Robert M. Lau received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology (host institution for the CTBUH) and his Master of Business Administration at the Chicago School of Real Estate at Roosevelt University.
He has worked with Myron Goldsmith and Lucien Lagrange at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (Chicago office) and with Helmut Jahn and Jim Goettsch at Murphy/Jahn in Chicago. He is an advocate of the Chicago School of Architecture, beginning with William LeBaron Jenny, John Root, and Louis Sullivan and continuing through Fazlur Khan and Myron Goldsmith.
He has written several articles for the CTBUH Journal. He presented the paper ‘A Platonistic Program for Block 37 in Chicago’s Loop’ at the December 2001 conference Building for the 21st Century in London and the paper ‘Financial Aspects That Drive Design Decisions’ at the October 2005 conference in New York City. He was also a member of the NY conference’s committee that reviewed the papers to be presented.
In addition to practicing architecture in Chicago, he is a Construction Committee member with the Windy City Habitat for Humanity (local affiliate).
His published books and research papers in the field of Tall Buildings include:
LAU, R. & HUNT, B. (2008). Understanding the Demise and Transformation of Chicago’s High-Rise Social Housing. Proceedings of the CTBUH 8th World Congress, 3rd-5th March 2008. Dubai, UAE. Published by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Chicago. pp.601-610.
LAU, R. (2008). Partial Occupancies for Phased and Multi-Use Tall Buildings. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Journal 2008, Issue III. Chicago, USA. pp. 36-41.
LAU, R. (2005). Financial Aspects That Drive Design Innovations for Tall Buildings. Proceedings of CTBUH 7th World Congress, 16th-19th October 2005. New York, USA. Published by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Chicago.
LAU, R. (2004). Multiple Phase Construction for a Multi-use Tall Building. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Journal 2004, Spring. Chicago, USA. pp. 7-13.
LAU, R. (2001). Economic Considerations for Tall Multi-Use Buildings. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Journal 2001, Issue II. Chicago, USA. pp. 32-35.