Los Angeles

Alex Korter

CO Architects

AIA, RIBA, LEED AP BD+C

Alex Korter is a principal at CO Architects and leads the firm’s Building Facades Group. With over 25 years of international experience, he specializes in strategic planning, design, technical coordination, and management on diverse projects. With a focus on place, craft and performance-driven solutions, Alex has led the design and delivery processes for academic, healthcare, commercial and civic projects. Notable work includes the award-winning Health Sciences Innovation Building at the University of Arizona and the Student Services Building at Cal Poly Pomona. He is committed to developing innovative exterior envelope systems and making environmental, economic, social and functional sustainable design a fundamental part of every projects. Alex holds a Bachelor in Architecture from the University of Manchester and a Diploma in Architecture from the Glasgow School of Art. 

Esther Chao

CO Architects

Esther Chao is a senior associate at CO Architects with over nine years of experience on higher education, science & technology, and healthcare projects. Esther has worked on advanced facilities for clients such as the University of Texas at Austin, Northern Kentucky University, Arizona State University, University of California, Caltech, and the Terasaki Institute. She holds a special interest in facades, and recently worked on the facade development for the Engineering Discovery Building at UT Austin. The design uses terracotta, glass, limestone, and metal in unique and cohesive ways. Esther received her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture Studies from UCLA and a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan.

Stephen Maher

CO Architects

Stephen Maher has nine years of experience in healthcare, mixed-use, commercial, residential, and transit projects. Since joining CO Architects in 2020, Stephen’s focus has been on the UCI Health – Irvine’s exterior envelope design, development and structural coordination. The façade utilizes a unified curtainwall system and plays a key role in contributing to the energy performance on this all-electric hospital. Stephen received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon. Additionally, he has served as a studio instructor and a guest critic at the University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment and the Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture.

Lyndon Neri

Neri&Hu Design and Research Office

Lyndon Neri co-founded Neri&Hu Design and Research Office with Rossana Hu in 2006, an inter-disciplinary architectural design practice based in Shanghai. Neri received his Master of Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design and his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. Alongside his design practice, Neri has been deeply committed to architectural education and has taught and lectured in numerous universities. He was recently appointed as Visiting Faculty at Princeton University School of Architecture, starting spring semester 2024. Neri was appointed the Howard Friedman Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of California, Berkeley in 2023, the Design Critic in 2023 and the John C. Portman Design Critic in Architecture in 2019 and 2021 at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor in 2022 and Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor Chair in 2018 at the Yale School of Architecture. Neri co-authored and edited Persistence of Vision: Shanghai Architects in Dialogue published by MCCM Creations in 2007. In 2017, his first monograph Neri&Hu Design and Research Office was published by Park Books. In 2021, the second monograph Thresholds: Space, Time and Practice was published by Thames&Hudson and the Chinese edition was translated and published in 2023 by Guangxi Normal University Press.

Ross Wimer

AECOM

Ross Wimer, FAIA, leads AECOM’s national architectural design practice. His award-winning projects range from industrial design to city planning and super-tall buildings and have been built in 20 cities on five continents. He is known for exploring the link between architecture and engineering, and for an emphasis on the environmental performance of design. This broad perspective corresponds well with the new demands of Social Infrastructure which must address the needs of the local ecology and surrounding community as well as the building occupants and ownership. Ross’s projects have been published widely and shown at distinguished art exhibitions and institutions such as the Venice Biennale, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His projects have also received numerous prestigious international awards, including three Progressive Architecture awards. Mr. Wimer continues an active relationship with academia as a visiting design critic at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Southern California Institute of Architecture, UCLA, USC, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois – Chicago.

Kevin Nyhoff

CannonDesign

Kevin Nyhoff is a Design Principal based in Cannon Design’s San Diego office. With 30 years of experience, including a decade co-leading his own firm, he has significantly contributed to the built environment along the West Coast. He is renowned for his ability to merge aesthetics with functionality, creating cohesive and elegant architectural solutions that enhance communities and business outcomes. His designs prioritize the human condition, ensuring that spaces are both beautiful and beneficial for all who use them. His current work spans typologies, including a major airport, a community library, a fire station, multiple higher education buildings and more. Along with numerous project awards, Kevin was named a Leader of Influence in Architecture Design in 2023 by the San Diego Business Journal.

Robin Donaldson

Donaldson + Partners

With deep roots in Southern California, founder Robin Donaldson studied painting, printmaking, and architectural theory at UCSB, earned his Master’s degree in Architecture from SCI-Arc, and spent his early career working at Morphosis. Since founding Donaldson + Partners, he has developed a trans-disciplinary design team working with a diverse range of clients to realize extraordinary ground-up residential projects and create homes for creative enterprises ranging from company headquarters to a home for quantum computers; and—on the home front—founded an R+D lab dedicated to formulating and articulating new materials, methods, design strategies,
and architectural applications.

