ARB RIBA

Founding Director

Originally hailing from Chengdu but living the majority of his life in the UK, Kaowen was educated at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL where he met lifelong friends and eventual co-directors Theo Games Petrohilos and Ben Hayes. Prior to co-founding Unknown Works Kaowen gained extensive experience at renowned architecture practices including Heatherwick Studio and Foster + Partners.


Unknown Works was set up as a forward thinking testbed for developing architectural projects that explore the human condition, our experiences of the built environment as well as the development of cities and their impact on culture and society.

The studio has become an award-winning practice known for its boldness and ability to draw out more from any given project - to uncover the special ‘project within a project’.  Based in London, the studio’s work spans the fields of architecture, urban design, immersive events, exhibition design, installation art, graphics, digital media and much more.