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Urban Future Organization was founded in London during 1996 as a collective of self-organised architectural practices who share common design strategies in practice, professionalism, and architectural discourse. Our goal: to achieve the ‘creative efficiency’ demanded by modern, cutting-edge architectural practices. The Organization now also includes network nodes in China, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Sweden and the UK. |
Members within the organisation share philosophies of intensive collectivity, group collaboration, and the ideas and visions of quality that facilitate future developments in architectural production and urban development. The overall structure of Urban Future Organization seeks to elicit quality work which expands the notion of the spatial envelope, provides sensitive responses to context and use, and provokes dialog within the architectural profession. The Organization has an international agenda, yet maintains the specific qualities of local diversity. Its members are multi national design professionals, who conduct their work through collaboration with experienced consultants. Urban future organization has professional backgrounds ranging from the executuion of a single residential house to national concert hall. |
Dirk AndersonDipArch MArch Dirk Anderson is the Director of Urban Future Organization • Sydney, where he is researching and practicing innovative methods in Design and Construction. |
Denis BalentBA Arch(Hons) Ing Arch & Urb AADipl RIBA Earned his Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Architecture before graduating in Bratislava (Ing Arch. & Urb.) and later gained his Diploma from the Architectural Association in London. He was the design team member of the winning entry for the Hackney Theatre Renovation Project and collaborated with Foreign Office Architects. His past work with Gianni Botsford includes design and execution of fashion retail outlets in Milan and also included design, construction documents and project management for large commercial and residential projects located in conservation areas of central London. He founded ufo in 1996 and run the winning design team for the Sarajevo Concert Hall in 1999. As well as being the principal member of the office he was a research fellow at the AA in London and has been running a diploma unit with Foreign Office and with Abalos & Herreros. He taught in Cambridge University and is currently running under graduate program at the Metropolitan University London. |
Eduardo de Oliveira BarataDipArch MArch graduated from London Metropolitan University and awarded MArch in 2005. He is a member of the London network group and currently teaching Diploma units in University of Greenwich and London Metropolitan University. |
Francesco GiordanoLaurea in Architettura Graduated at the Facoltà di Architettura of Reggio Calabria, Italy in 1995. He is registered at the Association of the Architects of Messina from 1996 and Associated at the National Istitute of Bioarchitettura. Health and safety planning Supervisor/CDM Coordinator (Italy) L. 494/96. |
Zlatko HabanBSc Arch Dip Arch Zlatko Haban is a designer, researcher and academic with an interest in digital architecture, computation and fabrication. While at Greenwich, Zlatko was developing New Language for Re-Integration of Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall, focusing on tera-forming, programming and emergence in divided Berlin urbanism and planning. Following this he was shortlisted for the RIBA Presidents medial in 2002. He started studies at Faculty of Architecture at Belgrade University |
Steve HardyBarch(Dis) March(Dis) Earned his Bachelor of Architecture with distinction from the University of Kansas following his studies in philosophy and industrial and electronic technology at MSU. In 1996 he was awarded his Masters in Architecture with distinction from the Bartlett School at University College London where he is currently researching the feedback effects of qualitative design interfaces for his PhD. He has worked with offices in the US and the UK and has a broad portfolio containing large built and proposed works ranging from office buildings to civic projects. He has lectured on UFO’s work in the US, the UK and Europe and has led design studios and workshops at schools of architecture including the University of Greenwich, Westminster University and Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan. Currently Steve is unit master, together with Jonas Lundberg, at the Architectural Association and serves as curator for the Environmental, Ecology & Sustainability Research Cluster. In addition he is a senior lecturer and departmental chair for digital design at the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design at London Metropolitan University. |
Theodoros KanellopoulosBSc InArch EngArch GradDipDes(AA) Theodoros Kanellopoulos was born in Athens, Greece. He graduated from the School of Architecture at the Technical University of Budapest (T.U.B.) , Hungary in 1995. He followed a postgraduate course at the Graduate Design/ DRL at the AA School of Architecture in London UK in 1998. In 1996 he co founded Urban Future Organization in London. |
