Amin Taha was born in Berlin and has been settled in the UK since 1974. He began an independent studio in 2003 and incorporated Groupwork as an Employee Ownership Trust of which he currently sits as chairman. as well as running the design and detailing or projects Amin has taught, written, and lectured on architecture, sat on the RIBA National and International Awards Jury and aids property related research groups and funds.

Leo William Zahner III is the CEO of Zahner, an architectural metal company known for their contribution and execution of high-profile structures such as Sofi Stadium, Google Bay View Campus, and the de Young Museum. Bill is credited with transforming the company from a regional sheet-metal contractor into the acclaimed architectural metals and facades producer it is today. He also guided the company towards advanced manufacturing, technical innovation, as well as producing works by celebrated artists across the globe. Zahner has authored seven books on architectural metals, including the Architectural Metal Surfaces and Architectural Metals: A Guide to Selection, Specification, and Performance.

Zahner was inducted as an honorary AIA member in 2007. In 2013, Zahner was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to the Manufacturing Council, where he represented Missouri’s Fifth District. Zahner holds over five patents which pertain to the Architectural Metals industry he serves as the Industry Liaison for the National Architectural Committee of SMACNA, and in 2006, was awarded the Copper Medal, Associazone Italiana di Metallurgia.

Heidi Creighton, FAIA is the National Head of Sustainability for Skanska USA Commercial Development. As a passionate advocate and pioneer in the green building industry, she is charged with identifying solutions that improve asset performance, energy management, community engagement, and user experience while furthering the company’s ESG strategy. Heidi is FAIA, a LEED Fellow, WELL AP, a Fitwel Ambassador, and creator of the Collective Impact speaker series. Recent accolades include recognition by the World Architecture News for the Female Frontiers Award for Social Change in 2022, USGBC-LA’s 2021 Heart of the Chapter Award, and elevation to AIA’s College of Fellows in 2021.

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Yan has lived in Los Angeles since the age of three. Growing up in an immigrant household left Yan with a multicultural experience that he shares with many Angelinos and an outsider perspective that informs his work.

Yan Krymsky’s passion for art guides his approach to architecture. As the Design Director of Perkins&Will’s LA studio, he promotes the idea that design is a process by which meaning is discovered through geometric and material exploration. Combining research with imagination is imperative, Krymsky believes, because it leads to unconventional and surprising design solutions. As a result, his work is characterized by its expressive form and bold use of color. These elements come together to create functional, multilayered architectural expressions that represent the values and cultures of the people they serve.

Katie Horak is a Los Angeles-area native and Principal in ARG’s Los Angeles office. She has nearly twenty years’ experience in the field of historic resource management in both the public and private sectors. Katie is a recognized leader in the industry, bringing creative and innovative solutions to complex issues related to historic site documentation, preservation policy and approvals processes, heritage management and interpretation, and adaptive re-use.

John Bechtel, AIA is the Architecture Studio Director for ARG’s Los Angeles office. He brings over 30 years’ experience to ARG. In the course of his career, he has been involved in a broad variety of markets, project types and clients in California and the West Coast. He has led design teams in Education, Civic, Sports and Hospitality and Commercial projects, and has managed local and regional practices. His teams’ work has been recognized for their design and technical excellence.

John is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Construction Specifications Institute, the National Organization of Minority Architects, and the Asian American Architects and Engineers.

Nolan offers a diverse background in both private and public sectors, offering efficient structural solutions that satisfy programming goals and exceed client expectations. As a LEED-certified engineer, Nolan seeks creative answers to some of our most pressing environmental concerns in the A/E/C industry, which translates to sustainable opportunities within his projects.

His passion for both architecture and science offers a translation between design languages, driving novel structural ideas that respect design dialogues while generating cost savings, optimizing construction schedules, and maximizing stakeholder value.

