UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - Key Persons
Brendan has focused his career on creating innovative built environments for educational and corporate clients. His passion for design runs from the earliest stages of conceptual development through the final days of construction, resulting in work that is both beautifully conceived, and of the highest technical rigor. Brendan's design leadership is strengthened by his ability as a keen listener, understanding of cost effective sustainable strategies, as well as his strong project management and verbal and graphic communication skills.
Brendan works nationally on educational projects, student housing, and corporate workplaces, all with the same attention to design, and high performing sustainable buildings and landscapes. With extensive experience in the design of deep green projects including net zero energy and Living Buildings, he is dedicated to integrated thinking and collaboration to realize client aspirations and goals. Brendan serves on Mithun's Board of Directors, and serves as a lecturer and member of the Professional Advisory Council of the University of Washington College of Built Environments.
Duncan helps clients create sustainable solutions aligned with their enterprise goals. A licensed architect and Lean certified practitioner with nearly 25 years experience, he champions the triple bottom line of equity, economy and environment as the true north in his work. His ability to deliver high performance environments that maximize health and well-being benefits is a game-changer for clients.
Duncan has managed initiatives on over 1.3 million square feet of hospital and clinic projects. He often engages in project design modeling for energy efficiency and worked with the Integrated Design Lab (UW) and Solarc in Seattle to research ideal solutions for energy reduction in hospitals. The results were published in a study entitled Targeting 100! that guides healthcare facilities in meeting Architecture 2030 goals by getting to 100 kBtu/SF/year.
He often presents at numerous conferences including CleanMed, the AIA National conference, Greenbuild and ASHE National. Topics include research projects, simulations and their applications for high performance healthcare projects. A committed urban environmentalist, Duncan often leads efforts to organize and connect colleagues with local non-profit organizations to improve the Seattle community where he lives.
With more than 20 years of experience with educational clients, Jesse is passionate about creating sustainable, healthy spaces for learners of all ages. As project architect and energy efficiency specialist he works closely with design teams and district staff to maximize efficiency, and lower operational and embodied carbon. Jesse is committed to mentoring Mahlum staff and sharing his knowledge of the profession.
Jesse holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is a registered architect in Washington, a LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC), and serves on the National AIA 2030 Working Group.
joined The Miller Hull Partnership in 2005 where he is currently a Principal and leading the firm's sustainability team. Jim serves as Building Performance Lead on the firm's most high performing projects, with a focus on energy performance, decarbonization, passive design, daylighting, ventilation, comfort and mechanical system integration. He works starting in project early phases through delivery of technical design and beyond to post-occupancy evaluation.
Kristian combines a passion for sustainable buildings and innovation with pragmatic solutions for educational programming and design. His leadership throughout the design process relies on collaboration to develop high-performance solutions. Kristian directs efforts within the firm to eliminate toxic materials from specifications, improve integrated design processes, refine daylighting strategies, and reduce embodied carbon. He is also responsible for collecting data on the energy performance of Bassetti's projects and reporting to the AIA as part of our 2030 commitment. Kristian has initiated Bassetti's partnerships with the University of Washington's Center for Integrated Design and Portland State University's BUILT Building Science Lab, and sits on the UW Department of Architecture's Professionals Advisory Council.
BD+C, is a principal at Miller Hayashi Architects. She leads projects from design through construction for a variety of public agencies throughout the region. Her work includes schools, early learning centers, higher education facilities, and community buildings. She enjoys the process of community engagement in making architecture. Laura holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Washington and a Bachelor's in Architecture from the University of Michigan. Before moving to Seattle to attend UW she practiced in New York with Baxt Ingui Architects and interned at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Job Titles:
- NBBJ 's Global Sustainable Practice Leader
Her work includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle, the world's largest LEED Platinum non-profit headquarters; and currently Microsoft's Zero Carbon LEED Platinum Redmond campus project. Margaret is currently serving on the board of the International Living Future Institute, and recently co-chaired the national AIA Framework for Design Excellence committee.
She previously chaired the AIA Energy Leadership group and the Large Firm Roundtable Sustainability committee She has served on various national juries including the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards and Stephen R. Kellert Biophilic Design Awards and is a sought-after speaker at events, including the Zero Net Carbon China Forum.
