José Rafael Moneo Vallés was born in Tudela (Spain) in 1937. He studied at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, from which he received his degree in 1961. In 1963, he received a grant from the Spanish Academy in Rome and remained in that city until 1965. When he returned to Spain, he started his professional career as well as his relationship with teaching by becoming a lecturer in the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (1966-1970). In 1970, he received the Architectural Composition Professorship from the School of Architecture of Barcelona, where he taught until 1980, year in which he took the Architectural Composition Professorship from the School of Architecture of Madrid until 1985. That year, Rafael Moneo was appointed Chairman of the Architecture Department of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, a position he held until 1990. In 1991 he was named Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he continues to teach. He combines his professional activity as an architect with that as lecturer and critic. Co-founder of the Arquitecturas Bis magazine, his writings have been published in the foremost professional magazines and the presentation of his work through lectures and exhibitions has taken him to both sides of the Atlantic.