Bob is the Sales Director of Tianjin Northglass for North America, the leading fabricator of specialty and oversized architectural glass for the global construction industry.
Bob has many years of experience working with Quality Control department. Bob was the project manager for Apple Park project in Cupertino, supporting the design team on the glass selection for Apple’s new headquarters. In 2015, Bob came to the US to make more connections with architects and support their designs of future projects with the innovation and capabilities that Northglass has to offer.

Katherine Harvey has over 20 years of experience as a design professional integrating spatial practices with deep design thinking. Her training as both an architect and landscape architect is aligned with the practice’s goal of breaking down boundaries between the design disciplines to create holistic experiences.

She has led a range of projects from large scale masterplans to urban districts to botanical gardens. Katherine has a particular interest in large scale sites and complex landscapes which integrate ecosystems with the built environment. She has led RIOS’ master planning work for Descanso Gardens, One Beverly Hills, and La Casa de Maria coordinating across disciplinary boundaries to create new opportunities for landscape resiliency.

Her recent plans have addressed water independence and disaster recovery all while balancing human experience and fostering stewardship. She is passionate about landscape architects tackling carbon neutrality and has led the practice in building guidelines for maintaining accountability in our projects. Katherine has taught studios and lectures at the University of Southern California and continues to engage academia as an invited critic and through design mentorship.

O’Hara is facade director for the Skins Group, a division of Studio NYL, established to provide full service facade design specializing in thermal modeling, moisture/condensation analysis, and in-depth detailing. Although Studio NYL is recognized for its skins work with cutting-edge glass and glazing, their team also specializes in digitally fabricated metal skins, GFRC, reinforced polymers, stone, ultra high performance concrete, terra cotta, and traditional precast. O’Hara is currently working on multiple projects in the Boston area.

Andrea Zani is the Building Physics and Sustainability Leader at Permasteelisa North America where he is responsible for managing and leading the Building Physics team in delivering high-performance curtain wall systems for all North American projects. Andrea is also involved in innovative design concepts and advanced simulation techniques with the goal of improving user comfort, increasing energy efficiency, and decreasing carbon emissions.
Currently, he is a Member of Society of Facade Engineering and co-chair of the North-America Hub, active in FTI Advocacy and Embodied Carbon committee and he collaborates with LBNL Window Group and CBE Berkeley on several research activities.

Andrea holds a master degree and Ph.D in Building Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan.

Irene Pau Martin is an Associate at Arup with an Environmental and Mechanical Engineering background. She leads the Building Envelope Physics sub-discipline within the Americas Region and co-leads the Los Angeles Facades team. Having worked in London and Los Angeles, Irene has 16 years of experience on international projects ranging from historic buildings to new-build museums and office towers. Her passion for environmental considerations and occupant comfort has led her to advocate for thoughtful envelope designs that balance architectural delight with responsible resource consumption, particularly that of carbon and energy. Her design approach focuses on passive strategies—specific to each project site—to optimize the dynamic heat transfer between the indoor and outdoor environments. She also has a keen interest in healthy and sustainable materials. Irene has guest lectured at SCI-Arc and USC and has taught the highly popular AIA-accredited course, “Basics of Building Envelope Physics”.

Mr. Siegel is a Principal with Stantec Architecture. He has over three decades of experience with large, complex, cultural, institutional, corporate and mixed-use development projects. He has worked with prominent international architects around the globe, Tadao Ando, Ricardo Legoretta, Gert Windgardh and Ma Yansong.

His recent work has lead the design teams for the Swedish Embassy in Washington DC, Pioneer Park in Shenzhen China and Roosevelt Universities Vertical Campus in Chicago.

Michael is a designer, builder and athlete. Fascinated with the process of design connecting vision to craft, he has built a yacht and lives in endless renovation projects. As an athlete he is challenged by unfathomable events like the Ironman triathlon. The process of realizing the unfathomable comes to bear in his leadership of the design and engineering team on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.

