Stefan joined academia from professional practice with 8 years post Part III experience as an architect. He studied architecture at the University of Dundee and the University of Kingston (receiving a double commendation) and completed an PGCE in teaching and learning at the University of East London whilst in practice. He completed his RIBA President’s medal award nominated PhD at the Bartlett part-time in 2014 after joining MSA.

Stefan’s prior professional experience includes acting as UK principle investigator for the EU FW5 ‘Biocells’ and coordinator for the FW5 ‘Zero-emissions Neighbourhoods’ projects as part of providing multi-disciplinary consultancy services in environmental design and sustainability for global architectural practices such as Fosters and Partners; as well as leading designs for large social housing and public realm projects such as the Pollards Hill estate for HTA in 2000 and the Greenwich peninsula for Battle McCarthy in 2005.

In his 15+ years at MMU he has developed and grown a uniquely successful combination of research-led teaching, professional consultancy and academic research generating significant income and impact. This work has been founded on principles of creative difference, co-production and embodied engagement which has served as a prominent prototype for citizen engagement at the Manchester School of Architecture and the wider School of Art. Aspects of his engaged research into population ageing and urbanisation have also served as a paradigm for regional, national, and international approaches to healthy ageing, impacting directly on the lives of thousands of Greater Manchester residents. This fundamentally transdisciplinary work involves staff from departments from across all MMU faculties (Computing, Epidemiology, Sociology, Psychology, Education, Nursing, Social work, Medical Science, Art, Design, Literature, Geography, Planning and Architecture) and a very wide range of stakeholders including international, national, regional and local governmental, voluntary sector, design and planning, health and social care and community organisations.

Projects Gallery

Biocells - Sustainable industrialised dwellings

UK arm coordinator of EU FW5 funded project. Design and implementation of the research project partnering with Corus and BP solar.

for Battle McCarthy Ltd

Next project

Birkbeck College Extensions

Package Architect, Foundations and services coordination and foyer/ entrance space design to detail

for Nick Evans Architects

Next project

Forced-air cooling

Non-air conditioned telecommunication switch-centres

Design and implementation of the research project with Dr Marc Zanchetta.

for Battle McCarthy Ltd

Next project

Greenwich peninsula Landscape Masterplan

Led design and delivery for Landscape masterplan for the Peninsula development of Meridian Developments limited.

for Battle McCarthy Limited

Next project

Pollards Hill, Merton PHASES 2-5

Project Architect. Design and delivery, 200 new dwellings as part of estate regeneration

for HTA Architects Ltd.

Next project

The Bat house project

Second place in professional category

with Arup and Biodiversity-by-design

Next project

Wansey Street

Exemplar pre-engineered housing for new housing sites as part of Elephant and Castle Redevelopment

Senior Project Architect to detailled design for manufacturing
Coordination of interdisciplinary design within Battle McCarthy
(structures, services and environmental analysis)

Partnered project with Corus UK

Next project

ZEN - Zero Emissions Neighbourhood

Study into distributed generation of the London Borough of Southwark.

Design and implementation of part of the EU FW5 project.

for Battle McCarthy Ltd

Next project

Research

Exhibitions

White, S. Rabe, J. Wells, M., 2010. Riba Competitions - Bat House, RIBA Gallery Portland Place (also at CUBE gallery Manchester ), 20-24 11.07 (17.11. - 26.01.08).

White, S. Griffiths,R., 2007. Green modernism; 'Urban Growth', Centre for Urban Built Environment gallery, 3.04. - 26.05.07.

White, S. Minsky,J., 2007. Take-away garden, Centre for Urban Built Environment gallery, 18,19,20 06.07.

White, S. RIBA education, 2006. The Green Wing, RIBA Archi-Truck, at Labour Party Conference (also at Horse Guards Parade), 26.09.06 (20,21 11.06).

Artefacts

White, S., Aston, H., Shanley, M., Mooney, M., Minsky, J., 2014. 'Playground for Chapel Road Travelers site, Blackpool', Chapel Road Travelers site, Blackpool, UK..

Aston, H., White, S., 2011. 'Sharing the City Pop-Up Shop', Trafford Centre, Manchester.

White, S., Aston, H., Manchester City Council, , 2011. 'Sharing the city: Generations Together', Manchester.

Aston, H., White, S., 2010. 'Sharing the City', Noiselab Gallery, Manchester.

Books

Handler, S., 2014. 'An Alternative Age Friendly Handbook'.

White, S., Hammond, M., 2011. 'Not Content: Projects for a Shared City', Manchester Metropolitan University.

White, S. Editors: Professor Jonathan Hill; Dr Ana Araujo, 2010. 'Species of Affect: Architecture and Bats', UCL, London.

