A life between the worlds
and cultures
François Valentiny was born in 1953 in Remerschen, Luxembourg. He completed a carpentry apprentice at the Athénée Royal de Virton, Belgium in 1970. After graduating from the Institut de Technologie de Luxembourg, he studied architecture at the University of Nancy (France) from 1975-1976 and at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna (Austria) from 1976 until 1980. In 1980 he completed his studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna as a Magister architecturae with distinction and received an award for extraordinary achievements from the Federal Ministry of Science and Research in Vienna for his diploma thesis.
In the same year François Valentiny founded together with his study colleague and future partner in office Hubert Hermann Hermann & Valentiny Architects (H&V). The young office won the mandate to build for the Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA) in Berlin. From 1980 to 1981 Valentiny was an assistant at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg (AT). From 1987 to 1992 H&V were guest lectures at the University of Science at the Department of Architecture in Trier, Germany. In 1991 H&V became Luxembourg’s first representatives at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. From 1991 to 1994 Valentiny was Member of the Architectural Committee, the Gestaltungsbeirat of the City of Salzburg, Austria.
“The work of the architect is closely linked to his personality. With his desire to create and his experience of life, he strives to provide adequate answers to the social and cultural challenges of our society. (…) Architecture is the political and cultural reflection of a society. It is public and belongs to everybody. The aim hence is not to approach a project as a canvas or a poem, not more than a piece of music. Architecture can cause injuries and hurt. It transcends society.
François Valentiny
From 2000 to 2003 François Valentiny was a professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Art at Leipzig, Germany. From 2000 to 2005 he became a member of the advisory committee to the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt. During this time, he published in collaboration with Editpress the first edition of the architecture magazine adato. From 2003 to 2007 Valentiny was a member of the administration committee of the Fondation de l´Architecture et de l´Ingénierie à Luxembourg (today LUCA, Luxembourg Center for Architecture) which’s president he became from 2006 to 2007. 2004- 2006 François Valentiny was Luxembourg’s commissioner for the Venice Architecture Biennale.
In 2006 the opera building, das Kleinen Festspielhaus „Haus für Mozart“ in Salzburg was inaugurated. Three years later François Valentiny became a member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste in Salzburg.
In 2010 Valentiny hvp architects & partners designed the "green heart of Europe" pavilion for the World Expo in Shanghai. Since 2011 François Valentiny has been a professor for "Community Planning and Green Architectural Design" at the DeTao Masters Academy (DTMA) and the Shanghai Visual Arts Institute (SIVA) in China.
In 2011 Francois Valentiny founded together with Sabine and Carlo Lovatelli, Dominique and Reinold Geiger the "Musica em in Trancoso - MeT" festival in Bahia (Brazil). Three years later the building of the “Teatro l’Occitane“ that should from now on house the festival was inaugurated.
In 2014 the Studio Valentiny hvp architects & partners was founded in Shanghai, China. In the same year the Valentiny Foundation in Remerschen opened its doors to the public.