UrbanLab is an architecture and urban design firm founded by Sarah Dunn and Martin Felsen. UrbanLab blends design and research to produce progressive, site-specific buildings, spaces and places. Our projects set in motion new lifestyles, vibrant spatial experiences, and more sustainable environments. UrbanLab’s projects span scales, from large urban designs to small residential projects. Our primary interest is in forward-looking projects that speculate on a more resilient and resourceful tomorrow.

UrbanLab brings invention and collaboration to each design project. We view challenges as opportunities to create memorable buildings and places that are both beautiful and surprising. We routinely assemble talented multidisciplinary teams with the highest levels of expertise and experience to realize architecture and urban design projects. Our design process is characterized by deep inquiry and collaborative exchange; design work is informed by intensive research and an experimental approach. We strive to invent innovative, environmentally responsible design solutions and create spaces that establish healthy connections between people and their environments. Built work to date includes mixed-use commercial buildings, housing, houses, restaurants, art galleries, large-scale resilient infrastructural projects, recreational landscapes, and cities.

The practice has been recognized nationally and internationally. Awards include first prize in the History Channel’s City of the Future Competition, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, and many AIA Chicago design awards. In 2010, the Architectural League of New York named UrbanLab as an Emerging Voice. UrbanLab exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010 and 2012, and in the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. UrbanLab’s work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

UrbanLab is a member of HCD, a network of international partners who have collaborated together for the last 20 years. Our partners head architecture and urban design offices dedicated to innovation and excellence, with a track record of success. Each office maintains an individual style and cultural identity, bringing the richness of diversity and multiculturalism to the partnership, while our offices share a common dedication to the highest standards of creative thinking and project delivery.