Margaret Montgomery is NBBJ's global sustainable practice leader. She leads initiatives and projects with the goal of creating healthy places that reunite people with nature. Employing strategies that range from biophilia and indoor air quality to zero net carbon design, she encourages teams to improve building performance, ecosystem vitality and human experience on each project. She has more than 30 years of experience in civic, commercial, corporate, higher education and healthcare architecture.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager at Weinstein a U
Matthew Zinski is a project manager at Weinstein A+U with experience in multiple project types. Through his technical design skills, material sensibility, and concern for beauty he seeks to positively influence the built world. Matthew is active in the design community - including teaching studio classes at SUNY University at Buffalo, chairing the SW Design Review Board, and co-coordinating the 2015 Seattle Design Festival. Matthew is licensed in the states New York and Washington. He holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from SUNY University at Buffalo.
Neha Goel, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP (BD+C) is an associate at Weber Thompson and a core team member of firm's internal sustainability task force. She works on high performance building projects in Weber Thompson's workplace studio. She is the Project Architect and construction administrator for 35 Stone, a mixed-use mass timber commercial office project in Fremont targeting Living Building Petal certification as part of Seattle Living Building Pilot Program, currently under construction.
At Weber Thompson, she leads the adoption of Rosetta Stone, a research tool developed by Integrated Design Lab to bridge design projects with peer reviewed literature. The work supports and formalizes sustainable design intent, amplifying design strengths and client value, and helps protect key design decisions from external pressure such as construction costs.
She's invested in growing a pool of next generation qualified architects that is ethnically more diverse to meet AIA's Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging goals. As an NCARB Architect Licensing Advisor, she mentors candidates with diverse foreign architecture education backgrounds to accelerate their path to licensure in the US.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair of AIA Seattle 's Honor Award Committee
Treated stormwater runs in Rachael Meyer's blood. Since joining Weber Thompson in 2016 as the Landscape Architecture Principal, Rachael quickly distinguished herself with her forward-thinking approach to urban design. Her recent work includes landscape designs for nationally recognized projects, such as the Aurora Bridge Bioswales, which clean over two million gallons of runoff annually, and the public open space and green infrastructure at Northlake Commons.
Promoted to Director of Sustainability in 2023, Rachael also spearheads Weber Thompson's sustainability initiatives. Beyond her landscape architecture projects, her role emphasizes health, wellness, carbon reduction, and stormwater management, showcasing her commitment to sustainable urban developments.
An active participant in the design community as an accomplished speaker and author, Rachael currently serves as the co-chair of AIA Seattle's Honor Award Committee. Additionally, she has served on boards for NAIOPWA, the UW Landscape Professional Advisory Committee, Architects without Borders and the Washington Association of Landscape Architects Executive Board.
Job Titles:
- Olson Kundig 's Director of Building Performance
, Olson Kundig's director of building performance, has been working on high performance design for over eighteen years, combining technical expertise with a love of design. Since joining Olson Kundig in 2016, Vikram has infused the firm with his infectious curiosity about how buildings can best support the health and well-being of their occupants. Often, this is achieved through a more harmonious relationship to nature. "In design," Vikram notes, "high performance isn't about finding the answers. It's about asking the right questions. I want to ensure we are coming up with creative questions from the start that lead us down a path of discovery."
Vikram earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the Academy of Architecture in Mumbai, India. Even before he began studying architecture formally, Vikram was most inspired by spaces that foster a connection between people and nature. At Arizona State University, Vikram found his calling in the Master of Science in Building Design program, focusing on energy performance and climate-responsive architecture. Since then, Vikram has worked for sustainability consulting firms as well as architecture firms. He has also developed Chhaya, an interactive analysis tool that quickly gives designers actionable building performance and climate data.
Today, Vikram leads Olson Kundig's participation on the AIA 2030 Commitment and provides mentorship to the firm's designers with regards to thermal comfort, materials impact, energy use and any number of other performance strategies. He also helps the firm understand sustainability ratings systems such as LEED®, WELL Building and Passivhaus. Vikram is active on the research side of building performance, speaks regularly at sustainable leadership conferences and has served as adjunct faculty at Georgia Tech and the University of Washington. At Olson Kundig, Vikram frequently leads workshops and charrettes to explore new green building innovations with colleagues.
Vikram Sami, Olson Kundig's director of building performance, has been working on high performance design for over eighteen years, combining technical expertise with a love of design. Since joining Olson Kundig in 2016, Vikram has infused the firm with his infectious curiosity about how buildings can best support the health and well-being of their occupants. Often, this is achieved through a more harmonious relationship to nature. "In design," Vikram notes, "high performance isn't about finding the answers. It's about asking the right questions. I want to ensure we are coming up with creative questions from the start that lead us down a path of discovery."