Meet Our speakers
Pandemic Talks – Knowledge For A Cause
Toshiko Mori
Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect
New York, United States
Toshiko Mori Architect (TMA) is a New York City based firm known for an innovative and diverse body of work spanning nearly four decades. Toshiko Mori, FAIA is the founding principal of TMA, and the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD).
Mori’s intelligent approach to ecologically sensitive siting strategies, historical context, and innovative use of materials reflects a creative integration of design and technology. Her designs demonstrate a thoughtful sensitivity to detail and involve extensive research into the site conditions and surrounding context. The work of TMA combines a strong conceptual and theoretical approach with a thorough study of programmatic needs and practical conditions to achieve a design that is both spatially compelling and pragmatically responsive.
Toshiko Mori Architect has worked on a broad range of programs including urban, civic, institutional, cultural, residential, museum and exhibition design. Recent work includes master plans for the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch and the Buffalo Botanical Gardens; Thread Cultural Center and Artists’ Residences, as well as Fass School and Teachers’ Residence both in Senegal; and Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Stephen Robert’62 Hall at Brown University.
Narinder Sagoo
Senior Partner Art Director, Foster + Partners
London, UK
Narinder Sagoo studied architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University. He graduated with first class honours in 1996. After a year placement at Foster and Partners, Narinder went to the Bartlett School of Architecture. He received a Diploma in Architecture with Distinction in 1999. Peter Cook described him as ‘The best designer of buildings in the school’. Narinder re-joined Foster and Partners in May 1999. Now a Senior Partner, Narinder brings his experience and knowledge as a member of a Design Board that oversees the design and development of all projects in the studio.
Narinder’s expertise lies in his perspective drawings of which he has produced over 15000 and many of which have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts. It is this ability to draw that has gained him recognition within the Architectural world. His role straddles both design and communication with the most need for speed and versatility – presenting the most complex of buildings in the simplest possible way. In these drawings he works closely with Norman Foster and the other Partners to illustrate the thought-processes and architectural visions of almost all the projects in the office.
Responsible for all artistic representations of projects, from sketching and drawing, digital painting through to photorealistic representation, Narinder’s team of artists continue to push boundaries, translating not just the built reality but the essence of a building, whilst exploring sensory relationships with the built and natural environment. For him, the act of listening to a client is the beginning of a collaborative process that involves sketching and drawing as an integral part, working as part of a larger team together with the client as a partner. Beginning with conceptual art, which provides an initial feel of the project, to photorealistic images that take us forward in time to the point of reality, his team of artists create a large variety of artwork throughout the design process. Narinder and his team have been involved in all of the practice’s projects over a period of two decades.
‘Narinder Sagoo, the Foster Partner and ace draughtsman reputed to sit at Foster’s side in client meetings, sketching away as Foster holds forth’ – The Architects Journal.
‘One of the finest architectural artists of his generation’ – The Architecture Club
Narinder has talked at schools and universities all over the country on drawing and the communication of buildings through natural and digital media. He is an External Examiner for degree level at the Bartlett School of Architecture, a member of the RIBA Validation panel for 2008 and has recently taught at Yale University, USA and Cambridge School of Architecture, UK.
Claudio Rimmele and Martin Binder
Designer and artist Martin Binder
Psychologist and publicist Claudio Rimmele
Berlin, Germany
The creative team behind Rimbin are designer and artist Martin Binder, and psychologist and publicist Claudio Rimmele. Already at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic they noticed the changed cityscape of Berlin. All playgrounds suddenly became forbidden areas. Barrier tape prevented access to swings, climbing nets and other play elements for children.
These necessary restrictions led to the common desire to develop an idea for an infection-free play space. In a six-week creative sprint they worked out the solution behind Rimbin. Rimbin is their first joint project.
Martin Binder is an expert in public art and public design. These interests run like a red thread through his interdisciplinary study career in art-in-context and industrial design. As a member of the File for Art in Public Space at the BBK Berlin, he is often part of art-in-context procedures as a specialist juror and as a creator himself of art in public space. The main motivation for his work is a fascination in the potential of public meeting places to fight prejudices.
