Daniel Elsea

Daniel has a multi-dimensional role at the practice. He leads our Communications Team, shaping our external strategy, leading our team responsible for bidding for new work and design competitions. He supports the practice's international work, business development, publications, events, exhibitions and press relations. He advises many of our clients on communications issues, conducts public outreach, and fosters new relationships. Daniel is a core member of the Masterplanning Group, on the Management Team and one of our Diversity Champions.

Daniel became a Partner at the end of 2022, and was instrumental in our design competition for the Barbican Renewal. Awarded following a global search, the project is delivering a multi-million pound rejuvenation of the Barbican Centre, one of London's leading arts venues and one of the world's most celebrated examples of brutalist architecture.

As an urbanist, he contributes thinking to our international masterplans and competitions. As a design journalist, his by-line has appeared in a variety of publications from Art Review and The Architects’ Journal to The Wall Street Journal and The World of Interiors. Combining these roles, he is the co-author of Complex City, which grew out of the practice's award-winning research in urban characterisation. He is involved in shaping the work of the Van Alen Institute, the New York-based urban design charity, serving as co-chair of its Council. He has lectured at the Manchester School of Architecture and Zayed University and serves on the Sustainable Urban Development Advisory Committee at the University of Oxford.

A student of politics, history of architecture and urban studies, Daniel holds degrees from Williams College and the University of Oxford. Now an adopted Londoner, he grew up in Los Angeles and previously called Hong Kong and Beijing home. He is especially proud of his small, but growing, collection of contemporary art.