innovation assigned by the President of the Italian Republic for the QallaM project, which received the Compasso d’Oro’s honorable men-tion. In 2013, she received the Cathay Pacific Award for women entrepreneurs. In 2014 she re-ceived the PIDA Design Prize for the “Where Architects Live” film and exhibition.
Since 2012 she’s contributing to the Sunday edition of IlSole24Ore, Elle Decor, GQ and Vogue Italy; she is the author of the book "Oggetti d’impresa [Objects of Business]", Carocci publish-er, 2016.
In 2017 she has curated with Maria Cristina Didero SUPER DESIGN, a film about Italian Radical Design, promoted by R&Company Gallery and produced by MUSE;; in 2018 the documentary “The Power of The Archive. Renzo Piano Building Workshop” with Fulvio Irace and in collabora-tion with Renzo Piano FoundaOon.

José Rafael Moneo Vallés was born in Tudela (Navarra) in 1937. He studied at the Madrid School of Architecture, from which he graduated in 1961. In 1970 he took the chair of Elements of Composition at the Barcelona School of Architecture; he took the same position in Madrid in 1980, where he remained until 1985, when he was appointed Chairman of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, a role he maintained until 1990. Rafael Moneo is currently the Josep Lluis Sert Professor of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Some of his most important recent projects include the following: The Kursaal Auditorium and Conference Centre in San Sebastián (1999), the Museum of Fine Arts in  Houston, Texas (2000), the Cathedral of Los Angeles (2002), the General Archive of Navarra in Pamplona (2003), the Gregorio Marañón Maternity Hospital in Madrid (2003), the extension of the Bank of Spain in Madrid (2006), the extension of the Prado Museum in Madrid (2007), the LISE Laboratory for Integrated Science and Engineering building in the University of Harvard, Cambridge (2007), the Museum of the Roman Theatre in Cartagena (2008), Deusto University Library (2009), the Novartis Laboratories in Basle, Switzerland (2009), “La Romareda” Civic Centre in Zaragoza (2010), a Science Laboratory for Columbia University in New York (2010), the Riberas de Loiola Parish in San Sebastián (2011) and the Congress Centre in Toledo (2012).

Rafael Moneo is currently working on a Neurology and Psychology Centre for the University Princeton, New Jersey (2006), the extension of Atocha Rail Station in Madrid (2008) and the Centre for Contemporary Art of the University of Navarra (2008).

Rafael Moneo combines his work as an architect with his activity as a conference speaker and critic. Co-founder of the review Arquitecturas Bis, Rafael Moneo’s writings have been published in numerous professional reviews, and he has presented his work through exhibitions and conferences on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2005 he published – translated into 7 languages – the book “THEORETICAL ANXIETY AND DESIGN STRATEGIES in the work of eight contemporary architects”. September 2010 saw the simultaneous of the two versions of his book “APUNTES SOBRE 21 OBRAS” (Gili) and “REMARKS ON 21 WORKS” (Monacelli).

Rafael Moneo has received numerous awards, including the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1996 and the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2003. Elected as a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1997, he took up his place there at the beginning of 2005. In 2006 the Higher Council of Colleges of Architects in Spain awarded him the Gold Medal of Spanish Architecture, and in 2012 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Arts.

Biographical notes

Architect, he teaches architectural design at the Department of Architecture,
University of Naples “Federico II”. In 1995, he founded corvino + multari with Vincenzo
Corvino, a practice based in Naples and with offices in Milan. The Pirelli Tower
restoration in Milan awarded him the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture (2006) and
the European Aluminium in Renovation Award (2007).

Biographical notes

The internationally acclaimed Australian architect Glenn Murcutt (born in London, 1936) received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002. He and his work have also been recognized with numerous other awards including the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1992, the Green Pin of Denmark for Architecture and Ecology in 1999, and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 2009. Furthermore, he is an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Glenn Murcutt studied architecture at the Sydney Technical College of the University of New South Wales. In 1969, he established his own firm. Since then—while undertaking all the design-related tasks himself—he has created an impressive oeuvre of environmentally conscious buildings of exceptional quality and vision.
Glenn Murcutt has shared his vision with countless students around the world. He holds a professorship at the University of New South Wale, and has been a visiting professor at schools such as Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Helsinki University of Technology, Aarhus University, and many others.

National Honours 
1992 Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal
1993 Life fellow Royal Australian Institute of Architects
1995 Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of New South Wales
1996 Order of Australia (AO)
2003 Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Technology Sydney – HonDrLtUTS
2004 Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Sydney – HonDrScUS
2010 Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Umanities

International Awards and Honours
1992 Alvar Aalto International Medal for architecture, Helsinki, Finland
1995 Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects – HonFAIA
1995 International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects – IntFRIBA
1998 Richard Neutra International Award for architecture and teaching from the Neutra Foundation and CalPoly Pomona USA
1999 The “Green Pin” International Award fro architecture and ecology from the Royal Danish Academy of Architects
2001 The Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture and architecture Award for the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre “Riversdale” in collaboration with Wendy Lewin And Reg Lark.
2001 International Thomas Jefferson Medal for architecture USA
2001 Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada  - HonFSAFA
2001 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine arts international award for “Making a difference” to the thinking and practice of architecture
2002 The International Pritzker Architecture Prize
2004 Honorary Fellow, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland – Hon FRIAS
2005 Honorary Member, Taipei Architects Association  - Hon MTAA
2005 Honorary Fellow Singapore Institute of Architects  - Hon FSIA
2008 Elected Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, New York
2008 Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Green Professionals USA – HonFIGP – Honoris Causa –
2009 The Gold Medal, American Institute of Architects
2009 Hon Member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland – HonMRIAI
2010/11/12/13/14/15 Member, International Jury of the International Pritzker Architecture Prize
2010 Honours, Senior Fellow, The Design Futures Council, Salk Institute California and Smithsonian Castle, Washington DC USA
2014 Hon. Dr. Lt. “Honoris Causa” University Bucharest Romania
2014 Royal Scottish Academy Medal for Architecture – RSA Metzstein Architecture Discourse 2015 Solo Exhibition “Architecture for Place” Glasgow, Scotland U.K.
2015 Hon. Dr. Laws Honoris Causa Dalhousie University, Halifax Canada