Join us for the 2025 L.K.E. Ozolins Lecture, where we’ll explore excellence in contemporary healthcare architecture, and look ahead to future innovations.
Chaired by Stiliyana Minkovska, female-centred healthcare designer and architect, and CEO of Matrix Health and Care, this panel discussion will feature presentations from leading experts, Antoine Chaaya, Partner at Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Ernest Fasanya, Director at Hopkins Architects, and Michael Woodford, Architect and Office Director at White Arkitekter.
They’ll be examining different examples of healthcare architecture varying in scale and incorporating diverse approaches and technologies, showcasing how architecture can impact our experience of care and facilitate a healing environment.
This event is part of the annual L.K.E. Ozolins Lecture series, made possible by the LKE Ozolins Fund. The fund was established through a bequest from Hoda Ozolins to RIBA, in memory of their late husband, Laimons Knud Eugen Ozolins, a Latvian architect and lecturer.
Chair
Stiliyana Minkovska
Founder, Matrix Health and Care
Stiliyana Minkovska is a qualified architect and healthcare designer, dedicated to transforming women’s health through the universal language of design. Their journey pivoted in 2015 during their Master’s in Architecture at the Royal College of Art when pregnancy revealed gaps in women’s healthcare, inspiring them to merge design with advocacy.
A champion of design’s power to tackle societal challenges, Stiliyana completed a Master’s in Healthcare and Design from RCA and Imperial College in 2022. The following year they founded Matrix Health and Care, a groundbreaking venture focused on revolutionising gynaecological care through women-led design innovation, showcasing unwavering commitment to impactful, human-centered solutions.
Panel Speakers
Antoine Chaaya
Partner, Director at Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Born in Lebanon in 1960, Antoine Chaaya studied architecture at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanon. After graduating, they joined the Paris office in 1987 and worked as a lead architect on different projects including the Kanak Cultural Center in New Caledonia and the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Since becoming a Partner in 1997, they have been Partner in charge of projects including The New Columbia University Manhattanville Campus, NY, the Grand Hospital of Saint-Ouen Paris Nord, The Center for Arts and Innovation in Boca Raton, Florida, as well as the Jawaher Boston Medical District in Sharjah, UAE.
Antoine was appointed member of the RPBW board in 2014 and has been elected as a distinguished alumnus at USEK, nominated as the patron of the class of young architects 2017. They received a new distinction in 2018, becoming an honorary member of the Lebanese Green Buildings Council. In 2024 they were appointed Member of the Scientific Orientation Council of the Archidessa Chair, Architecture, Design, Health. Antoine currently lectures widely including talks at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, and the AIA.
Ernest Fasanya
Director at Hopkins Architects
Ernest joined Hopkins Architects in 1987 and has overseen a wide range of award-winning projects in numerous sectors, including healthcare, education, and sports. Highlights include the Mound Stand at Lord’s, the Music School at King’s College School, Wimbledon, and the University of Oxford New Humanities Building. They are currently working on a project to renew the existing Bloomberg School of Public Health for Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Ernest recently worked on the Royal Free campus to design and deliver the award-winning Pears Building (Institute of Immunity and Transplantation) for the Royal Free Charity and University College London. Other healthcare projects have included Circle Hospitals (a range of modular private healthcare clinics ranging from 5,000 to 8,000m²), a private Oncology Unit in Harley Street, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore. Their particular focus is on evidence-based and whole patient-orientated sustainable design, using both proven and innovative techniques to maximise choice.
Ernest is a member of the New London Architecture’s (NLA) Healthcare Panel, which is currently investigating how the skills and expertise of London NHS Estates and Development teams could best be maximised. They are also Chair of the North London Panel for RIBA Awards 2024.
Michael Woodford
Partner, Director at White Arkitekter
Michael is an Architect, Partner and Director of White Arkitekter’s London Studio. They bring over 20 years of design leadership to the team. Having designed, delivered, and led multi-award-winning buildings in the UK and the Netherlands, Michael has a broad and thorough understanding of the architectural, cultural, and commercial contexts of architectural practice.
Michael is responsible for White’s UK healthcare portfolio which today includes ground-breaking projects such as the new Velindre Cancer Centre, predicted to be “the greenest hospital in the UK”, Cambridge Children’s Hospital, and Moorfields Eye Hospital, Project Oriel. Under Michael’s leadership, White’s London Studio is leading the way with low carbon design and the implementation of regenerative and biobased materials.