Sophie holds 14+ years of experience in the design of complex structures and facades. She joined Enclos in 2018, where she has steered various projects’ specialty facades scope sales and design assist efforts, engaged in prototyping, modular curtainwall systems, and various research topics such as ultra-thin glass, facades acoustical analysis and sustainability. Prior to joining Enclos in Los Angeles, Sophie worked as a Structural Engineer with Arup NY, SHoP Construction and RFR in Paris. In 2010 through the industry-academia partnership IAPP ARC she developed cold bent glass numerical analysis tools. Sophie authored several research papers on structural glass and has been involved in the development of US structural glass codes with ASTM, the Journal of Architectural Engineering as an Associate Editor

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.

Kais Al-Rawi, AIA works at the intersection of architecture and engineering. He is a Senior Associate at the Los Angeles office for Walter P Moore. Kais focuses primarily on the façades and specialty structures of projects at a multitude of scales, ranging from artwork and stadia to airports and museums. His expertise has been leveraged on several high-profile projects including SoFi Stadium and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Kais is an established leader in the field of generative and computational design methods. He is the 2020 recipient of Walter P Moore’s Javier F. Horvilleur Outstanding Young Professional Award, Kais holds a Master’s Degree from the Architectural Association (AA) in London and is a graduate of Ryerson University in Toronto. In addition to speaking at multiple international conferences including Advanced Building Skins, Facade Tectonics Institute, and the IASS Conference, Kais also directs and teaches the AA Visiting School in Jordan and Los Angeles.

Darling is CEO, creative director, and co-founder of The Architect’s Newspaper, celebrating its 20th year. The A|N media company consists of print and digital publications covering architecture and design news, as well as the Facades+ and TECH+ conferences. As A|N’s publisher, Darling won the AIA National Collaboration Award, Grassroots Preservation Award, and ASLA NY’s President’s Award. She began her publishing career as director of print production for The Gap’s European markets. She holds a BS from The University of Texas at Austin.

An exceptional leader, Bradford J. Prestbo, FAIA, is advancing the profession through his practice, advocacy, and educational efforts in the use of cutting-edge design technologies, high-performance design, and the incorporation of maker culture into the design process.

Bradford also finds time to share his knowledge of advanced design technologies, high-performance design, and how maker culture is transforming our practice within the industry. He has practiced internationally, is a sought-after speaker, is frequently interviewed by publishers, and is an educator via his detailing workshops, higher-education classes, design juries, and mentorship of emerging professionals.

Bradford is actively involved in the AIA, and has been elevated to the College of Fellows for his notable contributions to the advancement of the profession of architecture. He is part of the leadership group in the AIA’s Technology in Architectural Practice Knowledge Community, and founded the Boston Society of Architect’s MakeTANK Knowledge Community, where he currently serves as the National Director.

Education
Bradford holds a degree from Syracuse University School of Architecture.

Jack Murphy is the Executive Editor of The Architect’s Newspaper. Previously, he was Editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston and Adjunct Professor at the Gerald D. Hines University of Houston College of Architecture and Design. He earned an undergraduate degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a graduate degree in architecture from Rice University. He has worked for award-winning architects in New York City, Houston, Austin, and Boston. His writing has appeared in Places Journal, Dwell, Architectural Record, The Architect’s Newspaper, Texas Architect, Cite, PLAT, Paprika!, New York Review of Architecture, The Houston Chronicle, and SF Gate, among other publications. He was Co-Editor-in-Chief for PLAT 7.5 Oversharing and PLAT 8.0 Simplicity and Assistant Editor of Totalization, edited by Troy Schaum and published by Park Books. He lives in Brooklyn.

Naseema views design as an investigation into the dynamics of cultural frameworks and a community’s unique connection to its urban and natural environment. She brings over 18 years of experience to her role and is proficient at orchestrating complex interdisciplinary project teams with a focused vision on an end result that supports the aspirations of the community in which it is situated. She has led cultural, civic, and commercial projects ranging from the repositioning of The Music Center Plaza to a true outdoor performance venue, concept design and entitlements for the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LA ART) urban gondola system, and The Resort at Playa Vista, an AIA LA COTE award-winning LEED Platinum certified community hub. These projects track an ongoing exploration into the seamless integration of tools from architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design to shape inventive placemaking strategies that respond to the unique relationship between a proposed program and the site’s environment. Naseema is inspired by the notion of craft and tectonics. Her personal interest in making manifests through construction as an art form, exploring the juxtaposition of materials and textures in projects which transcend disciplines.