Parsons, T., 2009. 'Thinking: Objects: Contemporary Approaches to Product Design', AVA Publishing.

White, S. Editors:Florian Kossak;Doina Petrescu;Tatjana Schneider;Renata Tyszczuk and Stephen Walker., 2009. 'White, S. ‘Ethics and Aesthetics; Deleuze, Evans and sustainability’, in The Agency collection 2009', London: Routledge.

Book Chapters

Hammond, M., Crompton, E., White, S., 2024. 'Redesigning the age-friendly city: the role of architecture in addressing spatial ageism'. In Buffel, T., Doran, P., Yarker, S. (eds.) Reimagining age-friendly cities and communities: urban ageing and spatial justice, pp. 135-155, Policy Press, Bristol.

Hammond, M., White, S., Christopher, P., 2020. 'From Precarity to Interdependence: The Role of Age-friendly Communities in Promoting Wellbeing in Excluded Communities'. In Bokyo, C., Cooper, R., Dunn, N. (eds.) Designing Future Cities for Wellbeing, Routledge.

White, S., Walker, S., Hammond, M., Sanliturk, C., 2020. 'Starting with Difference: &rchitecture'. In Architectural Affects After Deleuze and Guattari, Routledge Studies in Affective Societies.

White, S., Hammond, M., 2019. 'From representation to active ageing in a Manchester neighbourhood: designing the age-friendly city'. In Buffel, T., Handler, S., Phillipson, C. (eds.) Age-friendly Cities and Communities A Global Perspective, Policy Press.

White, S., 2017. 'From representation to active ageing in a Manchester neighbourhood: designing the Age-friendly City'. In Phillipson, C., Buffell, T., Handler, S. (eds.) Age-Friendly Communities: A Global Perspective, Policy Press, London.

White, S., 2017. 'Including Architecture: What difference can we make?'. In Boys, J. (eds.) Disability, Space, Architecture: A Reader, Routledge, London.

White, S., 2017. 'The Greater Part: How intuition forms better worlds'. In Lord, B., Rawes, P. (eds.) Spinoza's Philosophy of Ratio, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.

White, S., 2016. 'Common projects and privatised potential: projection and representation in the Rotterdam Kunsthal'. In Lloyd Thomas, K., Amhoff, T., Beech, N. (eds.) Industries of Architecture, Routledge, London.

White, S., Hill, J., Araujo, A., 2010. 'Species of Affect: Architecture and Bats'. In The 2010 Bartlett PhD Research conference, The Bartlett, UCL.

White, S., Wells, M., Rabe, J., 2010. 'The Bat House Project'. In ARUP year book 2010, ARUP Ltd.

White, S., Kossak, F., Petrescu, D., Schneider, T., Walker, S., 2009. 'Ethics and Aesthetics; Deleuze, Evans and sustainability'. In The Agency collection, Routledge, London.

Reports

White, S., Dempsey, J., Denovan, A., Hammond, M., Lee, D., Holden, S., O'Leary, C., Walsh, S., 2023. 'Finding the right place to grow older: improving housing choices for older people', Centre for Ageing Better.

Hammond, M., Walsh, R., White, S., 2018. 'RIGHTSIZING:Reframing the housing offer for older people', Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)/PHASE @ Manchester School of Architecture.

Hammond, M., White, S., Crompton, E., Youngson,, M., Wells, J., Wong, K., 2017. 'Manchester Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods: State of the Project', Manchester Metropolitan University.

White, S., Hammond, M., 2015. 'The Life of the City - Manchester City Centre, An age Friendly Neighbourhood?', Manchester CIty Council.

Handler, S., 2014. 'A Research and Evaluation framework for Age Friendly Cities', UK Urban Ageing Consortium..

White, S., Hammond, M., Phillipson, C., 2014. 'Cheetham Hill District Centre in an Age Friendly Manchester'.

Aston, H., Hammond, M., White, S., 2014. 'Manchester Compendium of Spatial Inclusion'.

White, S., Phillipson, C., Hammond, M., 2012. 'Old Moat in an Age Friendly Manchester'.

Internet Publications

White, S., Hammond, M., Phillipson, C., 2012. 'Old Moat in an Age Friendly Manchester', https://issuu.com/stefanwhite/docs/oldmoat_130301_neighbourhood_report/1.

Journal Articles

White, S., Foale, K., 2020. 'Making a place for technology in communities: PlaceCal and the capabilities approach', Information, Communication and Society, 26 (6), pp. 1067-1086.

White, S., 2009. 'The power of the diagram', Architectural Design Magazine, 'Diagrams' special edition updated reissue.

White, S., 2009. 'White, S. ‘The theoretical power of the diagram’', Architectural Design Magazine, AR Plus special student edition extended reprint o, 55-59.

