Michael Pawlyn

Michael Pawlyn is an architect, writer, and public speaker. He has been described as an expert in regenerative design and biomimicry. He established his firm, Exploration Architecture, in 2007 to focus on high-performance buildings and solutions for the circular economy. The company has developed a ground-breaking office project, an ultra-low energy data centre, a zero waste textiles factory, and progressive solutions for green cities. Michael Pawlyn jointly initiated the widely acclaimed Sahara Forest Project; the latest version of which was opened by the King of Jordan in 2017.

Prior to setting up Exploration, Michael Pawlyn worked with Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that designed the Eden Project. He is regularly booked as a keynote speaker on innovation, and his TED talk has had over 2 million views. He has written two books: "Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency" (co-authored with Sarah Ichioka) and "Biomimicry in Architecture" – both of which have been the respective publisher’s best-selling title. In 2019, he jointly initiated ‘Architects Declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency’ – a global call to action which has spread to 28 countries with over 7000 firms signed up.