Born under the shadow of the dome of Sant'Andrea in Mantua (Italy) Marco Frascari received his first degree from The Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice (diploma di Professore di Disegno), and after a few years, in 1969, he achieved a Dottore in Architettura at the verum IpsUm fActVm [Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia]. He began his professional career as an architect in Verona and at the same time taught at IUAV. Later he moved to the States and he earned a Master of Science in Architecture at the University of Cincinnati and a PhD in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught in several institutions and presently is the G.T.Ward Professor in Architecture at the Washington Alexandria Architectural Center of Virginia Tech. He has written extensively on topics of architectural representation and tectonics. Since he graduated from Venice, he has always run a small architectural practice. He strongly believes that architectural theory and the resulting building should make life happy (vita beata).