Professor Donald Bates (LFRAIA; FRIBA) is the Chair of Architectural Design, and Associate Dean (Engagement) for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne. He is a Founder and Director of LAB Architecture Studio.

Bates graduated with a B.Arch from University of Houston, and an M.Arch from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He has taught at the Architectural Association, Cooper Union and other schools, and founded and directed the independent architecture school LoPSiA, in France, from 1990-94.

In 1994, Prof Bates and Peter Davidson founded LAB Architecture Studio, and in 1997, LAB won the competition for Federation Square, Melbourne. LAB has designed award-winning large-scale commercial, cultural, civic and residential projects, with built works in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Artist Janet Echelman defies categorization. She creates billowing sculpture engineered to the scale of buildings, choreographed by wind and light, that shifts from being an object you look at, to a living environment you can get lost in.

Echelman’s TED talk “Taking Imagination Seriously” has been translated into 35 languages and viewed by millions. Recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, Harvard Loeb Fellowship, and Fulbright Lectureship, Echelman was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for “changing the very essence of urban spaces.” Oprah ranked Echelman’s work #1 on her “List of 50 Things That Make You Say Wow!”

Jan Knippers is a consulting structural engineer and since 2000 head of the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart. His interest is in innovative and resource-efficient structures at the intersection of research and development and practice. He co-developed a robotic winding process for fibre composite systems that enables novel lightweight building systems. Another interest is advanced timber structures for segmental shells or multi-storey buildings. He designed the Central Axis for EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, one of the largest membrane structures in the world. Since 2019 he has been Deputy Director of the Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Computational Design and Construction” and is currently Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Stuttgart.

Karen A. Lynch, P.E. is one of the managing principals of Geiger Engineers, the engineering practice founded by Dr. David H. Geiger and associates specialising in long span lightweight structures and a pioneer of tension membrane structures in North America. Karen received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her master’s at Columbia University. In her 35 years at Geiger Engineers, Karen has been involved in design and construction of many significant lightweight membrane structures and sports facility projects including the Geiger Cabledome for Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV, the New Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the new retractable roof for BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, BC.

Dr Mariana Popescu is Assistant Professor of Parametric Structural Design and Digital Fabrication at the Delft University of Technology. She is a computational architect and structural designer with a strong interest and experience in innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials in construction. She obtained her PhD in 2019 from ETH Zurich with a research focus on the development of KnitCrete, a novel, material-saving, labour-reducing, cost-effective formwork system for casting doubly-curved geometries in concrete using 3D knitting. She is the main author of the award-winning KnitCandela shell and was named a “Pioneer” in the MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 list of 2019.

Arno Pronk graduated as an architect from the Delft University of Technology in 1994. He developed a patented flooring system, which was successfully introduced on the Dutch market and used in several high-profile buildings. He had two years’ experience as an assistant professor at TU Delft, and 20 years of experience at the Eindhoven University of Technology. His PhD research on flexible moulding for fluid architecture has resulted in the realization of several projects and technologies. Since 2014, he has designed and realized a number of groundbreaking constructions with fiber-reinforced ice, such as the largest igloo with a span of 29.1 meters, the highest thin shell ice structure with a height of 30.5 meters and the first 3D printed grid structure of ice composites.

Mutsuro Sasaki is an expert of shell structures and a pioneer in the field of computational morphogenesis in structural engineering. His research focuses on the development of design techniques using structural optimisation and form finding based on the mathematical principles of structural mechanics. Completed works in which he played a pivotal role include Meiso-no-Mori Crematorium (2006), Rolex Learning Centre (2008, shown about), and Teshima Art Museum (2010). Sasaki has been a long-term collaborator of Toyo Ito, Sejima and Nishizawa of SANAA, and Arata Isozaki. He has received numerous awards including AIJ Prize in 2003 for Sendai Mediateque and IASS Tuboi Prize for the Extended ESO method in 2004.

Neil Stonell is the Managing Partner of Grimshaw’s Melbourne Studio, where he is jointly responsible for the practice’s Australian operations. With extensive experience across a variety of building sectors and typologies including rail, aviation, workplace, university buildings, retail and master planning, Neil has been instrumental in the delivery of complex projects throughout the region and globally for Grimshaw, including the practice’s first Australian project—Southern Cross Station, the recipient of the prestigious Lubetkin Prize. Neil's project leadership encompasses the design and delivery of award-winning architecture and the effective management of large design teams and stakeholder groups. He strives to design and deliver places that are vibrant and cohesive; architecture that is responsible and timeless while supporting the ambitions of the clients, the end-user and the practice.

Philip F. Yuan is a professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Thomas Jefferson professor at the University of Virginia (UVA, 2019), visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 2019), and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT, 2021). He is also the co-founder of DigitalFUTURES Association, Editor-in-Chief of the Architectural Intelligence journal. His research and practice bridge innovative technology and architectural culture, constantly seeking human-machine collaboration in the era of post-humanism. He has been awarded a variety of educational and design prizes, including 2022 AIA Open International | Architecture Honour Award, 2022 Dezeen Award Best Civic Building, 2020 ACADIA Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence.