PATRIK SCHUMACHER is partner at Zaha Hadid Architects and founding director at the AA Design Research Lab. Schumacher studied philosophy and architecture in Bonn, London and Stuttgart, where he received his Diploma in architecture in 1990. In 1999 he completed his PHD at the Institute for Cultural Science, Klagenfurt University. He joined Zaha Hadid in 1988. In 1996 he founded the "Design Research Laboratory" with Brett Steele, at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, and continues to serve as one of its co-directors. Schumacher has co-taught a series of post-graduate option studios with Zaha Hadid at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University and at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Since 2004 Patrik Schumacher has been tenured Professor at the Institute for Experimental Architecture, Innsbruck University. Currently he is a guest professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Schumacher’s contribution to the discourse of contemporary architecture is also evident in his published works and interviews which can be viewed at www.patrikschumacher.com.