Daniel K Brown holds the inaugural chair Professor of Design Studio in the School of Architecture. He completed his professional MArch degree at Yale University and is a registered architect (New York, 1991-present). During Daniel's 28-year academic career, he has won 12 teaching awards including the New Zealand National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching. He has been awarded seven fully-funded international research fellowships including the American Fulbright Fellowship; three national research fellowships; and 16 professional awards for collaborative designs.

From 2015-2018, Daniel was the Associate Dean (Academic Development) for the Faculty of Architecture and Design. Previous senior academic leadership roles have included three years as Chairman of the FoAD Academic Committee (2015-18), three years as Deputy Head School of Design (2005-07), eight years as a Programme Director (2004-07, 2009-12), three years on the Faculty Management Team (2015-2018), six years on the School of Architecture Senior Management Advisory Team (2007-12) and seven years on the School of Design Senior Executive Committee (2000-06). He is currently on the SoA Senior Leadership Team and Programme Director for Construction Law.

Daniel was selected by the London journal "AD: Architectural Design" as one of the top 12 architecture academics internationally, appearing in the special edition "Emerging Talents | Training Architects" (London, Aug 2021). Editor Neil Spiller wrote: "This issue showcases the students and teachers who are pushing the envelope of architecture in extraordinary ways."

As evidence of the global significance of his research, a 5-year retrospective of Daniel's research was exhibited at the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale in the host Italy Pavilion, as part of the exhibition "Reflections of the Future", curated by Luca Molinari, one of Italy's leading curators. The Italy Pavilion selected architectural research specifically responding to its theme: "work that unveils a vision of architecture as civil art capable of generating solutions for a society in the midst of deep-seated change."

During Daniel's 14-year professional architecture career, he was Vice-President from 1990-96 of one of the most prominent architectural design firms in New York, Emilio Ambasz and Associates (EAA). Emilio Ambasz was Curator of Design at the Museum of Modern Art and two-term President of the Architectural League. The firm is best known for the award-winning Casa de Retiro Espiritual in Cordoba, Spain, which has been extensively published and exhibited twice at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The architectural projects designed during Daniel's seven-year tenure at EAA have been published in 12 books (including eight monographs) and over 200 international journal articles. They have won seven international awards and been exhibited in London, Tokyo, Milan, Bologna, Monterrey and Mexico City.

Prior to EAA, Daniel worked for architects Richard Meier and Partners in New York, Harry Seidler and Associates in Sydney, and Brown Daltas and Partners in Rome.