Raphael Soriano was born on August 1st, 1904 in Rhodes, Greece.  He attended the College Saint-Jean-Baptiste there before immigrating to the United States in 1924. After settling with relatives in Los Angeles, Soriano enrolled in the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Architecture in 1929, graduating in 1934 with his degree.

In 1931, Soriano began an internship with Richard Neutra, working alongside fellow intern Gregory Ain. This was followed by a brief internship with Rudolph Schindler in 1934.  Soriano’s first commission, the Lipetz House (1936) was included in the 1937 International Architectural Exhibition held in Paris, marking him as an individual practitioner.  In 1943, Soriano received third prize in the Postwar Living Competition sponsored by Arts & Architecture Magazine with his "Plywood House" prototype. Following this accomplishment was the Katz house (1949) in Studio City, and Case Study House (1950) in for Arts & Architecture Magazine.

In 1953, Soriano relocated from Los Angeles to Tiburon, in Marin County, across the bay north of San Francisco. Soriano designed the first mass-produced steel house by 1955, built by developer Joseph Eichler in Palo Alto. His work with Eichler would garner two awards from the Northern California Chapter of the AIA.  Other well-known projects included the Shulman House (1959), for renowned architectural photographer Julius Shulman, and the Grossman House (1964).

From 1970 to his death in 1988 Soriano focused on traveling the world as an architectural lecturer, writer and researcher.  In 1986, Soriano was recognized by the AIA with a Distinguished Achievement Award and by USC with a Distinguished Alumni Award.