Florian Rist is a Research Scientist at the Visual Computing Center (VCC) working with Professor Helmut Pottmann at KAUST.

He is a founding member of the Center for Geometry and Computational Design at TU Vienna and currently holds a double affiliation as a research scientist at the Visual Computer Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and as a senior scientist at the Institute of Arts and Design at TU Vienna.

He studied at TU Munich and the University of Technology Tokyo and is a licensed architect and member of the Chamber of Architects in Bavaria, Germany. Before returning to university, he worked as an architect at various well-known international architectural firms, including Wöhr Heugenhäuser Architects and Gerber Architects. His main fields of research are computational and parametric design, complex free form geometry in architecture, and digital fabrication.