Tim Nass has nearly 30 years of experience in the architectural glazing industry. As the Vice President of Sales at SAFTI FIRST, leading USA-manufacturer of fire rated glass and framing systems, he brings his extensive knowledge and expertise when working closely with architects, consultants, general contractors and glaziers to deliver a code-compliant glazing solution that meets all the aesthetic, performance and budget requirements of the project. Tim also oversees SAFTI FIRST’s global network of architectural sales representatives.

Tim Nass is a dynamic presenter and speaker who has been delivering educational presentations to various architecture firms, AIA local chapters, CSI local chapters, at the CSI National Convention and other architectural and glazing industry events.

Peter has 18 years’ experience in the facade industry and joined WindowMaster Clearline Inc as Sales Director in 2022. Peter is an engineer who brings extensive international facade product sales experience and technical expertise to WindowMaster’s growing automation hardware and control systems business. Peter is committed to providing optimized solutions that create impactful, real-world benefits for commercial and educational building stakeholders, but also for the environment using WindowMaster’s innovative, intelligently controlled natural ventilation technology.

Michael has over 20 years of real-world experience on many of largest, high profile projects throughout the Western United States. Through his knowledge and expertise, Michael developed a solid reputation working closely with inspectors, glazing contractors, and curtain wall consultants as a trusted resource on a wide range of curtain wall projects.
Michael is committed to ensure your project stays on budget and gets done right the first time from conception to close out. Prior to his role as Façade and Curtain Wall Specialist for the Western US and Canada, Michael was the Western United States and Hawaii Regional Manager.

Richard is attuned to solving for complex system assemblies and material interfaces. He helps guide project
development while mentoring young designers throughout design phases.

Richard approaches projects with joy and celebrates the process while continuing
to push the envelope of built environments. Closely involved in design, coordination,
and construction, he appreciates all phases of the design process. Particularly, he’s
keen on creating thoughtful initial concepts and narratives that form the basis of a
design and seeks to sensitively respond to the opportunities and constraints of a
project, including the site, climate, context, scale, and the program.

Richard is well-traveled and having lived in Shanghai and Rome, he’s adept at
architectural perspectives beyond western traditions. He’s contributed to several
international Embassy projects, sophisticated and complex in their programmatic
requirements and formal expressions. He appreciates elegance, simplicity, and
fostering exciting and collaborative ways to boost creativity. His design sensibility
and vision seek to straddle the complex and simple, striking the right balance for
responsive and timeless architecture.

Cory is an associate at Stantec specializing in the design and delivery of complex buildings. His work combines an expertise in computational design with deep investigations of specialty materials and assemblies. He has designed buildings, public spaces, and artworks with internationally acclaimed firms. Currently he is the lead architect for the façade and complex interior spaces of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Andrew is an innovative leader dedicated to redefining the future of project execution within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. He is a recognized façade and constructability expert whose experience with mass customization and computational design has resulted in the execution of some of the most geometrically complex projects in North America. By implementing emerging technologies and methodologies, Andrew is transforming traditional AEC practices and helping the industry fully embrace novel and symmetrical exchanges between the digital and physical worlds.

Andrew leverages his multifaceted background spanning film, robotics, parametrics, design, architecture, engineering, and construction to create cross-functional and high-functioning teams. He advises companies on their digital transformation journey to expand and evolve their capabilities, while maintaining core competencies and competitive advantages.

