Dave Waddell Author

Adam Scott and Dave Waddell have spent more than a decade thinking, talking and writing about the making of experiences. An architect, stone mason, designer and teacher, Adam is something of a polymath and has won a number of Cannes Lions, not least for Blackpool’s Dune Grass, the tallest freestanding kinetic public art installation in the world. Along with Dave and his team at FreeState, working with some of the world’s greatest brands, urban planners, developers, architects and place activators, he has helped pioneer the concept of experience masterplanning for the likes of NIKE, Sony, Google, MTV, Manchester City Football Club, The Crown Estate, University of Glasgow, University of Melbourne, Network Rail, Transport for London and Melbourne Airport. It is an approach designed to help architects and developers properly meet the needs of the people they are designing and building for. As well as hosting the FreeState podcast, Adam’s experience, knowledge and eloquent advocacy for the transformational experience make him a sought-after keynote speaker, host and judge. In addition to helping design Central Saint Martins’ narrative environment curriculum, Adam is a visiting lecturer and mentor at the renowned London-based arts and design college.

Dave is a writer, design strategist, teacher and one-time whisky aficionado. Having spent many years writing on the side while working as a primary school teacher, he set up his own copywriting company in 2010 and cut his teeth as a design, travel and drinks writer soon after. Following a revelatory experience visiting a distillery in Islay, Scotland, he became a budding whisky enthusiast, authored Whisky: The Knowledge (2015) and was, for a time, a world whisky awards judge. Having worked with Adam since his teaching days, much of Dave’s work in design is experience-based and is today largely and similarly focused on ensuring that architects and urban planners build the things that people need and want. He is co-author of House Paint & Other Stories (2014) and the architectural monograph From Now On (2020). As well as their blogs and articles, Adam and Dave collaborated on RETHINK Design Guide: Architecture for a post-pandemic world (2021). The Experience Book is their first full-length book.