Melissa REZAEI

Melissa is a qualified Architect with more than a decade of professional experience running UK and international projects. She studied at Leeds Metropolitan University and Westminster University. Prior to starting YUKKA, she worked for Foster + Partners, London and Shigeru Ban Architects, Tokyo, where she gained experience in high profile and award-winning projects, both in the private and public sector.  

Melissa has supervised and managed design teams across several sectors and is skilled in creating design solutions, appropriate to the nature and constraints of each project and its context. She has a strong interest in human psychology, and as a designer, she aims to respond to the client’s brief, while applying care and empathy with each project.

Matthew Riley

Matthew founded YUKKA alongside Melissa and Sam after working with Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A). During his employment with AL_A, he played a key role in the delivery of the award winning cultural project, Exhibition Road Quarter for the V&A London, a technically challenging project which required an aspirational approach to technical detailing alongside sensitivity in working with 5 interfacing Grade 1 listed buildings.

Following this, he was a critical member of a small team developing and delivering the eagerly anticipated Access Centre and Undergraduate Centre in the heart of Wadham College’s historic campus at the University of Oxford. His role required effective communication and a collaborative approach to working alongside clients, consultants and contractors. Most notably, he led the design development and delivery of the two striking building facades which set-out to represent Wadham College’s modern outreaching philosophy.

Prior to working at AL_A, Matthew gained experience in several small-to-medium sized practices in Manchester, Leeds and Ahmedabad, India, where he completed a large number of domestic, residential, commercial and educational projects. He studied at Leeds School of Architecture, where he graduated with Distinction, and a number of his projects have been awarded and exhibited internationally.

saM Maindonald

Sam has over 20 years of experience designing and constructing within the building industry, operating in both the UK and the US across a wide range of climate zones. He successfully established his US company, Monarch Design, before returning to London in 2018.

Sam also has a devoted interest in horticulture and a wide knowledge of planting. His extensive experience managing the on-site delivery of projects, coupled with his frenetic conceptual personality, allows him to approach design holistically.

In 2013, Sam graduated from Leeds School of Landscape Architecture with a first-class honours degree, culminating in the delivery of an award-winning show garden at RHS Tatton Flower Show. The garden won the Silver Gilt Medal, in addition to the award for Most Creative Large Garden, and was a testament to Sam’s integrity and craftsmanship.