Danny Forster is an Emmy-award-winning producer, educator, and an internationally recognised architectural designer. His wide-ranging career is unified in his singular ability to teach people to find meaning in buildings, and in his passion for opening their eyes to the built world that surrounds them. Danny was the on-screen host... Read more
Danny Forster is an Emmy-award-winning producer, educator, and an internationally recognised architectural designer. His wide-ranging career is unified in his singular ability to teach people to find meaning in buildings, and in his passion for opening their eyes to the built world that surrounds them.
Danny was the on-screen host and then producer of the Discovery Channel’s award-winning series Build It Bigger. The show brought Danny to pioneering construction projects in more than fifty countries. At each site he would go to extreme lengths—two miles under a seismic zone in a Peruvian tunnel, landing in a chopper on the back of a top-secret Naval vessel, 1,600 feet in the air outside a twisting skyscraper—to make complex architectural content accessible to a wide audience.
Turning to the genre of long-form documentary, Danny created and directed Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero, an Emmy Award-winning six-episode series. With Steven Spielberg, his co-executive producer, Danny chronicled the vast effort to rebuild and reimagine lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11, as well as the human stories behind that effort. As it movingly portrays of civic survival and rebirth, the film argues implicitly that understanding what we build is key to knowing our city and ourselves. He is now producing and directing several other projects for film and television, including a global travel and architecture series for Discovery International and a follow-up to Rising, which will air in 2015.
Danny also teaches sustainable design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (his alma mater) and at the Syracuse University School of Architecture. He lectures internationally about architecture, engineering, and sustainability, and serves as architecture and engineering expert for Discovery Education, a world leader in children’s digital educational content.
He graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in architectural history, and achieved a master’s degree in architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Earlier in his career, he was a stand-up comedian and real estate broker. An entrepreneur, Danny has founded two companies, Urban Filter in 2001, a web-based real estate start-up that helped recent graduates find apartments in major cities, which he has since sold on, and design firm DANNY FORSTER Design Studio in 2007, which finds sustainable and ingenious solutions to architectural puzzles. DFDS projects in include designing (with Peter Koon architects) a 35-story hotel on the southern edge of Ground Zero, a DFDS tower anchoring a massive downtown redevelopment in Nashville, Tennessee, a LEED Gold certified Michigan lake house, an office expansion for New York fashion designer Lela Rose, a redesign of the 9/11 Tribute Center, and a floating foyer for Curious Pictures.
In 2013, Forster spoke at the Global Minds conference in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on behalf of Russian bid to host the EXPO 2020. In 2014, Forster delivered a TED talk in Traverse City, Michigan, “Looking vs. Reading: Filmmaking Architecture” and spoke at the 34th annual Future of Education Technology Conference.
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You can book Danny Forster through London Speaker Bureau by submitting the enquiry form on this page or calling our team. One of our consultants will respond promptly with Danny's current availability, speaking fees and any specific requirements for your event.
Danny Forster's speaking fees depend on the event format (in-person or virtual), the location, the length of the engagement and the level of customisation required. Please contact London Speaker Bureau for an up-to-date fee quote for Danny tailored to your event.
Danny Forster speaks on Cities, Future, Future & Technology, Innovation & Creativity, Smart Cities. Talks can be shaped around your audience, industry and strategic objectives - share your event brief with London Speaker Bureau and we will work with Danny to align the content with your delegates and goals.
London Speaker Bureau can book Danny Forster for events worldwide, subject to Danny's schedule. Please send us your event date, location and format and we will confirm availability and handle travel and logistics on your behalf.
Virtual and hybrid keynotes are now a standard part of the speaking industry. Please contact London Speaker Bureau to confirm whether Danny Forster is available to deliver a virtual session for your event and on which platform (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, a bespoke studio or your own).
Most keynote speeches run between 45 and 60 minutes, often followed by a 15-30 minute Q&A. Other formats - shorter conference slots, panel appearances or longer workshop sessions - may also be possible. Share your agenda with London Speaker Bureau and we will confirm what Danny can accommodate.
London Speaker Bureau will brief Danny Forster on your audience profile, sector and objectives so the keynote can be shaped around your event. The level of customisation possible depends on the speaker and the lead time - contact us with your brief and we will confirm what Danny can offer.
Danny Forster delivers keynotes in English. This profile may not list every language available; ask London Speaker Bureau to confirm. If you require simultaneous interpretation or a multilingual format, please mention this in your enquiry and London Speaker Bureau will arrange it for you.
Danny Forster's areas of expertise include Cities, Future, Future & Technology, Innovation & Creativity, Smart Cities. To get a clear sense of Danny's style, credentials and how they engage an audience, please review the biography, popular talks and any videos or testimonials shown on this page, or request a detailed speaker brief from London Speaker Bureau.
Danny Forster can be booked through London Speaker Bureau for corporate conferences, leadership events, internal team meetings, association gatherings and private client engagements where expertise in Cities, Future, Future & Technology, Innovation & Creativity, Smart Cities is relevant. Details of Danny's background and previous engagements are included in the biography above; contact us if you would like a more detailed list of past clients or case studies.
Beyond keynote speeches, many of the speakers on our roster also take part in workshops, executive masterclasses, panel discussions and fireside chats. Contact London Speaker Bureau with your preferred format and we will confirm what Danny Forster is able to offer alongside or instead of a keynote.
We generally recommend enquiring at least three to twelve months in advance to secure your preferred date with Danny Forster, particularly during peak conference seasons. Where possible we also accommodate shorter lead times - please contact London Speaker Bureau to check Danny's current availability for your dates.