Lars Hesselgren, Director of Research at PLP Architecture, is a leading researcher and academic in architecture and urbanism. His research focuses on the technologies that underpin design in the built environment – ranging from novel mobility systems to new sustainable materials in construction.

His research has led to the development of IUMO (formerly known as SkyPod), a new vertical transportation system which will revolutionise skyscraper design. Closer to a train than a traditional elevator, IUMO reduces the need for space inefficient elevator shafts allowing previously unimaginable buildings to be built.

Lars is currently leading the research and concept design for IUMO (formerly known as CarTube), a pioneering mobility solution which combines two existing modes of transport, automated electric cars and mass transit, into a single, seamless infrastructure system.

He is a pioneer in novel design technologies from parametric design to computational techniques in the design process. As such he is a founder director of the Smartgeometry group (SG) and a co-chair at events of the Advances in Architectural Design (AAG). He was co-chair of AAG in Vienna (2010) and Paris (2012) and is currently engaged with AAG 2018 in Gothenburg. In 2002 he received the Bentley Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is a Visiting Professor at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he is engaged with creating future novel collaborations with industry and advanced researchers. Lars lectures internationally and publishes extensively.

He was educated at the Architectural Association, London and earned a post-graduate degree in architectural theory from University College London, Bartlett.