Conference Papers

Hammond, M., Dempsey, J., Holden, S., White, S., 2023. 'Co-producing Age-Friendly Urban Developments: Reflections on collaborative neighbourhood design with health and housing stakeholders', British Society of Gerontology Annual Conference, Norwich, UK, 5/7/2023 - 7/7/2023.

White, S., Hammond, M., 2021. 'Cohousing as a catalyst for connected, age-friendly communities', TSA: The International Tech Enabled Care Conference 2021, 22/3/2021 - 25/3/2021.

White, S., Walker, S., Boys, J., Hammond, M., Hall-Patch, P., 2019. 'You, Different, Somewhere: affective architectural pedagogies', Affects as pedagogy: Relation between space, time and bodies, Barcelona, Spain, 21/11/2019 - 22/11/2019.

White, S., Walker, S., Boys, J., Hammond, M., Hall Patch, P., 2019. 'You, Different, Somewhere: Affective Architectural Pedagogies', Affects as pedagogy: Relation between, space, time and bodies, Barcelona, Spain, 21/11/2019 - 22/11/2019.

White, S., Hammond, M., 2018. 'What does an age-friendly spatial framework look like? Understanding and Creating Age-Friendly Regions, Cities, Neighbourhoods and Homes in Greater Manchester', British Society of Gerontology conference, Manchester, UK, 4/7/2018 - 6/7/2018.

Boys, J., White, S., Aston, H., Partington, Z., 2017. ''Collaborating with disabled artists to 'do inclusion differently'', Architecture Connects AAE Conference, Oxford Brookes University, 6/9/2017 - 9/9/2017, in https://aaeconference2017.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/aae-2017-architecture-connects-proceedings_180706_low-res-online-sharing.pdf, pp. 408-413.

White, S., 2015. ''The Greater Part of architecture: How intuition forms better worlds', Daughter of Chaos, 2015 Annual Deleuze studies conference, Stockholm.

White, S., 2015. 'From representation to active-ageing in a Manchester neighbourhood: designing the Age-Friendly City', The 2015 conference of the British Society of Gerontology, Newcastle.

White, S., 2014. 'Common projects and privatised potential: projection and representation in the Rotterdam Kunsthal', 2014 ARHC Annual International Conference: Industries of Architecture, Newcastle.

White, S., 2014. 'The Greater Part: How intuition forms better worlds', Spinoza and Proportion Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland.

White, S., Hammond, M., 2013. 'The role of urban research and design in making cities Age-friendly', The 2013 conference of the British Society of Gerontology, Oxford, UK, 11/9/2013 - 13/9/2013.

White, S., 2012. 'Collaborative academic partnerships: Manchester School of Architecture projects and an Age-friendly Manchester', The UK Urban Ageing Consortium Research and Evaluation workshop, 2012.

White, S., 2012. 'Creating 'age-friendly cities': developing a new urbanism for all generations', Cities@Manchester Urban Forum, Manchester.

White, S., 2012. 'Species of Affect', The Politics of Design, University of Manchester.

White, S., 2012. 'The role of urban research and design in making cities Age-friendly', The UK Urban Ageing Consortium Research and Evaluation workshop, University of Manchester, 2012.

White, S., 2012. 'Towards an age-friendly Manchester: Generations Together', Towards an age-friendly Manchester: Generations Together, TUC Manchester.

White, S., 2011. 'Ethics and Aesthetics; Deleuze, Evans and sustainability', AHRC International annual architecture conference: Agency, Sheffield University.

White, S., 2011. 'Inclusive urban design, principles and practices', The UK Urban Ageing Consortium Launch Event, University of Manchester.

White, S., 2011. 'Species of Affect: Architecture and Bats', The Bartlet PhD Research Conference 2011, UCL.

White, S., 2005. 'Deleuze and the architecture of Chiasmic encounters', International Association for Philosophy and Literature conference, Helsinki.

White, S., 2005. 'Immanent design', The Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy conference, University of Reading.

Presentations

White, S., 2011. 'Inclusive urban design and research for age-friendly cities', University of Manchester.

White, S., 2009. 'Ethics and aesthetics: Deleuze, diagrams and sustainability', Agency AHRC 5th international conference, Sheffield University Architecture department, Nov 09.

White, S., 2005. 'Deleuze and the architecture of Chiasmic encounters', International Association for Philosophy and Literature conference, Chiasma, Helsinki and Helsinki University, June 05.

White, S., 2005. 'Immanent design', The Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy conference, Reading University, Sept 05.

Other Outputs

White, S., 2010. 'Studio Culture 4: Studio futures', Centre for Education in Built Environment annual conferrence, Conference organiser and instigator of new studio workshop format.

White, S., Wells, M., Rabe, J., 2010. 'The Bat House Project, Competition Entry'.

Research project details