Amin Taha

Amin Taha is an architect and educator, currently teaching full time at the architecture faculty of the Royal College of Art, London, visiting at Harvard’s GSD and at the engineering faculty University College London. He is chairperson at GROUPWORK architects, a practice three time shortlisted for the annual Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building and known for their innovative use of materials reflecting tectonic integration and definition of architecture, context and cultural. He is also a trustee of the Sir John Soane Museum, chair of its annual Soane Medal and sits on sustainable development advisory boards of two property funds.

Educational Background and Career - Amin Taha received his architectural education at the University of Edinburgh, under professors Isi Metzstein and Fiona Mclachlan. With whom he assisted teaching after graduating and before joining the practices of Rick Mather, Zaha Hadid in London. Going onto establish his first independent studio ten years later. Taha was heavily influenced by the philosophical debates surrounding architecture’s social and environmental responsibilities, which later became central themes in his professional practice and academic work, not least in forming the studio GROUPWORK, as an employee ownership trust. Whose architects, landscape architects and engineers are controlling equal partners, able to review the practice constitution as they do the outcome of work. Together they have developed debates on definition of urban and building conservation, to include social and social-material. Methods for grounding, agreeing and forming ethical frameworks through participation and the potential for broader social mission value-add. More recently encouraging architects to acquire agency in their designs through applicable knowledge of development modelling/cost and carbon criteria.

Academic Career and Teaching - In addition to his professional practice, Amin Taha has built a distinguished academic career as a lecturer and researcher. Since 2019, he has held a permanent position at the Royal College of Art, where he teaches design studios and contributes to research initiatives. Taha is known for inspiring a generation of architects through his critically engaged teaching style, which emphasizes the importance of understanding architecture as a cultural and social act. His academic work often explores themes of urban regeneration, the preservation of architectural heritage, and the role of craftsmanship in contemporary practice. Taha encourages students to challenge conventional architectural paradigms by fostering an understanding of traditional building techniques and their relevance to modern sustainable design. His approach aligns with his professional ethos, advocating for architecture that is sustainable, authentic, and deeply connected to its context.

Research and Publications – GROUPWORK have received research grants from UK and central governments and more recently via London’s Design Museum’s “Future Observatory” annual £24m fund. Each to experiment and develop low carbon building technologies that have direct industry application. 2025 will see the publication of postgraduate student work on low carbon alternatives to steel and concrete titled “Carbon Copies”. 2026, a joint publication with UCL’s engineering faculty allowing architects and engineers to use existing building and engineering codes to specify stone and stone-timber hybrid structures and envelopes. And 2027, an RIBA publication on a similar topic aimed more generally at architects.