Facade Design Director, Studio NYL, has designed and realized award-winning structural and skin projects that merge high performance, high design, and constructability. He is the current national Vice Chair for the Building Enclosure Council and AIA National’s representative on the ASHRAE 90.1 Envelope Subcommittee. Will is also on the ASTM Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings and is a developer and trainer for ASTM’s and NIBS’ new Building Enclosure Commissioning (BECx) certificate program. Will has presented at various AIA state and local events, CSI’s National CONSTRUCT Convention, BEST5, BEC-Colorado and BEC Minnesota events, and at multiple AIA National Conventions.

Colin has guided dozens of global brands (generating over $500 million in revenues) and hundreds of entrepreneurs (securing over $80 million in capital) through birth, growth, and rebirth. With the Net Zero Accelerator and USGBC-LA he guides startups in speeding commercialization of cleantech innovation to move us all toward net zero energy, carbon, water, and waste.

His mentorship and guidance is further informed by his position as co-founder and COO of Morpho Energy, where he’s focused on optimizing people and systems to unlock the idle asset value of commercial and industrial rooftops. Further, with his approach to what he’s defined as Natural Innovation, Colin develops brands and go-to-market strategies rooted in deeply human motives and aligned with nature’s operating principles.

His “Find Your Woods” TEDx and appearances on CNN’s “Going Green” have helped establish him as an internationally recognized voice for biomimicry and nature-based innovation. As a Liverpool MBA and LSU Tiger, Colin lectures frequently at universities including UCLA, USC, LMU, DePaul, The University of Helsinki, and the ESB Business School at Reutlingen University (Germany) where he is Visiting Faculty. His certifications include Biomimicry Specialist, LEED Green Associate, and Living Future Ambassador. Colin has been an Angeleno since 1998 and is now rooted in the hills with his wife, kids, cats, and whatever neighboring species happen along.

A native Angeleno, Ben Stapleton is a recognized sustainability leader who brings a creative mind and consultative approach to a wide range of projects with a focus on building teams and designing programs to deliver impactful results. His current work is based on coordinating an ecosystem leveraging the built environment as the entry point and connective fabric to help create a more sustainable society for all as Executive Director for the U.S. Green Building Council – Los Angeles.

In his time at USGBC-LA, he has strengthened the foundation of this leading, membership-based sustainability organization while developing and delivering a portfolio of community engagement and education focused programming centered on climate justice, high performance buildings, occupant health, corporate sustainability and regional resilience; establishing talent development and a people first philosophy as the pillars of the brand.

Previously, he launched and then managed the La Kretz Innovation Campus in Downtown LA while leading operations, finance, and major program initiatives for the LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI). The Campus has become an epicenter for sustainability in the region and an iconic green building for the City of LA, featuring events with prominent thought leaders, while being home to a community of cutting-edge businesses and nonprofits. During his time at LACI, the team worked with 80+ companies to raise $225M+ in funding, create 1,800+ jobs, and deliver $400M+ in long-term economic value for the City of LA.

His other work has included real estate advisory, energy efficiency consulting, facilities operations, site selection, and project management as well as business and strategy development for a wide range of companies and real estate investors. He serves on a number of boards where his talents and insight have proven invaluable in managing, negotiating, and executing on complex real estate projects while delivering technology startups and community engagement programs that exceed expectations.

He is a recipient of JLL’s distinctive Da Vinci Award for Innovation, the Los Angeles Business Council’s Community Impact Award, Stratiscope’s Impact Maker to Watch Award, and CoStar’s Power Broker designation in the Los Angeles market. Representing competing schools in Los Angeles, Stapleton holds a MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business as well as a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from UCLA. Ben is a LEED AP O+M, ENV SP, and WELL AP certified green building nerd driven by a connection to nature while being inspired by the people around him.

Christopher Wood is a seasoned thought leader with a rich background in engineering, quality assurance, manufacturing, marketing, and sales across 30 diverse industries, from small family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 giants. Currently serving as Vice President of Operations at Skywalker Holding, he guides the team producing the fiber-reinforced polymer facade panels for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Sam connects architecture and technology through meaningful and progressive practice. His focus remains fixed on cutting edge modes of representation and realization leadership. This translates to hard skills in design and production software, computational design, rendering, and design fabrication. Alongside soft skills involved with personal development programs, training, and standards. His work experience includes all phases from competition to construction administration, as well as assisting firms develop new initiatives and pilots with follow through to project team adoption. His collaborative attitude makes him an open team member with a sense of responsibility and drive to meet deadlines and produce exceptional results.

