Judges
Karen
Cook
Founding Partner
,PLP Architecture
Karen is one of the five founding partners of London's PLP Architecture. Her experience extends from London across Europe to Paris, Berlin and Prague, where her work has focussed on the workplace sector and public realms.
Karen is leading the design of 22 Bishopsgate, the tallest tower in the City of London, which uses new technologies to improve well-being both in the workplace and in the public realm, and offers a vertical village of amenities outside the office to meet, learn, nourish and stimulate. Other current work includes Qatar Airways’ London Headquarters and Fidelity’s new Headquarters facing St. Paul’s Cathedral, utilising technology to reintroduce texture into stone façades and creating a new public pocket garden.
Recently, Karen led a finalist team in the international competition to re-imagine Tour Montparnasse, Paris, introducing a vertical boulevard for flânerie, taking public realm and external gardens vertically up the tower.
While previously a partner of KPF, Karen led the competition winning design for Tour First, the tallest tower in France, which transformed the skyline of La Défense, Paris, introducing new multi-story breakout spaces and a new public plaza.
PLP Architecture’s work includes The Francis Crick Institute for cancer research at King’s Cross, London; One Bishopsgate Plaza, a new hotel tower and public square in the City of London; and The Edge, Amsterdam, where technology increases individual convenience and improves operational and environmental performance.