Archives: Speakers

Motivated by the desire to inspire and uplift the everyday lives of people, Andrew Bromberg strives for this goal through architecture.

Michael has been responsible for developing the urban regeneration and masterplanning sector within Aedas RHWL, undertaking large scale Regeneration, Masterplanning and Development Framework commissions across the UK, within Europe and the Middle East.

Crawford Partnership is an award winning London based architecture and interior design practice established 20 years ago by founding partner Alan Crawford.

Joining Zaha Hadid Architects in 2004, Michele specialises in mixed-use and high-rise development, whilst also working on a variety of exhibition schemes as well as selected furniture and interiors products. 

Michele recently served as project director for the Morpheus in Macau, China and is currently directing several largescale projects across Australia and eastern Asia, including residential towers in Melbourne, a memorial institute in Phnom Penh, a private penthouse apartment in Beijing, the Singapore New Science Centre, the Unicorn Island in Chengdu and the Shanghai campus of the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP). 

Michele previously led the team on the d’Leedon Apartments, a masterplanned residential development in Singapore and his experience includes the CMA CGM Headquarters in Marseille and the Glasgow Riverside Museum. 

He has also collaborated with Zaha Hadid Design (ZHD) on products including the Flow vase, the Dune Formation furniture system and the Zaha Hadid exhibition in Padua, Italy. He also worked on ALIS, part of the ‘High-performing Urban Ecologies’ installation by Zaha Hadid Architects for the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021.

Paolo Rossi studied at The Faculty of Architecture, “La Sapienza” University in Rome. Following this, he started work for the international Italian firm n!studio as a Senior Architect where he was a leader in exhibition and museum design.

He joined leading multidisciplinary practice Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, (SOM) in 2010, returning briefly to Italy to establish the 3TI LAB architectural department of an engineering firm, before re-joining SOM in 2016. As an Associate and Lead Designer for SOM, Paolo has worked on a wide range of projects and competitions, including JTI Headquarters in Switzerland, the competition-winning design of a 25,000sqm HQ building overlooking Lake Geneva, completed in 2015.

He worked on Istanbul Tower in Turkey, a 55 storey 1.6 million sqft tower located on Buyukdere Caddesi in the heart of the central business district and 100 Leadenhall in London, UK, 56-storey development on the edge of the City’s Eastern Cluster.

Paolo was the lead designer, of the Allianz’ headquarters in Corso Italia, following an international design competition, which will transform the historic complex.

His most recent role has seen him join Pace in Kuwait as Associate Director, where he leads the design team across the Middle East region.

Viviana joined ZHA as a project architect in 2004, and in 2016 she was made an associate director. Her experience with the practice encompasses high-rise, residential, hospitality, cultural and transportation schemes, as well as furniture and product design. She is registered as an architect in the UK and Italy. Viviana began her studies with the University of Naples, gaining a five-year diploma in architecture, urban planning and landscape design in 2001, then gained a master’s degree from the Architectural Association in London in 2004. Her work has previously been exhibited at the Venice Art Biennale and at the Padua Architecture Biennale.

Kai-Uwe Bergmann is a Partner at BIG who brings his expertise to proposals around the globe, including work in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Vanessa Brady OBE is an international multi-award winning interior designer, Business Consultant and Founder of the Society of British and International Design with over thirty years’ experience in B2B procurement and post analysis of the design profession.

Professor Sir Peter Cook RA, founder of Archigram, former Director the Institute for Contemporary Art, London (the ICA) and Bartlett School of Architecture at University Col­lege, London has been a pivotal figure within the global architectural world for over half a century. His ongoing con­tribution to architectural innovation was rec­ognised via the conferral of an honorary doctorate in April 2010 by the Lund University, Sweden. Peter’s achieve­ments with radical experimentalist group Archigram have been the subject of numerous publications and public ex­hibitions and were recognised by the Royal Institute of Brit­ish Architects in 2002, when members of the group were awarded the RIBA’s highest award, the Royal Gold Medal.

In 2007, Peter was knighted by the Queen for his servic­es to architecture. He is also a Royal Academician and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres of the French Republic. Peter is currently a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London. His professor­ships include those of the Royal Academy, University College London and the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste (Staedelschule) in Frankfurt-Main, Germany.

Peter has from the very beginning made waves in architectural circles, how­ever, it is since the construction of his Art Museum in Graz, Austria (the Kunsthaus) that his work has been brought to a wider public, a process continuing with the completion of the Vienna Business and Economics University’s Departments of Law and Central Administration Buildings and Bond University in Australia’s Abedian School of Architecture. Peter has also built in Osaka, Nagoya, Berlin, Frankfurt and Madrid.

Peter’s continuing work as a lecturer of considerable renown makes him a familiar voice within cultural institutions around the world, where many have enjoyed an opportunity to hear Peter expound (among other subjects) upon his love affair with the slithering, the swarming and the spooky.

With a wealth of experience spanning SE Asia, Europe and more recently the Middle East, Theo has delivered numerous large scale projects.