Born and trained in Peru, the French architect Henri E. Ciriani moved to Paris in 1964, and since 1969 has combined teaching (at the Paris-Belleville School) with private practice. He has taught also in England, the USA, Canada and Peru, and his work has been published world-wide and featured in important exhibitions. He has had several awards in France in addition to the gold medal of the National University of Engineering in Peru and the silver medal of that country's College of Architects.
Ciriani considers himself a Modern architect in that, in his architecture, he gives equal importance to social as well as aesthetic values. He subscribes to the ideals of a vocal and influential group of post-1968 architects in Paris who are concerned with creating meaningful space, with bettering the human environment, and with ensuring that society does not lose sight of the history of its city, nor restrict the design concepts of monuments and public buildings.
In his talk be enlarges on these ideas as applied to his work, all in France - housing, schools, child-care centre, city hall, opera house, even a hospital kitchen which he treats as a palace for workers.
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