Donaldson has been widely recognized for his interdisciplinary creativity, collaboration-intensive teamwork and creative cultural awareness. His architectural work has been published locally, nationally, and internationally in Elle Decor, GA Houses, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, and more. With offices in Los Angeles and Orange County, he lives in Santa Barbara, above
the store.

Sabina Cheng

RIOS

Sabina is adept at designing high-performance places centered around culture and history to create lively public destinations. Her brilliant vision is mindful of sustainability and integrates placemaking to amplify connections between people and the environment.

Sabina’s wisdom empowers others to do their best work. She brings over a decade of architecture experience with a passion of creating human-centered designs that bring diverse groups together and support social interactions. Her approach responds to clients’ interests, while addressing efficiency to enhance everyday life.

Sabina excels at solving issues and organizing chaos by combing systems into strategic and environmentally impactful designs that help people connect and enhance living. Her work takes cues from the site’s surrounding environment and history to create places that are active and interconnected yet distinct. She’s contributed to commercial and educational projects of all scopes and sizes around the globe, from Turkey to Azerbaijan and Hawaii.

Peter Birkholz

Page & Turnbull

Peter Birkholz, AIA, LEED AP, DBIA, is president and principal of architecture and historic preservation firm, Page & Turnbull located in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.

An authority on architecture and preservation impacting cities and waterfronts, Birkholz’ major architecture and planning projects include the Exploratorium at Pier 15 interactive museum, the rehabilitated Pacific Telephone Building in San Francisco, waterfront buildings such as Piers 1-1/2, 3 and 5, and mixed-use projects including Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco’s Market Square. He has led the Page & Turnbull team on the award-winning Livermore Rail Depot Renovation and is working on privately funded resiliency efforts for several piers in the National Register-listed Embarcadero Historic District.

Birkholz joined Page & Turnbull in 2007 after serving as project architect while at the firm Tom Eliot Fisch. He received an architecture degree from Iowa State University in 1984 and is a registered architect in California and a LEED Accredited Professional (BD+C) by the U.S. Green Building Council. Birkholz is also a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and past chair of the Oakland Landmark Preservation Advisory Board.

Lisa Rammig

Eckersley O'Callaghan

Lisa leads Eckersley O’Callaghan’s West Coast offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She joined EOC in 2013 to support the practice’s emerging facade engineering group in London and after playing a significant role in the group’s exceptional growth, Lisa has been responsible for the expansion of EOC’s West Coast presence.

Lisa directs EOC’s R&D efforts, focusing on innovative glass designs and technology.

She remains heavily involved in academia particularly with the Facade Research Group at TU Delft where she pursued her doctoral research and has built strong links between research and industry.

James Warton

HKS

Throughout his career in architecture, James Warton has maintained an interest in cutting-edge manufacturing processes and developed specialized concentration in high-resolution additive processes. He is currently focused on highly articulated metal structures and direct-to-fabrication methodologies. Within HKS | LINE his responsibilities encompass a broad range of activities that span from preliminary analysis and conceptual design through the design development and documentation of complex architectural systems. His role demonstrates proactive engagement with practice leading to implementation of additively manufactured building-scale assemblies. These efforts represent a cumulative contribution to professional and academic discourse surrounding computational design and digital fabrication, as well as serve to further application and advancement in real-world construction scenarios while expanding the field’s awareness of emerging technologies.

Sanjeev Tankha

Starq Design Inc.

AIA Principal

Sanjeev brings 28 years of experience in design integration of innovative and advanced building technology with a focus in Facades and specialty structures.

Sanjeev has led the design and construction of the facades and specialty systems for several large aviation, sports, and commercial projects in the US and around the world. Sanjeev is recognized as a Subject matter expert and has lectured in national and international conferences about building technology and facades. Sanjeev is also a guest lecturer at Sci Arch and USC on building technology and facades.

Sanjeev has a Masters degree in Building Science from the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, India in 1990.

He is a licensed architect in the state of California.

Viktor Paulius

Hensel Phelps

Viktor Paulius has ten years of experience with Hensel Phelps in Southern California working on projects in the aviation, higher education & healthcare markets. Viktor was a member of the design-build team behind the exterior facade of the recently opened UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building in Irvine, collaborating with CO Architects, WSP USA, Degenkolb & Enclos.

Matt Barnard

Degenkolb

Matt Barnard, SE, is a Senior Principal with Degenkolb Engineers and leads both the firm’s SoCal Healthcare and Education Practice Areas. He is the Office Director for the Orange County Office. Matt also serves as the Principal-In-Charge and SEOR on various projects from new design-build hospitals to renovation, retrofit, evaluation, and review projects for various healthcare providers and for various educational systems. For the UCI Medical Center project, Matt is the Structural Principal-In-Charge and project SEOR.