Maria Zafeiriadou is a Greek urban designer and founder of WAU. She brings an extensive international experience in urban scale projects, having worked in, and led, projects around the world. Prior to founding WAU, Maria was an associate urban designer and project manager, at UNStudio, Amsterdam, a core member of the studio’s urban team. As part of UNStudio, she has led urban visions and masterplans for projects in Europe and Asia, while she has successfully collaborated with municipalities, high profile developers and research organizations. Prior to UNStudio, Maria has also worked at AETER Architects, Athens, gaining experience in all stages of design of big scale projects of hospitality, residential, retail and office, in Greece and in Middle East, while she has also worked for short periods in Muscat, Oman, and London, UK. Maria has studied architecture in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where she received a Diploma of Architect Engineer, and architecture and urbanism at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a Master of Science in Architecture Studies, while she has also collaborated with the Transportation Systems Laboratory of the University of Piraeus, in European research programs for sustainable mobility plans.