Professor Hanif Kara is a practicing Structural Engineer and Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at the Graduate School of Design Harvard. His work is recognized as being linked with the research and education areas of design. He co-tutored a Diploma Unit at the Architecture Association London from 2000 to 2004 and was visiting Professor of Architectural Technology at KTH Stockholm from 2007 to 2012. As Design Director and co-founder of AKTII (est 1996), his particular ‘design-led’ approach and interest in innovative form, sustainable construction and complex analysis methods have allowed him to work on pioneering projects such as Phaeno Science Centre, Peckham Library and MIST at Masdar City. The practice has won over 250 design awards including the RIBA Stirling award for the Peckham Library, London in 2000 and for the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge in 2012 as well as the RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo in 2010. Hanif’s career extends beyond the structural engineering disciplines and led to him receiving the UK ACE Engineering Ambassador Award in 2011 and becoming the first Engineer to be a judge for the annual coveted RIBA Stirling Prize 2011. He is on the board or trustees of the Architecture Foundation and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2007. From 2008 to 2011 he served as a commissioner for CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment); the first engineer to hold this post for the government watchdog that monitored the quality of design throughout the United Kingdom. He also served as one of 15 members of the Design for London Advisory Group to the Mayor of London (2007-2008). Hanif was on the Master Jury for the 2004 cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and also served as a project reviewer in 2007 and 2010.