Ben James is the CEO & Founder of 3D generative AI platform Atlas.

When Ben entered the architecture profession, he was shocked at the limited role new technology played in the design process, and discovered that the lack of automation meant that creative individuals spent too much time on tasks not suited to their expertise.

He founded Atlas in 2021 to augment and focus designers‘ creativity, with an emphasis on gaming and virtual world-building.

Ben graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC and worked as a financial and strategy consultant in NYC and London prior to getting his Architecture Master’s degree from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

His work has been exhibited in notable museums and galleries such as the Architectural Association visiting school in China, the A+D Museum in LA, the Storefront for Art & Architecture in NYC, and the Architecture Biennale in Tallinn.

Mitchell is Co-Founder of Terreform ONE, a non-profit research group for art, architecture and urban design. He is a professor at New York University and Co-Chair of Global Design NYU. As an architect, he worked in professional offices in LA, Massachusetts and New York. Mitchell has won many awards including: Fulbright Scholarship, NEA Grant for Arts Projects, LafargeHolcim Acknowledgement Prize, Ove Arup Foundation Grant, Architect R+D Award, AIA New York Urban Design Merit Award, Victor Papanek Social Design Award, 1st Place International Architecture Award, Zumtobel Award for Sustainability, Architizer A+ Award, History Channel Infiniti Award for City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention with MIT Smart Cities.

His design works have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including New York, London, Berlin, Toronto, Rotterdam, Venice and Prague.

He is a TED Senior Fellow and has been awarded fellowships with Safdie Architects, and the Martin Society for Sustainability at MIT.

He co-authored four books, “Super Cells: Building with Biology” (TED Books), “Global Design: Elsewhere Envisioned” (Prestel, 2014), “XXL-XS: New Directions in Ecological Design” (Actar 2016), and “Design with Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities” (Actar 2019).

This prominent architect and urban planner has appeared in many articles: “The 100 People Who Are Changing America” in Rolling Stone, “The Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To” in Wired, “50 Under 50 Innovators of the 21st Century” by Images Publishing Group, “The NOW 99” in Dwell, and “Future of The Environment” in Popular Science.

Previously, he was the Frank Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto and faculty at Pratt, Columbia, Syracuse, Rensselaer, Washington (St. Louis), Cornell, Parsons, and EGS. He earned a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MAUD at Harvard University, M.Arch at Columbia University with honors.