Michael U. Hensel is an architect, registered in the German Chamber of Architects and a member of the Association of German Architects (BDA). His work is inter- and transdisciplinary, trans-scalar, and located at the intersection of architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, Earth and life sciences, and data science. His work focuses on planning and designing sustainable environments and equitable urban futures. His current primary research focuses on developing the ECO GEO Framework for fundamentally greener, sustainable cities. His pioneering work addresses performance-oriented design, systems thinking in design, and the link between architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning through eco-geological landscape performance as the core paradigm.
He received his diploma in Architecture from Cologne University of Applied Science (1992), the AA Graduate Design Diploma from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London (1993), and a PhD from the University of Reading, UK (2012).
In 1994, he co-founded OCEAN, a pioneering experimental practice at the intersection of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. Since 2018, he has been a partner in OCEAN Architecture | Environment. OCEAN's work has been published worldwide, featured in high-profile exhibitions, including Venice Architectural Biennales, and is included in the collections of the Prints and Photography Division of the Library of Congress in the United States and the FRAC Center in Orleans, France.
Michael U. Hensel is a tenured professor at TU Wien, where he chairs the research department for Digital Architecture and Planning, linking city science and architectural science. He is also the founding and acting director of the Competence Center for Artificial Intelligence for Architecture and Planning (AI|APE) and a program board member of the university-wide Center for AI in Science and Engineering (CAISE). He is also an EU-List Professor for Architecture and Environment Integration at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. He has taught at renowned schools in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia, including the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, the Berlage Institute Amsterdam, the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Technical University Munich, Rice University, University of Technology Sydney, and Southeast University in Nanjing, China.
He has extensive strategic leadership experience, developing and delivering visions for future practice and education, including as director of the Emergent Technologies and Design Master Program at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London (2001-09), as chairperson of the OCEAN Design Research Association (2008-18), as founding director of the Research Centre for Architecture and Tectonics in Oslo (2011-2018), as department chair of the Department for Digital Architecture and Planning at TU Wien (2018-present), and as founding director of the Competence Center for AI in Architecture, Planning and Environment at TU Wien (since 2026).
His authored and edited books include Emergent Technologies and Design (Routledge, 2010), Performance-oriented Architecture (Wiley, 2013), Grounds and Envelopes (Routledge, 2015), The Changing Shape of Practice (Routledge, 2016), The Changing Shape of Architecture (Routledge, 2019), and Restructuring Material Thinking - Material and Data in Architecture and Urban Scales (Birkhaeuser, 2025). He is also a series editor of the book series Designing Environments (Springer Nature).
In 2007, he received an innovation fellowship from the University of Technology Sydney (2007-09). In 2018, he received an honorary fellowship from the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Technical University of Munich.
