SALA - Key Persons
Alyssa approaches design as a tool to enhance our daily experience in concert with the context of place. She believes architecture should be beautiful, functional, responsive, sustainable, and ultimately timeless.
Alyssa enjoys the process of getting to know each project's context. Whether urban or rural, the complexities of the environment, neighboring uses, history, culture, and thoughts about the future, all shape and inform her design thinking. Alyssa also believes clients bring invaluable sources of design inspiration and listens carefully to each daily ritual or stylistic value to ensure what is built reflects its inhabitants. Alyssa has a wide breadth of experience working with non-profits, private developers, and individuals throughout her career. She has collaborated on projects locally and abroad, from a net zero home in the Twin Cities to family townhomes in Ethiopia. She values each project team member and always strives for excellence as a contributor.
Alyssa grew up in a nomadic military family but has found a home in Minnesota. Even so, it was the many homes and travel experiences, on both East and West American coasts and in Europe, that awakened her to the world of architecture. She cemented her love of design while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture at the University of Minnesota and later a Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon. Her graduate studies focused on many technical subjects including passive strategies and high performance enclosures - studies that continue to guide many of her passions. Alyssa is a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) and currently serves as Vice President of the Minnesota Chapter of Phius Alliance.
In her free time, Alyssa enjoys adventuring with her family, playing the piano, and sailing the local lakes.
Bryan infuses projects large and small with a combination of functional delight and environmental responsibility. Influenced by a passion for modernism and the rural vernacular outbuildings of his youth, Bryan particularly enjoys designing spaces and structures that reduce excess, minimize complexity, and surpass expectations.
Bryan harnesses the power of relationship with owners, builders and consultants to create success in every project. The spaces we inhabit are personal, yet they impact community and climate alike. Bryan seeks projects and clients that balance these considerations with empathy, commitment and creativity.
He has contributed thoughts on architecture and community to local periodicals; served on the boards of AIA Minneapolis and Northern Clay Center; and was awarded the AIA Minnesota and Midwest Home magazine's Emerging Talent in 2012.
Bryan began his career with SALA Architects as a summer intern in 1998. An invitation to return the following spring sealed his fate (and dream!) leading to his current managing partner role. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from North Dakota State University and a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership from Saint Catherine University.
He is a licensed architect in Minnesota and Wisconsin, among others.
Dale Mulfinger was born and raised on a dairy farm in Minnesota, and the rural landscape and vernacular architecture have informed his many designs. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, he worked nationally and internationally before becoming a Founding Partner in 1983 of what is now SALA Architects, Inc. The breadth of his work at SALA includes modest remodels and additions, lakeside cabins, along with urban and rural homes from St. Paul to Buenos Aires.
He taught architectural studios at the University of Minnesota and other schools from 1976 to 2013. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and author of six books include the The Architecture of Edwin Lundie and The Cabin. He has authored over 100 articles in regional and national magazines and his sustaining research on cabins has earned him the title, "Cabinologist". He along with his wife and chef Jan Mulfinger, have lived in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis for 40 years, raising two daughters.
In 2015 he was named "Architect of Distinction" by AIA-MN and Midwest Home magazine.
Enhancing the lives of clients and communities through sustainable and contextual architecture is David's goal for each project. Through a process of observation, research and dialogue, David creates places that reflect the unique attributes of each client and landscape. Additionally, his investigations of climate, terrain and culture bring regionally influenced shape and form to his work, which echoes local traditions, harmonizes with the environment and meets the needs of today's modern lifestyles.
David's 28 years of architectural experience includes a broad mix of urban and rural design, residential and commercial projects and art installations. His work has appeared in numerous books and publications, including Lakeside Living, The Distinctive Home, The New York Times, The StarTribune, Cottage Living Magazine and Architecture Minnesota.
Prior to joining SALA in 2000, David worked for several Seattle-area firms noted for their regionally sensitive designs, including Cutler/Anderson Architects and Olson|Kundig Architects. David received his Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and Bachelor of Architecture degrees from Washington State University in 1993. David is a member of the American Institute of Architects, is NCARB-certified and is registered in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Washington State.
Eric believes in the design of finely crafted and sustainable architecture that uniquely manifests the personalities of both client and site. He is equally at home with contemporary or traditional vernaculars focusing on regional culture and local materials, while constantly striving for the most economical and ecological solutions that resonate with the environment. His designs are all about listening and learning.
Jody has a passion for all scales of design, and has strengthened this through research on housing in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the urban fabric in Osaka, Japan and working closely with cabinetmakers in Connecticut. She teaches architectural design studio at the University of Minnesota. She values collaboration, communication, and innovation throughout the design and construction processes.
Jody is a member of the AIA, holds an NCARB certificate and is a LEED AP. She is a registered architect in Minnesota, New York, Connecticut and Wisconsin. She lives in a soon-to-be 100 year old bungalow in South Minneapolis.
Prior to entering architecture school at the University of Minnesota, Katie studied studio art at Gustavus Adolphus College, concentrating in oil painting. Knowing that she did not want to pursue a career as a fine artist prompted her to find a path that used both her creativity and skills in the arts, and her talent for physics and analytical thinking. This search began her passion for architecture.
