About
“Successful architecture needs to take as its guiding principle an ability to address the human context and talk directly to its users—not to itself. At the same time, we need to acknowledge and embrace the central role which technology has assumed in people’s lives and how this is helping to develop and sustain a ‘user experience’ audience.” Across his 9 years as CEO, Nik Karalis has shifted an entire organizational culture into one of the most awarded Global Studio practices. Competing against the world’s best with a foundational mentality that is supported by the entire organization across 17 studios and 1000 talented individuals.
“By establishing an environment in which the ‘smart creative’ of our studios are continually inspired to explore new opportunities and develop new design approaches, we have a strong, competitive base on which to build our presence in the global user experience economy.”
Nik Karalis is an architect, interior designer and master planner who has been with Woods Bagot for more than 20 years. Nik’s vision for the practice is based on three key concepts which recognize that many people are now spending as much of their time online as off-line. Woods Bagot’s focus is to link physical space with transformative digital technologies to deliver high-value customer experiences. These are:
Developing an approach to architectural design focused on the requirements of users in the digital experience economy and creating analytical data which demonstrably supports the connection between user behaviors and experiences in and around buildings and which, in turn, has a direct influence on the creative process.
Integrating the various and often complex operational components of the practice - sectors, regions, disciplines, research, technical, IT - to form a seamless, integrated organization which creates added value for clients.
Merging the digital and physical components of architecture and design through the development of a team of ‘smart creative,’ a talent pool across Woods Bagot’s Global Studio which is highly tuned to the requirements of the placemaking, and able to continually adapt to the pace of change and the ‘blurring’ of our various sectors and disciplines.
Internationally-recognized for his contribution to the architectural profession, Karalis has previously lived and worked in Europe, Asia and North America—as well as in his native Australia—and has collaborated closely with Woods Bagot design teams on projects in all parts of the world. This experience has given Karalis a strong understanding of the global architectural landscape combined with strong insight into the unique local requirements of clients. In his previous role as Global Design Leader, Karalis led the re-branding of the firm in 2006 and was instrumental to the inception of ‘Public’, Woods Bagot’s research brand, and a commitment to design intelligence and the Global Studio model. Nik was appointed CEO in 2015.
“Successful architecture needs to take as its guiding principle an ability to address the human context and talk directly to its users—not to itself. At the same time, we need to acknowledge and embrace the central role which technology has assumed in people’s lives and how this is helping to develop and sustain a ‘user experience’ audience.” Across his 9 years as CEO, Nik Karalis has shifted an entire organizational culture into one of the most awarded Global Studio practices. Competing against the world’s best with a foundational mentality that is supported by the entire organization across 17 studios and 1000 talented individuals.
“By establishing an environment in which the ‘smart creative’ of our studios are continually inspired to explore new opportunities and develop new design approaches, we have a strong, competitive base on which to build our presence in the global…
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