Laura Narvaez Zertuche
Biography
ABOUT
Dr. Laura Narvaez Zertuche is an architect, urban designer, and a spatial scientist. She is a Partner in the Urban Design Group at Foster + Partners, where she leads people movement and data analytics within the firm since 2015. Her work incorporates evidence-based and research-led design that combines informed decision-making with simulation-powered design tools and strategic development of methodologies with their application to architecture and urban design. She has +18 years of experience working in urban design and master planning internationally, primarily in Mexico, UK, the Middle East and Asia. She is a specialist in assessing how issues such as pedestrian footfall, economic activity and social interactions will impact the viability, growth, and long-term evolution of projects, ranging from new cities to complex buildings. Laura works pro-bono as a contributor and advisor of Urban AI -an international multi-disciplinary think-tank that investigates the ethical modes of governance and sustainable uses of artificial intelligence in cities. Laura is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Chair of Cognitive Science in ETH Zurich.
AWARDS
She gained a MSc and PhD in Architecture and the Built Environment from the Space Syntax Laboratory at The Bartlett, UCL.
SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE OFFICE
Foster + Partners is a global studio for architecture, urbanism and design, rooted in sustainability, which was founded over fifty years ago in 1967 by Norman Foster. Since then, he and the team around him have established an international practice with a worldwide reputation for thoughtful and pioneering design, working as a single studio that is both ethnically and culturally diverse. The studio integrates the skills of architecture with engineering, both structural and environmental, urbanism, interior and industrial design, model and film making, aeronautics and many more – our collegiate working environment is similar to a compact university. These diverse skills make us capable of tackling a wide range of projects, particularly those of considerable complexity and scale. Design is at the core of everything that we do.
We design buildings, spaces and cities; we listen, we question, and we innovate. Today, the global challenges of population explosion, inequality, rapid urbanisation and environmental degradation present us with a unique and complex set of problems. As a multi skilled studio, driven by sustainability and led by architects, we can make an important contribution to the resolution of these conflicts. Wholly owned by our 158 Partners, from which is drawn a smaller group of Senior Partners responsible for the day to day management, the practice is today led by Norman Foster, Stefan Behling, Grant Brooker, Nigel Dancey, Spencer de Grey, Gerard Evenden, Luke Fox, David Nelson, David Summerfield and Matthew Streets.
The studio has established an international reputation with buildings such as the Hearst Headquarters in New York, 30 St Mary Axe, popularly known as The Gherkin, in London, Millau Viaduct in France, the German Parliament in the Reichstag, Berlin, The Great Court for the British Museum, Headquarters for HSBC in Hong Kong and London, the ME Hotel in London, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, the Metro Bilbao, the Carré d’Art Nîmes, the sustainable Masdar development in Abu Dhabi, and research centres for Stanford University, California.
Recent work includes the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Samson Pavilion for CWRU and Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Duo Central Park in Sydney, Apple’s headquarters in California, Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in London and the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia. Currently, the practice is involved in projects such as the New Slussen Masterplan in Sweden, Kuwait International Airport, and 425 Park Avenue in New York.
AWARDS OF THE OFFICE
Best Office Architecture Australia | Best Commercial High Rise Development Australia | The International Practice of the Year at the AJ100 | NASA First Prize Branch Technology | Twenty Years of Excellence Award at last night’s AJ120 Awards | RIBA EU Awards | RIAS Award
PROJECTS TO BE PRESENTED DURING THE EVENT
Project #1: Urban AI in Masterplanning: Shaping the Future of Intelligent Cities
Project #1 Category: Adaptive. Retrofit
Start year: 09.04.2024
How our masterplanning and urban design approach tackle contemporary challenges such as climate change, mobility, smart infrastructure, and placemaking through intelligent urban solutions