Kristof Crolla

A/Prof. Dr. Ir. Arch. Kristof Crolla is a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU)’s Departments of Architecture and Civil Engineering, where he directs the BASc(Design+) programme and teaches at the Masters of Architecture. He is a licensed architect and principal of architecture practice “Laboratory for Explorative Architecture & Design Ltd.” (LEAD).

After graduating Magna Cum Laude as Civil Architectural Engineer from Ghent University in 2003, he practiced in Belgium at “Bureau Buildings & Techniques” and independently designed and built his first project, House for an Artist. He moved to London in 2005 to attend the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London (AA)’s Master of Architecture programme Design Research Laboratory (DRL), from where his student work was exhibited at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale. Following this, he worked for several years as Lead Architect for the Pritzker prize winning Zaha Hadid Architects, while teaching in parallel at the AA and other institutions worldwide. He has since been invited as a jury critic, lecturer, tutor, and exhibitor in numerous international institutions.

Kristof Crolla is currently based in Hong Kong, where he received dozens of design awards and accolades for his work focussing on the strategic integration of latest technologies in the architectural design and implementation process. He is best known for the projects “Golden Moon” and “ZCB Bamboo Pavilion”, for which he a.o. received the World Architecture Festival Small Project of the Year 2016 award. In 2018, he completed his PhD studies at RMIT, Melbourne, with the doctoral dissertation “Building Simplexity – The ‘More or Less’ of Post-Digital Architecture Practice” for which received the 2016 RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Research Impact – Higher Degree by Research. In 2019, he was appointed by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) as a “Task Force Expert Member – Bamboo Construction”.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy - PhD RMIT University (2014 — 2018)
• Master of Architecture (M.Arch.) Architectural Association School of Architecture (2005 — 2007)
• Civil Architectural Engineer Universiteit Gent (1998 — 2003)

Companies

• Associate Dean (Special Projects) The University of Hong Kong (2022)
• Associate Professor The University of Hong Kong (2020)
• Founder, Principal Laboratory for Explorative Architecture & Design Ltd. (2011)
• Associate Professor The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2013 — 2020)
• Assistant Professor (part-time) The University of Hong Kong (2010 — 2013)
• Visiting Professor University of Saint Joseph (2013 — 2013)
• Course Tutor Architectural Association (2007 — 2010)
• Lead Architect Zaha Hadid Architects (2007 — 2010)
• Architect Bureau Bouwtechniek NV (2004 — 2005)