better built futures

We design better futures

Founded by Abel Feleke in 2022, Habitat Unit is an independent design-led consultancy at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and sustainable development.


With our honorary base at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, we are a globally distributed team of designers and built environment specialists committed to shaping cities, buildings, and communities that are not only resilient but also deeply human. Our work blends creative vision with technical precision, crafting responses to complexity with clarity.

Grounded in the principles of sustainable urban development, our practice translates research into form, systems into space, and purpose into built outcomes. Whether shaping civic futures, co-creating with communities, or leading transformative design projects, we strive to build better.

We can help across a range of key areas:

  • We deliver:

    • Buildings and built form

    • Urban Design

    • Public space & Mixed Use

    • Streetscape

    • City planning

    • Behaviour and user experience analysis

    • Social Impact analysis

    • Urban technology consulting

  • We deliver:

    • Public realm strategy

    • Public space public life analysis and recommendations

    • Urban regeneration and densification strategy

    • Design guidelines, toolkits & policies

    • Leadership support and development

    • Organisational training and development

Weaving the Urban Fabric (2016)

News: Our Honorary Base

Kellogg College, University of Oxford

Habitat Unit has formally established its honorary base at Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

Kellogg is a world‑class institution recognised for its leadership in thought, civic engagement and interdisciplinary excellence. Habitat Unit is proud to be affiliated with Kellogg as we continue to advance work at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and sustainable development in support of better built futures.

(20th of November, 2025)

News: HU Shortlisted for Grenfell Tower Memorial

Region: United Kingdom

Habitat Unit is deeply honoured to find our team has been shortlisted as codesigner for the Grenfell Tower Memorial. With gratitude to partners New South, Black Females in Architecture, FBM Architects and Atelier Solstice.

“Being shortlisted as a co-designer for the Grenfell Tower Memorial is both an honour and a profound responsibility. The process is centred in memory, justice, and the creation of a civic space shaped with and for the community. As a core member of the design team, Habitat Unit is proud to help shape the shortlisted proposal, contributing to a design approach that is inclusive, sustainable, and grounded in the voices of the community.” - Abel Feleke

(Excerpted from article published 25th of September 2025)

Highlighted Project: Planning Mountain Communities

Sector: Masterplanning & Advisory

Region: Central Asia

Our team members were engaged by one of the world’s foremost international development agencies to support the advancement of master planning and climate adaptation strategies across a portfolio of projects in Central Asia’s mountainous regions.

Credit: Video & Editing, Diana Sarvari (CC BY 3.0)

Producer, Emadsho Akdodshoev

Architecture for a New Generation

Sector: Civic Architecture

Towards buildings that think, heal and adapt


We seek the design of architecture and buildings for a new generation that are intelligent, adaptive, and deeply attuned to their context. By creating in support of living systems we believe we can ensure that the built environment acts as a vessel for care.

Title: “Living Architecture”, HU concept sketch

Intelligent Cities & Infrastructure

Cities today face unprecedented challenges stemming from ecological degradation, resource depletion, and the pressing need to adapt to a changing climate.

We leverage data insights to craft urban environments that are both sustainable and resilient.

Image Credit: NASA

Harnessing Data for Climate Resilience

Advocacy & Engagement

Sector: Strategy

Region: Middle East

During the 2020 Dubai Expo, our team members played a pivotal role in supporting a large international development agency by utilising design as communication.

Insights

Design as Civic Healing

“In an age of polycrisis, we must confront a question more urgent than form:

What does it mean to design for systems in need of repair?

Design has long been concerned with aesthetics and innovation. But the needs of our cities continue to evolve. Trust is fractured. Memory is contested. And the physical environment is increasingly shaped by externalities.

The design of our buildings and cities must now support civic healing not as singular gestures, but as a public ethic…” 

(Article 25/09/25,  ©HabitatUnit).

abel feleke

5 Lessons

“Apart from the vital need to ensure the health and security of communities, the pandemic has provided a moment to reassess the planning, development and organisation of the cities we inhabit, and for designers to reconsider tools and techniques aimed at supporting communities in need.

So how have designers continued to engage with communities?…”

Written for the World Economic Forum in association with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat.

Listen to the article or read it on the World Economic Forum here

HU?

At Habitat Unit (HU), our approach is deeply influenced by the enduring principles of sustainability and inclusivity. Through design, we seek to create in ways that are responsive to community needs and attuned to emerging forms of resilience, intelligence, and well-being.

HU Practice Leaders

  • Abel Feleke

  • Samrawit Yohannes Yoseph

  • Founder & Director

    Abel is an international expert in design and urban development, working to support positive outcomes in the built environment. Educated at the University of Oxford, Feleke is recognised as an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism (UK), Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (UK), and World Economic Forum Global Shaper Alumni. He has served as an Advisor to the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat and as Senior Design Advisor (Design Excellence) to the New South Wales Government in Australia.

    With a strong interest in the future of cities, Feleke has delivered significant projects in architecture, large-scale infrastructure, master planning and sustainable urban developments projected to impact the lives of more than 285,000 people across a cumulative area in excess of 2,200 square kilometres. In 2022, he founded Habitat Unit, an independent consultancy working at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, climate adaptation, and sustainable urban development, with its honorary base at Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

    In 2025, Feleke was shortlisted as a Co-Designer for the Grenfell Tower Memorial. “Serving as a Co-Designer on our proposal for the Grenfell Tower Memorial is a continuation of my belief that design is also a civic responsibility,” Feleke said, reflecting on the shortlisted proposal.

    He is also a former recipient of the 10th Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Norman Foster Travelling Award, granted in support of his early research on architecture, sustainability and urbanism. - World Economic Forum Agenda

  • Network Associate

    Samrawit, based in Addis Ababa, is an Ethiopian architect with a background as an urban designer and planner, with a strong focus on sustainable development in cities and urban settlements. She has extensive experience in spatial planning, urban design, and stakeholder engagement, working with national and local governments, multilateral organizations, and community-based initiatives.

    A 2023 Mandela Washington Fellow and 2024 AGYLE Fellow, Samrawit holds an MSc in Human Settlements and Urbanism & Strategic Planning from KU Leuven, Belgium. Her research interests include nature-based solutions, participatory design, and resilient urban futures. She is passionate about advancing equitable and healthy cities through collaborative and innovative approaches.

    Samrawit has contributed to major urban projects in Ethiopia, including the Beautifying Sheger River Development Project and strategic planning for Hawassa’s urban growth. Her roles with the African Development Bank’s Cities Program, UN-Habitat, and World Bank initiatives have focused on integrated planning, community empowerment, and investment mobilization. She co-authored State of Addis Vol. II: Toward a Healthier City, which examined the impacts of urban form on public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Let’s begin the conversation…

Archive

10th Royal Institute of British Architects Norman Foster Travelling Award

Latest News

  • The University of Oxford

    Article - University of Oxford

    Oxford profiles Abel Feleke on shortlisting for Grenfell Tower Memorial.

    read here‍ ‍

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    image credit: @oxunistudents

  • The Academy of Urbanism (UK)

    Habitat Unit’s Abel Feleke becomes AoU Academician

  • Article - World Economic Forum

    Habitat Unit teams up with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat and Incremental Urbanism…

    read here

  • abel_feleke_rgs_fellow

    Royal Geographical Society (UK)

    Habitat Unit’s Abel Feleke elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

  • abel feleke, business as unusua

    Business as Unusual

    Habitat Unit’s Abel Feleke invited to assist judging the Business as Unusual Competition.

    read here