Ila Bêka trained as an architect with a degree from the Università Iuav di Venezia of Venice and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, where he studied with Aldo Rossi, Manfredo Tafuri, Vittorio Gregotti, Massimo Cacciari, Bernardo Secchi, Ugo La Pietra, Henri Ciriani and Jacques Lucan.

Since 2005 he has been working in collaboration with Louise Lemoine with whom he founded the research and creation platform Bêka & Lemoine. Described by The New York Times as “cult figures in the European architecture world”, Bêka and Lemoine focus their work on experimental new narrative and cinematographic forms in relation to contemporary architecture. Koolhaas Houselife, the first film Bêka co-directed with Lemoine in 2008, has been acclaimed by the international critique as “The architectural cult movie”.

Bêka has been invited to lecture and present his films at many international cultural institutions and prestigious universities such as Venice Biennale (2008, 2010, 2014), MoMA (New-York), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New-York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Barbican Art Gallery (London), Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montréal), NAi (Rotterdam, NL), MAXXI (Rome), SALT (Istanbul), Harvard GSD, Architectural Association School of Architecture (London), Mextropoli (Mexico).

According to ArchDaily, one of the most visited architecture websites worldwide, their films “alter the face of architectural criticism”.

Ila Bêka is currently teaching at AA School, Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

Bêka & Lemoine’s complete work (16 films) was acquired in 2016 by MoMA, Museum of Modern Art in New York, and is now part of its permanent collection. The acquisition of a complete work by MoMA, Museum of Modern Art is an extremely rare event for a living artist.