Ellie Wilkes is an architectural designer whose work examines the cultural, spatial and ecological consequences of modern infrastructure. Born in Buckinghamshire, she graduated in 2025 with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, where her MArch thesis reframed data-centre infrastructure as a form of civic place-making within the contested urban context of Derry/Londonderry. Her work was recognised with nominations for the RIBA Silver Medal, the RIAS A&DS Urban Design Award and the Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship, and she was awarded the ESALA Postgraduate Prize for Best Overall MArch Student alongside Design Report and Technology Prizes.
Her practice sits at the intersection between architecture, infrastructure and ecology, exploring how large-scale technical systems can be reimagined as social, civic and environmentally efficient spaces. Through speculative design, research-led drawing and environmental programming of space, her work interrogates the hidden architectures of data networks, AI and energy landscapes that increasingly underpin everyday life.
Alongside academic research, Ellie has practical experience in adaptive reuse and property development. Having previously worked at Studio Jo Cowen, she is currently a Part II Architectural Designer at Foster + Partners in London, working on large-scale residences and commercial projects in North America and Central Asia. Parallel to her architectural practice, she maintains an interest in street photography as a method of observing and documenting urban conditions.
