Team
Introduce visitors to the people who drive your company’s success.
MATTHEW RILEY - ARCHITECT
Matthew is a registered Architect with professional experience ranging across a variety of sectors and scales. As part of Amanda Levete Architect’s projects team, Matthew’s most recent experience includes the delivery of the V&A Museum’s Exhibition Road project throughout it’s construction. As a Project Architect at AL_A, he is currently delivering two new buildings in the centre of Wadham College’s historic Oxford campus, due for completion in Summer 2020.
Matthew has a thoroughly detailed approach to design, and is as equally interested in the technical realisation of a project as he is in the conceptual design stages. He recognises the value in collaborating with clients, users and specialists in both fabrication and construction. This is evident in his ongoing work with The Land Trust at Greenwich Ecology Park, where he is inspired by the opportunity to bring urban dwellers closer to nature.
Matthew graduated from Leeds School of Architecture in 2013, and was awarded with a distinction in design. He led the design submission for a RIBA-led Cronton Colliery Competition in 2012. The submission received a Runners-Up prize and was commended for it’s inventive and ambitious vision.
MELISSA REZAEI - ARCHITECT
Melissa is a qualified Architect with more than a decade of UK and international professional practice. She studied at The School of Architecture in Leeds and Westminster University. Before starting YUKKA, she has worked in the award-winning practices such a Foster + Partners and Shigeru Ban Architects in Japan, where she gained experience in large-scaled project to more intimate private residential projects. Melissa is currently running a project within a highly sensitive heritage context as well as private residential projects in west London.
SAM MAINDONALD - PROJECT + CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
Sam has over 20 years experience designing and constructing within the Landscape industry, operating in both the UK and the US across a wide range of climate zones. He successfully established his US company, Monarch Design, before returning to London in 2018.
Sam has a devoted interest in horticulture and a wide knowledge of planting. His extensive experience managing the on-site delivery of projects, coupled with his frenetic conceptual personality, allows him to approach design in a holistic manner.
In 2013, Sam graduated from Leeds School of Landscape Architecture with a first-class honours degree, culminating in the delivery of an award-winning show garden at RHS Tatton Flower Show. The garden won the Silver Gilt Medal, in addition to the award for Most Creative Large Garden, and was a testament to Sam’s integrity and craftsmanship.