Nota biografica

Francis Kéré è nato a Gando, una piccola città dell'Africa occidentale in Burkina Faso. Kéré ha studiato architettura in Germania, dove ottenne una borsa di studio conseguendo la laurea in architettura e ingegneria. Come primo figlio del capo del suo villaggio, suo padre ha permesso al figlio di frequentare la scuola anche se molti abitanti del villaggio consideravano l'istruzione occidentale convenzionale uno spreco di tempo. Parallelamente ha fondato la Fondazione Kéré (ex Schulbausteine für Gando eV) per finanziare la costruzione della Scuola Primaria Gando, il cui progetto ha ottenuto il prestigioso Premio Aga Khan nel 2001. Kéré continua a operare in Burkina Faso e in quattro diversi continenti. Ha sviluppato strategie di costruzione innovative che combinano materiali tradizionali e tecniche di costruzione con metodi di ingegneria moderni. Nel 2005 ha fondato il suo studio Kéré Architecture e da allora il suo lavoro ha ottenuto numerosi riconoscimenti prestigiosi come Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, BSI Swiss Architectural Award, Marcus Prize, Global Holcim Gold Award, and Schelling Architecture Award.

Kéré ha avuto l'onore di divenire membro del Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) nel 2009 e dell'American Institute of Architects (FAIA) nel 2012. Ha insegnato alla Harvard Graduate School of Design e alla Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio in Svizzera.

Biographical notes
Fulvio Irace is a full professor of “History of Architecture” at Milan Polytechnic, where he holds the History of Contemporary Architecture chair at the Faculty of Civil Architecture and the Faculty of Design; he is also a visiting professor at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, and a member of the board of teachers for the PhD course in “History of Architecture and Town Planning” at Turin Polytechnic.
He is a member of the scientific committee of the Vico Magistretti Foundation and is on the board of trustees of the Piano Foundation.
In 2008-2009 he was a member of the jury for the Mies van der Rohe European Prize.
From 2005 to 2009 he was a member of the Scientific Committee of the Milan Triennial and curator of the Architecture and Territory sector.
One of the founders of the national association AAI (Archivi di Architettura Italia – Italian Architectural Archives), he is one of the promoters of the “Architecture and Design” section of CASVA (Centro alti studi e valorizzazione delle arti – the Centre for Higher Studies and Valorisation of the Arts) of the Municipality of Milan.
Architectural editor for the publications “Domus” and “Abitare”, he has worked with the most important national and international magazines in the sector, and in 2005 was awarded the Inarch Bruno Zevi Prize for architectural criticism. Since 1986 he has been an opinionist in the field of architecture for the Sunday Supplement of “Il Sole 24 Ore”.
Attentive to the historiographies of Italian architecture between the two World Wars, to which he has dedicated much work through various exhibitions and publications, more recently his studies have concentrated on contemporary Italian architecture, and the figure of Renzo Piano, the subject of various monographs and an important exhibition at the Milan Triennial.
In the field of criticism and historical methodology he is the author of the following works:  Dimenticare Vitruvio, 2001 and 2008;  Le città visibili: Renzo Piano 2006; Divina Proporzione, 2007; Gio Ponti, 2009.
He has curated a number of architectural exhibitions.