Biography
Katie Kasabalis is a founding director of Kasawoo, an architecture practice based in London that advocates for a more ‘gentle’ approach to building through minimizing demotion and celebrating existing conditions. Recent projects include the restoration and extension of a cottage in London, a pre-fab holiday cabin on wheels in the island of Zakynthos, Greece and the refurbishment of an industrial space into a co-working and social space in Islington, London.
Katie is currently a Design Fellow at the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, where she co-teaches in the Master of Architecture (MArch) programme. She has previously held teaching positions at the Architectural Association, the Bartlett School of Architecture, and the University of Virginia, where she served as Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Architecture and Urban & Environmental Planning.
Alongside her professional duties, Katie has served as a Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE Cities and as a Visiting Scholar at Downing College at the University of Cambridge. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design with distinction from Harvard University, where she received the award for Excellence in Urban Design. Katie is a registered architect in Greece and a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece.
Research
Trained as an architect and urban designer, Katie’s research explores how design can contribute to more open, inclusive and sustainable cities. Her work focuses on the potential of adaptive reuse, not only as a strategy to reduce embodied carbon, but also to create new links between placemaking and user communities. Her current research titled ‘The Exclusive, All Inclusive: Tech Clusters and the Changing Nature of Public Space’ explores how innovation policies across cities are impacting access to public space for underrepresented communities. Katie’s work has been exhibited at the Druker Gallery at Harvard University and at the 2021 Venice Biennale.
Publications
The Exclusive, All Inclusive: Geographies of Innovation and the Future of Work, ORO Editions (forthcoming), Co-author of monograph with Darius Woo
‘From Boardroom to Living Room..Now What?”, Cambridge University Land Society Magazine (2020). Co-author of article with Darius Woo.
Urban Grids: Handbook for Regular City Design, edited by J.Busquets, D.Yang and M.Keller, ORO Editions (2019), Chapter Contributor.