Claudio Rimmele is the founder and creative director of the trend and future agency Observism and the editor in chief of Qiio magazine. Already during his studies of psychology and design thinking, he focused on urban trends and positive urban development. For over
13 years he has been involved in the digital transformation of journalism and co-founded one of the most successful German culture & lifestyle blogs iHeartBerlin. During his work as creative director, he has already developed several innovative concepts. These include a hospital bed for dementia patients, a co-creation space for publishers and a creative lab for finance ideas.
Alexi Marmot
Founding Director, AMA Alexi Marmot Associates
UCL Professor Emerita
Founding Director, Global Centre for Learning Environments
Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
London, UK
Educated as an architect and urban planner, Alexi’s career covers both academic and professional roles as Professor of Facility & Environment Management in the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, UCL, Director of UCL Global Centre for Learning Environments, Honorary Professor in University of Sydney’s School of Architecture, Design and Planning, and founding director of AMA Alexi Marmot Associates, a London-based consultancy specialising in evidence-based consultative design. Numerous universities, multinational companies, central and local government, educational and charitable organisations, have been advised on their learning environments, workspace strategy, design, operations and change management by Alexi and AMA. She has authored several books and many academic and professional papers and sits on the boards of several professional and educational bodies.
Simon Mcpherson
Founder/ CEO, Liveable, Australia, Global South
Executive MSc in Cities, LSE
MSc, Urban Design, UCL
BArch, University of Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia
Liveable is a startup being developed through the Stockland Accelerator, powered by BlueChilli. Liveable helps you choose a more liveable, affordable and sustainable home.
Simon McPherson is an independent Architect and Urbanist based in Melbourne. His advanced, international qualifications include a Masters in Urban Design from the Bartlett, University College London, and an Executive Masters in Cities from London School of Economics.
Simon is the Founder of Global South, a research-oriented, design-led and socially-responsible urban consultancy, which focuses on effective collaboration and participatory design, drawing on local and international networks. He specialises in strategic planning and precinct design, planning for transport hubs, design review and stakeholder engagement.
Simon is also the Founder and CEO of Liveable (https://www.myliveable.com), an early-stage PropTech startup which helps the community choose more liveable, affordable, sustainable homes, through comprehensive, personalised information and guidance about the lifestyle and financial impacts of housing choices.
Ana McMillin
Senior Associate, HTA design LLP
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) – Geography (Economic/ Urban), UCL
MSc, Urban Design, UCL
BA(Hons) DipArch – Architecture, Technical University of Lisbon
Portugal
Ana is an RIBA Chartered Architect with an expertise in Urban Design. She combines an industry career at an architecture practice with an academic career as Planning and Economic Geography researcher.
Ana has experience leading large teams in housing-led and mixed uses masterplans, town centre regeneration, masterplan frameworks, strategic urban visions, suburban housing schemes, estate regeneration, and small scale infill sites. Ana works in both Architecture and Urban Design from strategic level and concept design up to Planning stage, including urban design guidelines, leading planning processes and planning policy.
Currently, at HTA, Ana leads the regeneration of the Winstanley and York Road Estates in Clapham Junction London and the new Wyton Airfield Masterplan for a new town of 4,500 homes in Huntingdonshire.
This term Ana lectures in Sustainable Architecture and Design for Tiny Houses at Chelsea College of Art, UAL and assists in Economic Geography and in Urban Systems Theory for Smart Cities at UCL (Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, and Dep of Geography).
Ana has worked and/or led various masterplanning projects, including expansion of Didcot Town Centre (Orchard centre), Baseline Strategies for Guildford Town Centre, North Manchester Co-Operative Masterplan, Dover Urban Design Guidelines, North Harlow Masterplan, Brent Cross and Cricklewood Masterplanner, King Abdullah Sports City Saudi Arabia, Waterfront Regeneration in Tallinn Estonia, Zhu Jia Jao Water Town, Pantaco Mexico City, and Dubai Pedways Planning Guidance.
Ana has published written articles in urbanism and has given a broadcasted interview on Sustainable Urbanism and Regeneration. She has also contributed to not for profits consulting on local urban design improvements and to the Further Alterations to the London Plan through JSEP (just space economy and planning).
Thiresh Govender
Founder Director, Urbanworks Architecture & Urbanism
MSc, Urban Design, UCL
BArch, University of Cape Town
Johannesburg, South Africa
I am a practicing architect and researcher in Johannesburg with 20 years experience. My work focuses on the role of architecture and urban design in bringing about necessary transformation to some of our most wicked challenges. I do this through a practice that I direct – UrbanWorks Architecture and Urbanism, and a design-research Unit that I lead at the University of Johannesburg. Working at the intersection of practice and academia allows our work to be pragmatic, theoretically grounded and highly innovative.
