Albert Williamson-Taylor
The School of Architecture has announced that world-renowned engineer Albert Williamson-Taylor, director and co-founder of international engineering firm , will address graduates at the 2024 Convocation ceremony on May 11 at 10 a.m. in Hendricks Chapel.
Williamson-Taylor grew up in the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and built his career in London, initially working for Price & Myers and for Anthony Hunt Associates, before ultimately co-founding Adams Kara Taylor鈥攏ow AKT II鈥攊n 1996. Today, Taylor and his firm put design and technology at the forefront of engineering practice to find solutions for the planet鈥檚 many challenges.
While overseeing AKT II for over 25 years, Williamson-Taylor has worked on numerous high-profile projects with architects and designers in more than 50 countries. Under his technical leadership, AKTII鈥檚 service to both the art and science of design has been recognized with 400-plus design awards, including four RIBA Stirling Prizes. The practice has also been named Building Awards 2019 鈥淓ngineering Consultant of the Year鈥� and Architizer A+ Awards 2021 鈥淓ngineering Firm of the Year.鈥�
Highlights of Williamson-Taylor鈥檚 portfolio of design authorship include the Stirling Prize-winning in London; the 鈥済roundscraper鈥� in London; the inhabited sculpture in New York; the master planned Google Mountain View campus in California; the demountable for Expo 2010 Shanghai in China; the eco-friendly in the Red Sea; the science city in Abu Dhabi; and the monumental development in Ghana.
Williamson-Taylor鈥檚 portfolio also includes several landmark towers, such as the and redevelopments in London, the in Baghdad, and the Villaggio Vista residential development in Ghana鈥檚 capital city of Accra. He is presently leading the structural engineering for the Mukaab in Riyadh, becoming the largest building structure on the planet.
In addition to his professional practice, Williamson-Taylor has taught with London鈥檚 Architectural Association School of Architecture (the AA) since 2011, where he leads technical tutoring for the master-level architecture course within the institution鈥檚 avant-garde Design Research Laboratory (DRL). He has also served as a design-review panelist for the London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Newham. Williamson-Taylor is a fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
In 2023, Williamson-Taylor was the first Black engineer to be awarded the Gold Medal Award鈥攖he Institution鈥檚 highest individual honor鈥攊n recognition of his outstanding contribution to structural engineering and to society. To celebrate this achievement, Williamson-Taylor delivered his Gold Medal address in September 2023 at the institution鈥檚 headquarters in London and , where he reflected on his career to date and on the future of engineering.
Williamson-Taylor studied engineering at the University of Bristol and Bradford University from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, while working variously as a site laborer, a chef, a nightclub doorman and an overnight factory worker, in addition to tutoring younger students and mentoring youth offenders.
For many years in parallel, Williamson-Taylor also leveraged a professional Taekwondo career鈥攁chieving the elite “fifth-dan master” level and competing globally鈥攖o mentor young people from underprivileged backgrounds into higher education. He ran martial arts clubs in London with the specific policy of 鈥渘o education; no training.鈥�
Today, Williamson-Taylor is integral to AKT II鈥檚 outreach with inner-city schools and colleges, alongside the firm鈥檚 volunteer STEM Ambassadors who encourage young people from all backgrounds to consider careers in engineering and design. He has also been appointed as the first president of the charity , which aims to make urban design and architecture more accessible to everyone and works to steward young people into the built environment鈥檚 design and construction.
Williamson-Taylor is now working鈥攊ncluding through his role as a board trustee with the new architecture school, 鈥攖o enable the sharing of technology for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) in Africa.
