Zak hails from Cardiff which according to research was once the richest city in the world. Now that is just one amongst the many interesting facts you can find about this extraordinary place. Do you know that it’s also a city of castles? No wonder Zak adores his hometown so much; it’s a beautiful historical city with lovely listed buildings of architectural note. The Cardiff City Hall is one of his favourites which opened in October 1906. It cost £129,708 to build – that’s a whopping £10,191,092 in today’s money!

Eco Lodge – Ashcombe Estate, the folding cabin. It’s a project for a client where I work on the technical details, bringing the designs to life, and solving the technical issues we encounter.  I really enjoy working on this project especially because I am mainly responsible for problem-solving.

I’m very practical and enjoy that part of architecture. I like making things, my favourite subject at school was Design Technology. I wanted to be an Electrician but with my love of DT, I decided to go down the architecture route.

Cayan Tower – I call it the twisty building. It’s also known as the Infinity Tower, a 75-story skyscraper in Dubai. The tower was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill SOM architectural group, the same group that did the concept design for the Burj Khalifa and Trump Tower in Chicago. It became the world’s tallest high-rise building with a twist of 90 degrees but has since been surpassed by the Shanghai Tower, two years later.

The Barn in Guildford – we converted an old barn into 3 dwellings. I was project lead on this from start to finish and saw the project through to the end. So it was quite an experience for me.

Name

Zak Akhtar

Where are you from

Cardiff, Wales

Favourite Country

Turkey

Best City

Istanbul

Favourite Music

House Music – Deep house

What are you reading?

Non-fiction

What are you watching?

Money Heist, Grand Designs, The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes, F1

Favourite Movie

American Gangster

Favourite Pastime

Cycling, travelling