Following an architecture degree at the University of Cape Town in 2001, I worked for Noero Wolff Architects in Cape Town for two years and another 2 years in Johannesburg with Paragon Architects. I was awarded the Chevening Scholarship to further my studies in Urban Design at the Bartlett, University College of London in 2005-2006.
Johannesburg has for the past 12 years been a site of intense and focused study and application. I have been involved in architectural and urban projects of political, cultural and heritage significance. These Vilakazi Street, Constitution Hill, Chinatown, Chancellor House (Nelson Mandela and Oliver Thambo’s legal offices). Our practice, UrbanWorks, focuses on developing deep empirical research to unearth inventive design responses to unique challenges. Our inventive research provides a compelling basis to make decisions of large or impactful infrastructure project. Our practice focuses on translating these insights into tangible and impactful infrastructures.
Our work has been published widely and I have had the privilege to present our work at numerous international institutions and events, including; Hong Kong, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Canada, UK, Namibia.
Global South is a new urban practice, currently in formation, exploring research and knowledge-led design and strategy, with strong collaboration foundations. Simon is also CEO and Founder of Liveable, a PropTech startup being developed through the Stockland Accelerator, powered by BlueChilli.
Simon’s portfolio includes numerous urban-scale projects in Australia and the UK, including award-winning strategic plans, innovative regeneration strategies, prominent buildings and leading R&D initiatives. His work combines advanced professional experience and core urban design skills, with a focus on sustainable outcomes, design quality and social equity.
He contributes to large development projects, strategic plans and high-level advisory and review work in metropolitan and regional locations across Australia. Simon is a specialist in Design Review, through extensive experience in Victoria, ACT and South Australia.
Simon frequently presents at national and international conferences, including Walk 21 (Zurich), World Sustainable Building Conference SB11 (Helsinki), KA Connect (San Francisco) and Green Cities (Melbourne).
Simon is actively developing local and international connections and new avenues for exploration, learning and implementation of advanced urban design.
Elis Mendoza
Architect, Researcher
Mexico
Elis Mendoza is an architect and researcher based in New York City/Mexico City. She is a PhD candidate in Architecture History and Theory by Princeton University. Elis works in the intersection between built space, memory, and human rights with a special focus in post-conflict cities. Her Ph.D. dissertation From Refuge to Shelter: Frederick Cuny’s Humanitarian Architecture as Deferred Utopia, aims to trace a history of architecture expertise within the incipient humanitarian government of the 1970s parallel to the more common architectural histories of development and technology. Elis is a Paul Mellon Centre Junior Fellow (2019-2020), a PLAS fellow (2019-2020) at Princeton University; and has been a Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives Fellow (2018), a Lassen fellow at Princeton University (2015), and a CONACYT fellow 2012-2014. Her work has been supported by the Soros Foundation, UN Women, SEP and CONACYT.
Her work has been published at Avery Review, Art Papers, The Funambulist and Dc Papers among others. Elis has also worked in Mexico and Guatemala as a forensic architecture expert and presented her work at the Guatemalan Supreme Court in the Sepur Zarco trial in 2016.
Adam Kaasa
Senior Research Tutor in Architecture at Royal College of Art
BA, MSc (Cities, Space and Society)
PhD (Cities Programme and Sociology)
England, United Kingdom
Adam’s work moves between urban theory, facilitation and performance. As an interdisciplinary scholar he specialises in the intersection of culture, history and inequality in the city.
Adam holds a PhD in Cities from the London School of Economics and worked for a decade at LSE Cities. He is the Co-Founder and former Director (2015–17) of Theatrum Mundi, an international urban research centre on the culture of cities. He was Visiting Professor at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto (2016). Uncommon Building (Spirit Duplicator, 2017), Kaasa’s most recent book, documents a collaborative exercise in speculative fiction as a methodology for thinking critically and across disciplines about space, site and the urban.
Eirini Androutsopoulou
Founder, Land n Arch
Adjunct Professor, Patras School of Architecture
BArch, MArch
Athens, Greece
Eirini Androutsopoulou is the founder of Land n Arch (https://landnarch.com/), an award-winning architecture practice based in Athens, Greece and an Adjunct Professor at Patras School of Architecture.
