Peter Zuroweste

Peter Zuroweste is an architect, educator, design researcher, and organizer. He joined the University of Kansas as an Associate Professor of Architecture in 2026 with a focus on urban housing design, manufacturing, and community and economic development in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Prior to joining KU, Peter was an Associate Professor of Practice in Architecture at Iowa State University College of Design, where he served as Director of the international design-build and community engagement studio Lio Lab (Lima / Ames Operation). He has taught studios at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and Harvard University. Alongside his academic activities, Peter maintains ZA (Zuroweste Architecture), a creative practice critically engaging architecture, landscape, and the city through the lens of social and environmental crisis. Peter’s internationally recognized award-winning architectural design work includes built projects in the United States, Europe, and South America, including ZA’s recently completed project “Rilindja.” This 1,200-resident, 24-acre postdisaster social housing and urban design project was completed for the municipality of Fushë Krujë following Albania’s November 2019 earthquake. Peter’s academic and professional work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Harvard University, The Cooper Union, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Boston Society of Architects, the American Institute of Architects, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, WAI Think Tank, and others. It has been published by Actar, Lars Müller, Routledge, Thames and Hudson, Loudreaders, and more. Before establishing ZA in 2019, Peter gained 10+ years of experience at architecture, landscape, and urbanism at firms in New York City, Boston, Rotterdam, Berlin, Kansas City and Chicago. Notably, he was a Project Leader at Studio Gang Architects, where he led all aspects of design and coordination for The Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, USA, from Concept Design through Construction Documents. Additional professional positions include Urban Designer at MVRDV (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Urban Designer at Uberbau (Berlin, Germany), and Project Leader at OFICINAA (Ingolstadt, Germany). Peter holds a Master of Architecture 2 (2-year post-professional degree) with Distinction from Harvard University, where he was awarded the Clifford Wong Prize for his design research on high rise housing, and a Master of Architecture 1 (5-year first professional degree) with Highest Distinction from the University of Kansas. He completed additional undergraduate studies at The Cooper Union (New York City), Fachhochshule Potsdam (near Berlin, Germany), and has served as an invited guest critic at Harvard GSD, Syracuse University, Northeastern University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Colorado Denver, The University of Colorado Boulder, Iowa State University, Universidad Privada Del Norte, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, and more.