Rafael Moneo (Tudela, 1937). 

The architect from Navarre was the first Spaniard to be awarded the Pritzker prize, in 1996. He graduated from the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, after collaborating in several projects with Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza. In the 1960s, he worked at Jørn Utzon’s office in Denmark, the author of the famous Sydney Opera House. He has taught in numerous and prestigious universities, such as Princeton or Harvard, won prizes such as the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts or the Mies van der Rohe Award for architecture, an accolade he received in recognition of the Kursaal in San Sebastian. In November, he will be returning to a city in which his architectural mark is present through the Kursaal itself, the Urumea dwellings, the Iesu church and the Diocesan Museum.

Rafael Moneo has been invited by the managers of the Kursaal Palace, one of his most renowned works, which is celebrating 20 years after its opening. He will dialogue with the San Sebastian journalist Iñaki Gabilondo in the Kursaal’s Chamber Hall on the 28th of November. They will talk about the impact of the Kursaal as an economic driver and a transforming element of its environment, about the development of the building and the evolution of cities, citizenry, architecture and live. Registration will be open on the Kursaal’s web page in November.