Eirini Androutsopoulou holds a Diploma degree from the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (2005) and a MArch degree from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, where she graduated with Distinction in Architectural Design ( 2006). She completed her PhD thesis at the School of Architecture, NTUA (2017), as a scholarship awardee from the State Scholarships Foundation and Onassis Foundation.
Her projects have been and published worldwide, and have received several national and international awards, including the first Prize for the Farsala Main Square and Hanging Gardens projects, Honorable Mentions for Bezalel Academy, Loumaki Park , Pyrrou Square and Kastraki projects and shortlists for New Cyprus Museum and Maribor Art Gallery projects.
Her research papers have been published and presented at international conferences in Greece and abroad. She has participated in research projects at the School of Architecture, NTUA, dealing with Urban Intervention Strategies and the Upgrade of Urban Public Spaces. These research projects include “Intervention Strategies for the Networking and Upgrade of Zografos Public Spaces”, 2019-2020,
“Strategies for the Networking of Urban Interventions in Athens Metropolitan Centre”, 2012-2014 and “Research Program for the Upgrade of the National Garden of Athens”, 2009-2010.
She has taught in both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate programs of the School of Architecture, NTUA
and at Inter-University Workshops. She is currently teaching at the Undergraduate lessons “Architecture
Design 03”, “Urban Design and Planning 01”, “Urban Design and Planning 02” and "City and Landscape" at
Patras School of Architecture.
Fabian Neuhaus
Associate Professor planning at University of Calgary
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Urban Planning, UCL
MA, Architecture, FHNW Basel
MSc, UrbanDesign, UCL
FH, Architecture, Fachhochschule beider Basel
Calgary, Canada
Dr. Fabian Neuhaus, PhD, received his doctorate in urban planning from University College London, the Bartlett. His research interest are temporal aspects of the urban environment. His research focuses on the topics of Habitus, Type and Ornament in the sense of Activity, Technology and Memory. He has been a guest critic at the Bartlett School of Architecture, Architecture Association AA, University of Arts London, London Metropolitan University at the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design, the University of Plymouth at the School of Architecture. For his Masters of Science in Urban Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, he was awarded a distinction. He has worked with architecture and urban design practices in the UK and Switzerland as well as on research projects at universities in Switzerland, Germany and the UK. He is the principal author of www.urbantick.org and co-curator of nextcalgary.ca.
Luciano Landaeta
Chief Architect - Studio Director at Studio Fuksas
Rome, Italy
Luciano Landaeta, is a MS registered Architect / Lecturer in Design Studio, with 20+ of professional practice and academic experience. Developing Medium and Large scale projects working at Int’l firms such as Steven Holl, Santiago Calatrava, Perkins Eastman, FUKSAS, MYAA in Mixed Use, Institutional and Cultural Buildings around the globe (Shanghai, New York, Istanbul, Jakarta, Vietnam, Malmö, Umeå, Rio de Janeiro, Linz, Gdynia, Bogota and Caracas).
Academical experience as Lecturer of the History and Theory of Architecture courses for undergrad and grad studies (1999-2005) at Universidad Central de Venezuela, Universidad Jose Maria Vargas (Caracas-Venezuela), and visitor reviewer and Thesis Juror at Universidad Javeraina (Colombia), Pontificia Universidad Catholica de Chile (Chile), Alexandria University (Egypt), New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) , GSAPP Columbia University of New York, Hong Kong University (Shanghai Centre) and Nottingham University (Ningbo Chapter) China, and most recently Lecturer at Umeå School of Architecture (2017-current).
craig Forneris
Founder, Three point square
BArch
MSArch
Illinois, United States
With another wave of technology derived by the need to further convey design intent, one wherein the designer has the ability to make their own digital tools, in a user based, web based stage, one cannot overlook the necessity of a skilled technologist as I to facilitate enhanced orchestration. The ability to virtually convey design intent and allow computation to drive design options, analytics, and responsiveness to the designer has taken reign in the competitive business of architecture. Crafting my technical abilities through leadership as Computational Deign Lead for Leo A Daly, REgional BIM Manager for Gensler, a Corporate Deisgbn Technologist for SmithGroup, Digital Design Manager for Solomon Cordwell and Buenz, and ownership of my own AEC digital consulting firm Three Point Square, successes lie in the paths I create not just in technology and custom digital work flows but people themselves, those wanting to push the envelope and develop new tools for their own design processes. This is exemplified by the years spent teaching as an Adjunct Instructor at Illinois Institute of Technology, Columbia College Chicago, and Harrington School of Design Chicago.
