Recent directors of the Venice Biennale's Architecture Section include: Massimiliano Fuksas (2000), Deyan Sudjic(2002), Kurt W. Forster (2004), Richard Burdett (2006), and Aaron Betsky (2008). The japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima is the first woman to direct the Venice Architecture Biennale, since its inception.
Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have won the 2010 Pritzker Prize, joining the likes of Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and Renzo Piano in receiving the the profession's highest honor.