James is co-founder of SumPoint. He brings a unique mix of design, engineering, construction, and digital fabrication expertise. His work focuses on the comprehensive process of delivering extraordinary architectural projects; leveraging parametric design-to-fabrication-to-installation workflows.

Previously, James was Vice President – Innovation R&D at Zahner, a company that specializes in computational fabrication at an architectural scale. As a part of the Executive Team, James led research initiatives and provided strategic support on large scale and complex projects.

He has worked as a Design Engineer with award winning architecture firms around the world and as a Product Development Engineer at Ford Motor Company James holds a Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Andrew is co-founder of SumPoint. He’s a problem solving technologist – trained as an Architect, he takes on complex design challenges by collaborating across disciplines, working from micro to macro, and building interesting and impactful spaces that make the world a better place.
Formerly, Andrew was Associate Director of Fabrication Architecture at Sidewalk Labs/Google where he led the DFMA prototyping of a mass timber kit-of-building-parts composed of facade, floor, and structural elements.
He was an Advanced Manufacturing Engineer at Zahner, where he developed custom fabrication processes, implemented bespoke software and hardware tools, and created online platforms for the specification of unique facade components. He holds a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Ted Grebelius, born in Sweden and co-founder of Satila Studios, has a deep passion for creating buildings and environments that inspire and encourage. To him, the rich narratives found in historic properties aren’t just tales of the past. They’re guiding compasses, offering invaluable lessons on culture, and design. He approaches renovation with great respect, ensuring that while these buildings undergo modern transformation, their authentic character is preserved. His effort in breathing new life into the historic “Old Sessions House” in London stands as a testament to this ideology. Ted is now channeling his energy into another exciting venture in Downtown Los Angeles, “The Barker,” this project promises the continuation of this vision of creating spaces that harmonize the past with the present.

Vincent is an award-winning designer and digital computational leader, dedicated to pushing the limits of architectural innovation. His diverse expertise spans complex facade design, form-finding, simulation, digital fabrication, and interoperability workflows. Vincent’s remarkable portfolio includes the ZCB Bamboo Pavilion in Hong Kong, a project celebrated with fifteen international and local awards, including the Small Project of the Year at the World Architecture Festival in 2016. His work exemplifies a seamless fusion of technology and design, creating spaces that inspire and captivate.

My passion lies at the intersection of architecture, engineering, and sustainability. My work as an environmental designer and an educator is built on three pillars:

1) Technical analysis. Modeling design options and their impact on occupants and the environment.
2) Design recommendations. Providing actionable recommendations that support the architectural intent.
3) Visual and verbal communication. Designing graphics that translate analysis results and recommendations to easy-to-understand visuals that illustrate relationships. Presenting findings in a clear and concise way while relating them to the overarching narrative of the project goals and ambitions.

I love exchanging knowledge through education and public speaking. I enjoy sharing my experience in professional practice with students in an academic context and sharing my work in building sustainability with building professionals in other disciplines.

Earl Patrick is Director of Design and oversees Enclos’ design efforts in new and prospective work.

With over 22 years of experience in the facades industry, including 9 with Enclos, he has worked on monumental projects across the United States. Throughout his career, he has assisted clients with refining design alternatives and worked diligently to help architects achieve their vision while helping project teams meet their budgets.

Notable projects with which he’s been involved at Enclos include The Golden State Warriors Arena Complex, Raiders Stadium, The Australian Embassy, 415 Natoma, San Diego Terminal 1, Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, and the Sherwin Willams Headquarters.

Before facade work, his background included carpentry, cabinetry, welding, and residential construction. He’s also a musician and graduated from the Berklee College of Music with a degree in Classical Composition.