WebsiteAdam Robarts is the co-founder/ director of Robarts Spaces (www.robartsspaces.com), with over 100 staff and offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. After receiving a distinction in Architecture at Cambridge University, and his RIBA membership in 1989, Adam worked and taught in Manchester before arriving in China in 1993, where he lived and worked prior to temporarily moving to the UK in 2016. He now divides his time between the UK and China.
In 1995 Adam received China’s state level ‘Friendship Award’ - the highest honour that China gives to foreign experts, whilst teaching at Qinghua University. In 1997, Adam and his wife, Karyn, opened their architecture and design studio in Beijing and, ten years later, Adam was inducted as an honorary member of the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame, awarded to outstanding designers for their significant contribution to architecture and interior design. The Robarts Spaces’ portfolio includes over 1,000 completed projects in China - for workplaces, education and healthcare.
Adam and Karyn have four children who were born and raised in China. In May 2020, their son, Haydn, succumbed to brain cancer, and the family’s deeply inspiring story is the subject of Adam’s first book, “NINETEEN- 19 Insights Learned from a 19-Year-Old with Cancer.”