Professor Marc Aurel Schnabel is an internationally recognised architect, researcher, educator, and academic leader advancing Design Intelligence as a new paradigm for shaping adaptive futures. His work positions design as the integrative discipline that brings together human creativity, artificial intelligence, engineering, digital technologies, and societal values to address the complex challenges of the built environment and future living.

With more than 30 years of international experience across Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Professor Schnabel has developed an interdisciplinary career spanning academia, industry, and professional practice. As Dean of the Design School at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, he leads the strategic development of education, research, innovation, industry engagement, and international partnerships across Architecture, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design, and Urban Planning and Design.

His vision extends beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries to create ecosystems where education, research, enterprise, and society reinforce one another. Through initiatives such as the Design Institute and the Academy of Future Living, he explores how universities can serve as catalysts for innovation, entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, and societal impact, connecting knowledge with practice to address global challenges.

Previously, Professor Schnabel founded the FORUM8 Research Labs in Tokyo and Suzhou, establishing an internationally recognised platform that links academic research with industry innovation in virtual cities, digital infrastructure, and intelligent simulation. Throughout his career, he has established interdisciplinary research centres, international partnerships, and innovation platforms that connect universities, industry, government, and communities. He has also led major collaborative research initiatives, including serving as Principal Investigator within New Zealand’s National Science Challenge Better Homes, Towns and Cities.

Professor Schnabel has served as President of both the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA) and the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), contributing internationally through advisory boards, editorial activities, scientific committees, and research assessment panels. He is a Fellow of ANZAScA, CAADRIA, and Salzburg Global, serves as an expert for the Austrian Science Fund’s PEEK - Arts-Based Research, and contributes to international initiatives advancing design research, digital innovation, and cultural heritage.

At the centre of Professor Schnabel’s work is Design Intelligence: the strategic capability to integrate human creativity, artificial intelligence, engineering, interdisciplinary knowledge, and societal values to imagine, design, govern, and continuously adapt the systems, environments, and experiences that shape future living.

His research investigates how Design Intelligence can transform the planning, design, delivery, operation, and governance of the built environment. Spanning scales from buildings and infrastructure to cities, cultural heritage, organisations, education, and future living systems, his work develops adaptive approaches that enable people, institutions, and communities to thrive in an increasingly intelligent, connected, and rapidly changing world.

• Design Intelligence
• Future Living Systems
• Human-AI Collaboration
• Digital Transformation of the Built Environment
• Computational Design and Intelligent Systems
• Urban Digital Twins and Intelligent Cities
• Design Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Digital Heritage and Cultural Intelligence
• Extended Reality and Immersive Environments
• Participatory Design and Co-creation
• Design Education and Andragogy
• Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation

Dean, Design School Design, XJTLU, since 2023

Founding Director, CIC FORUM8 Research Lab, Tokyo, Japan, 2022-2023

Dean, Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation, VUW, Wellington, New Zealand, 2015-2022

Visiting Professor School of Architecture, Sheffield University, UK, 2015-2018

Visiting Professor College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, China, 2009-2010

Associate Professor, School of Architecture, CUHK, Hong Kong, 2008-2014

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, USYD, Sydney, Australia 2006-2008

Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, HKU, Hong Kong, 1996-2005

Architectural Designer HO+K (Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum), Berlin, Germany, 1994-1995

Architectural Designer Langhof Architekten, Berlin, Germany, 1991-1994

ARC408 Dissertation

ARC409 Architectural Design and Research Methods

Fellow, Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), 2024

Fellow, Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), 2019

Fellow, Salzburg Global, 2005

Top Innovation Award (TIA), Ecological Design Award, China Industrial Design Association (CIDA), China, 2019

Partner, Ars Electronica Aotearoa, since 2021

Partner, REACH, European Union, since 2019

FORUM8 Academic Research Award, 2022

WORLD16 Academic Innovation Award, 2021

Global Design Industry Organization (GDIO), China, International Logo Design Competition, Recommendation, 2020

Best Supervisor Award, VUW, PGSA, 2016

People’s Prize Award Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2012, CUHK, 2012

Otto Wagner Städtebaupreis, International Award for Architecture & Urban Design, Vienna, Austria, Special Merit, 1995

Bauhaus future, European Competition for a new Bauhaus-School in Dessau, Germany, Special Merit, 1994