Co-Founder of Urban Symbiotics
Stephanie Edwards is an Architect, Urbanist and an elected Council member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) with a track record of over 12 years, focusing on delivering social value through a variety of project types and scales. She studied at the Architectural Association where she won numerous awards and has since specialised in urban design and masterplanning at prestigious studios such as the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA/AMO). She is led by her passion to effect change within the urban realm. Stephanie’s passion lies in the ability for the built environment to facilitate the building of inclusive, equitable and progressive communities.
Stephanie is now a cofounding Director of Urban Symbiotics- an insight and research led multi-disciplinary design practice that focuses on the user experience to provide unified design solutions that span across the physical, digital and social to innovate masterplanning, architecture and the public realm.Her practice, Urban Symbiotics has recently been recognised by the Design Museum and the London Festival of Architecture as a practice for their ‘architecture for a new generation’ whilst also being nominated for a h100 architecture and design award. Stephanie was also celebrated as a ‘force for change’ by Vogue and a legacy maker alongside Baroness Lawrence in the 2019 seminal September issue guest edited by HRH the Duchess of Sussex.
Stephanie has worked with Urban Design London on the improvement of community engagement within the industry, alongside being invited to provide recommendations to the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). she has been developing a 21st Century Estate from a youth perspective, whilst also being involved in large masterplan projects in the UK and internationally that include Bordon Eco-town, Ebbsfleet Garden City, Houghton Regis Urban extension and Almaty City Strategic Vision amongst others.
Stephanie has been known to speak on issues of diversity and inclusion and the creation of physical and theoretical spaces for all. She has been a featured panellist at the AA Public Lecture Series: Celebrating Diversity in Architecture, and a panellist at their AAX100 symposium. She featured as an architectural critic for Radio 3 (A New Image for the Housing Estate). She has been a jury member for the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize and she also mentors young aspiring architects through the Stephen Lawrence Trust and the Amos Bursary. Outside of work, Stephanie enjoys exploring and finding inspiration from eclectic, inclusive and vibrant urban spaces.
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