The internationally acclaimed architect Francis Kéré garnered critical praise from the beginning of his architectural practice when awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first ever building - a primary school he designed, raised the funds for and realised in collaboration with the residents of his native Gando, Burkina Faso.

Keynote Lecture by Francis Kéré

2021 AIA President-Elect

Peter Exley has established an internationally recognized practice of award-winning architecture for children, families, and communities, elevating the standards of design for learning and play environments. He is the co-founder of Architecture Is Fun, a Chicago-based architecture, design, and consulting firm. Dedicated to helping the next generation of architects, Peter has also been a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for more than 25 years. He will serve as the 97th President of the American Institute of Architects in 2021.

Kick-Off - Design Is Disruption

Pritzker Laureate Balkrishna Doshi is a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architect and a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects. After initial study at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, he worked for four years with Le Corbusier as Senior Designer (1951-54) in Paris and four more years in India to supervise his projects in Ahmedabad. His office Vastu Shilpa (Environmental design) was established in 1955.

Honorary Fellows Keynote Lecture - Balkrishna Doshi

Global Foresight Leader, Arup

Josef has a background in Biology, Innovation Management and Corporate Foresight. He has spent the last nine years working at the global design, engineering and consulting firm Arup. As Arup’s Global Foresight Leader, he is responsible for the delivery of foresight services and projects globally, working across Arup’s Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and UKIMEA regions. Josef’s clients and collaborators include Arup leadership teams as well as external organisations from a broad range of sectors.

Keynote Lecture: Designing for a new normal - Rethinking the future of building design

Urban futurist and Architect

Dr Cindy Frewen, FAIA, APF, urban futurist and architect, consults, speaks, and writes on urbanization, future cities, and design futures, specializing in the intersection of people, technology, and environment. She teaches the Design Futures Workshop and Social Change at the University of Houston graduate program in Strategic Foresight. Clients include the United Nations Development Program, UNESCO, US AID, US Treasury, US Federal Reserve, US General Services Administration, IBM, Hallmark Cards, VF Corporation, Saint Gobain, ULI, and national American Institute of Architects.

Keynote Lecture: Architecture as a Catalyst for Change

Principal, Safdie Architects

Moshe Safdie is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. Over a celebrated 50-year career, Safdie has explored the essential principles of socially responsible design with a distinct visual language. A citizen of Israel, Canada and the United States, Moshe Safdie graduated from McGill University. After apprenticing with Louis I. Kahn in Philadelphia, Safdie returned to Montréal to oversee the master plan for the 1967 World Exhibition. In 1964 he established his own firm to realize Habitat ’67, an adaptation of his undergraduate thesis and a turning point in modern architecture.

Keynote Lecture - Nature and Urbanism: Reimagining the Public Realm

Co-founders, Barclay & Crousse Architecture

Sandra Barclay received the 2018 Woman in Architecture Award from the Architectural Review. She is a foreign member of the French Académie d’Architecture and Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Jean Pierre Crousse is Director of the Master Program in Architecture at the PUCP, Peru. Design Critic at Harvard GSD (2015). Member of the jury for the Mies Crown Hall Architecture Prize, Chicago, 2016.

Sandra and Jean Pierre were co-curators of the Peruvian Pavilion at the 15th Venice Biennale, 2016, which obtained the Special Mention of the Jury.

Honorary Fellows Keynote Lecture: Working with What is Available

Practice established in Johannesburg 1984. During that period Noero has designed and built more than 200 buildings which range in both size and complexity.

Awards include Lubetkin Prize from RIBA 2007, Erskine Prize Sweden 1993, Icon Award (UK) for Building of the year 2014, Archmarathon Award Milan 2018. Work exhibited at Venice Biennale 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2016, Chicago Architecture Biennale 2017, Maxxi Museum in Rome 2015 and 2019, Museum of Modern Art in New York 2010, Museum of Architecture in Munich.

Honorary Fellows Keynote Lecture: Remaking the South African City

Eames Demetrios wears many hats. His current large-scale project is his parallel universe, Kcymaerxthaere, a global artwork of multi-dimensional storytelling.

Demetrios is probably still best known in the design world as director of the Eames Office and authoring several design books--including An Eames Primer and Essential Eames: Words and Images. He’s authored 11 books altogether. He's also made over 60 films (mostly shorts) on topics from the Modern Maya to Frank Gehry, from homelessness to legendary winemaker Peter Gago. Genres include fiction, documentary and animation. Demetrios has given talks in 50 countries, including on the mainstage of the legendary TED conference.

Keynote Lecture: Seeing What is not There

Jan Gehl, (Denmark, 1936), architect, professor and consultant on urban design, has focused his career on improving the quality of urban life, by reorienting the design of the city towards the people in the cities: public life, pedestrians, and cyclists.

His books include the by now “classics” “Life between Buildings” and “Cities for People”. Published in more than 40 languages.

Honorary Fellows Keynote Lecture: Cities For People

AIA Executive Vice President and CEO

Robert A. Ivy, FAIA, has been Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since 2011. Under Ivy’s leadership, AIA’s membership achieved a record high of more than 94,000 in 2019.

Closing Keynote by Robert Ivy