She has been working in architecture for the past 8 years, receiving her license in October 2017. Her career so far has gained her experience in a variety of project types, including residential, educational, religious, recreational and park projects. She joined the team at SALA in 2013; while here her most notable work has been with the Shadow Box House designed by Katherine Hillebrand, and the Net Zero Victorian by Marc Sloot.
Born and raised in MN, Katie has since traveled across the world. She is always looking for moments of extraordinary architecture; for places that move someone out of their expectations of what a space can do. She resides in a 1926 arts and crafts bungalow in South Minneapolis with her husband and their calico kitty.
Throughout the process of design, construction and living in your new home or remodel, your journey should be fun, educational and uplifting. Regardless of your aesthetic preference or project size, Marc is uniquely skilled at providing you with the level of service you need to create a project that is beautiful, functional and holistically green.
Through his passion for sustainability, Marc also plays a major role in keeping SALA on the cutting edge of beautiful green design. He does this with a strong knowledge of the technical issues related to design and construction, a wonderful sense of beauty and an understanding of how to weave all these elements into creative designs through an enjoyable, understandable design process.
Marta grew up with a little loft bedroom in a modest cabin-like house near the shores of Lake Minnetonka. Sawdust was ever-present and the walls of the house were constantly moving - the product of parents who embodied a creative ‘do-it-yourself' lifestyle. This upbringing influenced Marta's understanding of creating spaces. She thoroughly embraces the opportunities to enhance the value of our everyday lives that the intimate scale of a home or small structure allows.
From a secret tea-pantry in a book-lined library to jewel-box-like powder room, Marta's projects strive to provide deeply personal architectural moment for her clients. She does this through careful listening to her clientele and finding practical and creative responses to our built environment through design. After her brother was paralyzed, a particular focus of hers has been everyday universal accessible design.
Marta majored in Architecture at Yale University. She then spent a few years in San Francisco, working in architecture and enjoying the Bay Area. She earned her Master of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2002. When it came time to settle down and raise a family, the draw of her childhood community and connection to "The Lake" brought her back home to Minnesota. After a 12 year interlude spent focusing on raising her two daughters and creating educational and drawing apps with her husband, she joined SALA at the beginning of 2017. Marta is a licensed architect in the state of Minnesota.
Matt Wingard grew up with a carpenter for a father, teaching him the joy of crafting things by hand. Through his early career he followed a circuitous path through philosophy, non-profits, different building trades, and his own contracting company before pivoting towards architecture. Working construction didn't hold enough intellectual challenge or aesthetic outlet, he enjoyed the making part but felt unsatisfied he was not creating anything beautiful.
While pursuing his Masters in Architecture at the University of Minnesota, he became enamored with SALA's design work - on one occasion he attempted to ‘stop by' the office to try and learn more about the firm. Drawn to architecture that is sensorial and tactile, Matt's affiliation for humanist and compassionate spaces fits well in the SALA philosophy. He joined the Minneapolis office in 2017.
Matt shares a home with his wife and three daughters in the Field neighborhood of Minneapolis. It seems there is always a significant home project in the works, putting his contractor's skills to work. When he's able, he enjoys scuba diving, exploring landscapes that are about as alien as possible from the woods of Wisconsin.
While pursuing his Masters in Architecture at the University of Minnesota, he became enamored with SALA's design work - on one occasion he attempted to ‘stop by' the office to try and learn more about the firm. Drawn to architecture that is sensorial and tactile, Matt's affiliation for humanist and compassionate spaces fits well in the SALA philosophy. He joined the Minneapolis office in 2017.
Matt shares a home with his wife and three daughters in the Field neighborhood of Minneapolis. It seems there is always a significant home project in the works, putting his contractor's skills to work. When he's able, he enjoys scuba diving, exploring landscapes that are about as alien as possible from the woods of Wisconsin.
He is currently the Co-Chair of the AIA MN Architecture Licensing Advisory Committee.
Paul Buum rejoined SALA Architects in 2001 after a four-and-a-half-year position as Senior Designer with a nationally recognized design/build firm. Paul was also a project architect with SALA from 1989 to 1996.
Paul's new houses employ vernacular forms and open floor plans, while his remodels seamlessly blend the positive attributes of old and new. Paul favors a residential architecture less interested in itself and more resembling the people who live in it. Each project is new, yet still familiar.
Paul has been published extensively in various home journals and has new homes featured in the books Farmhouse: New Inspiration for the Classic American Home, The Simple Home and Not So Big Remodeling all published by Taunton Press.
He has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded Top Honors for Thesis, and was the recipient of the prestigious Young Architects Award from AIA Minnesota in 2007. Paul is a registered architect in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota and is NCARB-certified.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal AIA, CID
Through most of his career, Paul Hannan has specialized in residential architecture, which allows him to work within the framework of a wide variety of architectural styles.
New construction or remodeling, primary residence or second home, every project incorporates his talents and knowledge. He works with you, the owner, to design the most important home, yours.
Paul has been working with SALA since 1995. He has had projects published in Trends, This Old House Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens and Minnesota Home and Design, as well as books including The Not So Big House, Home by Design and Celebrating the American Home.
Paul received his Bachelors of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota. He is a registered architect in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan and Wisconsin and a certified interior designer in Minnesota.