Michael Weinstock is director of research and development, and director of emergent technologies and design in the Graduate School of the Architectural Association, London, which won the 2008 ACADIA Award of Excellence for Innovative Academic Programs. Born in Germany, Weinstock lived as a child in the Far East and West Africa, then ran away to sea at age 17. He spent years on traditional wooden sailing ships and learned shipyard and shipbuilding skills.

Weinstock is a founding member of the Emergence and Design Group, formed in 2002 as a multidisciplinary research practice. His personal research interests lie in exploring the convergence of emergence, natural systems, evolution, computation, and material sciences, and he has taught and published on these topics in Europe and the United States since 1998. His books include The Architecture of Emergence, Emergent Technologies and Design, and the forthcoming Collective Architectures.

The 2010–11 Architecture Lecture Series is funded by Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund; HDR Architecture; Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc.; Pfau Long Architecture; ROMA Design Group; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP; SmithGroup; WRNS Studio; Jensen Architects; Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects; BraytonHughes Design Studios; Cass Calder Smith; Fennie + Mehl Architects; GCI, Inc.; Levy Design Partners; SRG Partnership; Ratcliff; Ryan Associates; BIOS Design Collective; and Andrea Cochran.