Pierre Bidaud, The Stone Masonry Company

Pierre Bidaud is a stonemason with over 30 years of experience, specialising in innovative structural designs for contemporary architecture at The Stone Masonry Company. Following his foundational work in France and England, his collaboration with structural engineers solidified his commitment to dimensional stone as a key structural element in modern buildings.

For the past 12 years, Pierre hasled a team focused on research and development, creating ‘Augmented stone’ and pioneering concrete-free stone structures, such as beams and columns, using techniques like pretensioning.

A passionate advocate for stone’s sustainable properties, including low carbon footprint and prefabrication, he champions close interdisciplinary communication and is dedicated to re-establishing stonemasons as designers, consultants, and proactive leaders in modern construction.

Lukas Osterloff, Ingenieurbüro Miebach

Lukas is a lead project engineer at Ingenieurbüro Miebach, a German practice specialising in large-sclae timber infrastructure. He played a key role in designing innovative timber structures across Europe, ranging from bridges exceeding 100m in length to observation towers up to 38m in height.

Lukas specialises in integrating architecture and structural engineering, promoting close collaboration to achieve high-quality, material-oriented design solutions. He focuses on sustainable, durable construction using constructive wood protection rather than chemical treatments, championing resource efficiency and circularity.

His work on the block girder bridges in Frankenberg was recognised with the German Bridge Construction Prize. Pasr and recent projects include infratsructure for the Paris Olympic Games, the station roof in Assen, and bridge projects in Zwolle.

Ezra Groskin, Moxon Architects

Ezra is a Director at Moxon Architects where he specialises in the design and construction of bridges. He brings the same, creative, grounded and solution-focused design approach to all his work regardless of scale, scope or location. He is particularly adept at managing complex and sophisticated three-dimensional geometry and enjoys the creativity of addressing complex problems, exploring new ideas and testing new materials.

Ezra works within large multidisciplinary design teams and with complex client and stakeholder organisations. From this experience of working with world-class engineers, he has a developed an appreciation for structural and formal honesty, and a longstanding interest in the design of wooden structures has resulted in ongoing working relationships with continental European timber engineering specialists.

Always operating on behalf of the end user, his goal is to find seemingly effortless solutions that convey a sense of inevitability and belonging.

Andrew Waugh, Waugh Thistleton Architects

Andrew is a Founding Director of Waugh Thistleton Architects, a practice dedicated to delivering beautiful buildings and places that acknowledge their impact on the environment. Working in the field of mass timber and low carbon construction methods for a decade, Andrew has earned international recognition as a global leader in the development of sustainable building practices. 

Lecturing, teaching and lobbying to accelerate the green transition of the construction economy, Andrew travels globally communicating the urgent need to transform our building practices to mitigate the climate crisis. A pivotal player in the global shift towards renewable, bio-based materials in construction, Andrew’s innovative approach to design has been acknowledged by many awards including the RIBA President’s Award for Research and a Stirling Prize nomination in 2018 and the Architects’ Journal Practice of the Year award for 2023. In 2023, Waugh Thistleton’s Black & White building, a fully engineered mass timber office block in London, received both an RIBA London and National Award. 

The practice is currently engaged on both research and design projects throughout Europe and North America.

James Kingman, AKTII

James Kingman is an Associate Director at AKT II working as a structural designer in the p.Art team. With over 13 years of experience delivering complex buildings, bridges and arts projects in the UK and abroad, James combines technical expertise, computational design knowledge and project leadership with a strong focus on delivery of novel and technically challenging projects. 

Thomas Lapautre, AKTII

Thomas Lapautre is a Senior Structural Engineer in AKT II’s p.art Applied Research team, working across both project delivery and engineering research. His recent projects include the post-tensioned stone Oxford Meadow Footbridge and the Las Vegas Museum of Art. He has a particular interest in natural stone structures and structural dynamics, and contributes to internal research investigating the vibration performance of lightweight floor systems.