Kia LarsdotterBArch Arkitektexamen KTU Kia larsdotter graduated as an architect from KTH in Stockholm in 2000 following architectural studies in the USA at University of Kansas. She became a member of Urban Future Organization in 1999 when collaborating on her diploma project with Urban Future Organization, the winning scheme of the open competition of a National Concert Hall in Sarajevo. In parallel with collaborating on various projects with Urban Future Organization she has worked for Richard Rogers Partnership and Zaha Hadid Architects in London, and is since 2007 back in Sweden where she is working for the design and architecture practice Claesson Koivisto Rune. |
Claudio LucchesiLaurea in Architettura Graduated at the Facoltà di Architettura of Reggio Calabria, Italy in 1995. He worked with Bruno Isgras architect, before joining the Post-graduate Design course at the Architectural Association in London. He is registered at the Association of the Architects of Messina from 1996 and associated at the National Institute of Bioarchitettura. He has exhibited urban future organization work through NIB on exhibitions in Rome, Prague, Copenhagen, Venice, Florence, Milan and published the work in various architectural reviews including the Il Progetto, Casabella and Vogue Italia. Currently he is actively developing the office’s portfolio in Italy. |
Jonas LundbergBArch GradDiplDes(AA) Jonas Lundberg is a practising architect, academic, researcher and a member. Jonas Lundberg studied at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design and earned his Bachelor of Architecture in 1995. Subsequently, he studied at the Architectural Association Graduate School of Architecture, where he was awarded the Architectural Association Graduate Diploma in Design in 1997. Currently, Jonas is joint unit master of Diploma Unit 16 at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and is also the course leader post for MA in Architecture & Digital Design Systems at the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design at London Metropolitan University where he is also running diploma unit. |
Andrei MartinBArch MArch(GSD) Andrei Martin is a designer, researcher and academic with an interest in digital architecture, computation and fabrication. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor degree from University of Kansas. While at Harvard, Andrei was a research collaborator in Rem Koolhaas’ History of Communism Project, focusing on cybernetics, feedback systems and emergence in post-war Soviet urbanism and planning. Following this he was awarded the Frederick Sheldon Fellowship to continue his research. Since then Andrei has lived in London and has been a design critic at Architectural Association, Bartlett, KTH, London Metropolitan University and University of Greenwich. He has lectured, published and exhibited internationally, including the Metamorph Venice Biennale and the Architectural Biennial Beijing. He currently collaborates with other UFO members on several ongoing research projects and publications, teaches a graduate design studio at the University of Westminster with Andrew Yau and is an Associate Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox International in London. |
Jung Mook MoonBArch GradDipDes (AA) MArch(UCL) PhD director of Seoul networkgroup, and he is currently teaching Sangmyung University |
Andrew Wai-Tat YauB Arch(Hons) GradDiplDes(AA) Dip Des (Int) co-founded urban future organization in 1996 after joining the Graduate Design Group under the direction of Jeff Kipnis and Bahram Shirdel in Architectural Association. He worked with LAB Studio on the winning scheme for Federation Square in Melbourne and Ray King on the award winning Avenue of Arts. He was one of the leading members of the design team for the winning scheme of the Sarajevo Concert Hall, and, with Centola Associates, the Global Silver medallist and European Gold medallist for the Water Power Project in Mulini Valley on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. He researches and lectures his work and architectural interest in systemic design and performative prototyping in global context in UK, Italy, Bosnia, Korea and China. He has published and exhibited his work internationally, the latest in Beijing Architectural Biennale 2006. |
Jackie YangBArch MArch(LMU) Jackie was born in Taiwan in 1974. He has been working as a professional designer since 1993. He studied architecture and interior design in London from 2003 after he read hotel management in Austria in 2001. He was awarded Master Degree in Architecture and Interior Design from London Metropolitan University in 2004. He has lectured in University College London and London Metropolitan University. Following his success as one of the finalists of the Far Eastern International Digital Architectural Design FEIDAD Award in 2004. He was invited to the Future Environment Conference at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London organised by One Dot Zero supported by the British Art Council. Jackie enjoys travelling throughout Europe and visiting many cities and works of architecture. This reflects in his architectural aspiration and unique altitude towards the future of the profession. He is one of the active members researching and investigating his architectural design ambition and ideology through practice. |