Beatrice Galilee
Founder and Executive Director, The World Around
New York, United States
Beatrice Galilee is a curator, critic and cultural consultant specializing in the field of contemporary architecture and design. Beatrice is internationally recognised for her worldwide experience in curating, designing and conceiving original and dynamic city-wide biennales, museum exhibitions, installations, conferences, events and publications, bringing together the world’s most important institutions with cutting edge practitioners. Her research and writing has been published in journals, newspapers and magazines.
She is the founder and executive director of The World Around, a New York-based conference and platform for cultural discourse whose critically acclaimed first event took place in January 2020. Between 2014-2019, Beatrice was the first curator of contemporary architecture and design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where she organised exhibitions and installations on the Met Rooftop, and public programs of contemporary architecture, art, photography, film and design , launched the acclaimed public program for architecture, In Our Time: A Year of Architecture in a Day, as well as acquisitions and collections research. Beatrice was Chief Curator of the 2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Close, Closer an exhibition that examined the plurality and diversity of contemporary architectural practice; co-curator of 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale, Design is Design is Not Design; co-curator of 2009 Shenzhen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, City Mobilization. She curated the 2019 Designs of the Year exhibition at London’s Design Museum, and the experimental performance design projects Hacked and Afrofuture at Milan Design Weeks 2011 and 2012. Between 2010-2012 she launched and co-directed The Gopher Hole, an experimental exhibition and project space in London
From 2006-2009 Beatrice was Architecture Editor for Icon Magazine, one of Europe’s leading publications in architecture and design. Beatrice’s writing has been published in a number of international magazines and books as well as daily newspapers, including e-Flux, Domus, Abitare, MARK, Tank, Pin-Up, Above, Building Design, Architectural Review, Architecture Today, RIBA Journal, Architect’s Journal, Art Review, DAMn, Frame, Wallpaper, Another Magazine, and the Serpentine Pavilion catalogue. She is working on her first book for Phaidon which will be published in 2021.
As an expert in her field, Beatrice has been invited to sit on a number of major international juries and is a regular speaker at events, symposia and conferences on the topic of contemporary critical design and architecture. Beatrice is a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London, with a Masters in Architectural History from Bartlett UCL and a degree in Architecture from Bath University.
Valentino Gareri
Founder, Valentino Gareri Atelier
Sydney, Australia
Valentino Gareri is an architect known for his ability to successfully integrate ideas from a great variety of fields into his work.
He is a prominent and distinguished architectural designer who is highly regarded among experts in the field. Valentino has worked on numerous distinguished design projects throughout the world and these projects have been widely covered in architectural publications and the wider international press.
Born in Italy, Valentino graduated with honors in 2010 at IUAV – University of Venice, studying Sustainable Architecture, and became registered Architect in 2011. His thesis degree has been published in the Fassa Bortolo Award 2012 edited by University of Architecture of Ferrara.
For his studies on sustainable design, he received several international awards, such as the
Sustainable Architecture Award – Fassa Bortolo 2012 and the SAIE Selection 2011 Award.
In the 2019 the European Commission awarded him with the European Sustainable Award as part of the team Workshop Reconstruction – MCA.
Valentino Gareri has been Assistant Professor of Architectural Design in 2012 and 2013 at the University of Parma, Italy.
With professional experience in Europe, Australia and United States, during his career Valentino had the opportunity to work with prestigious international practices, such as Pritzker Laureate
Renzo Piano Building Workshop and
BIG – Bjarke Ingles Group.
He is also Founder of Valentino Gareri Atelier and the promoter of the mindset approach ‘DREAMING IS MORE’, encouraging artists and architects to inspire people to dream for a better world.
‘Dreaming is more’ is an encouragement to every person to find their inner talent, to feed it, and use it to change the world.
‘Architects have the responsibility to give a big contribution to make our planet a better place where we can live in today, and the best home for the new generations tomorrow.’
(Valentino Gareri)