Gergely Csikvari is a practicing architect and Associate Professor of architectural design. He studied architecture at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest and at the Master Metropolis postgraduate program of UPC in Barcelona. His professional experience of 20 years was gained in Hungary, Spain and the UAE at various offices. He has lead his practice, Polis Architecture Front in Dubai since 2011, a studio that covered a range of projects, collaborations with international firms, and numerous competitions within its work. He has balanced his activities for several years between practice and academia. Prior to his position at XJTLU, he has taught architectural design at Ajman University of Science and Technology for 8 years. He has been a reviewer in a number of universities in the UAE, organized and led workshops for undergraduate students, led groups of students through international competitions with success, devised courses and took part in setting up a new program.Gergely’s work has included projects that intended the reentry and reparation of a typological continuity within the disconnected, real-estate fueled exuberance that surrounded his practice in the UAE. Projects such as the third place finalist for a typical school for the UAE, the concept design for Rochester Institute of Technology’s Dubai campus, or a foundational school in Ajman (under construction), have been results of this effort. His preceding work experience included the office of Erick Van Egeraat where he took part in numerous competitions in Central Europe and Russia, Vicente Guallart Architects on public projects in Spain and Taiwan, Michael Hopkins Architects ME on high-rise hospitality complexes, and Woods Bagot Architects Dubai, for which his studio produced concept and schematic designs for projects in Iran, Oman, India and Iraq, among them extra-large scale commercial spaces.