Design manager and managing architect in the Industrial Group of Lamar Johnson Collaborative LLC, a Clayco company. Roles include project design and creative problem solving, management of the design process, management of engineering consultants and collaborating design professionals, delivery of design and production work products, managing the financial performance of the design team, project staffing and scheduling, collaboration with practice leaders to achieve performance goals, mentoring team members, performance of construction phase administration.

I am a working studio artist at 3rd Degree, and am on the staff as an instructor and demonstrator, teaching furnace glass blowing to public visitors and students. I also coordinate the commercial commissions taken on by the studio, manage installation projects, and provide business development services for commercial commission work.

I founded MtM Design as a platform for collaboration on building projects; it provides the framework for my continued work in architecture and consulting. Every project considered by a client will eventually require a tight working team of allied professionals who will envision, design, and build it. My work approach is to build the best design and construction team for a client’s particular needs and thereby deliver the highest standard of quality in creativity, problem solving, and service. My aim is to deliver to clients the most accommodating, delightful, and beautiful spaces, whether for living or working, and to create buildings that fully support and enhance their lives and/or their business objectives. I believe that such a building is invariably designed to be in harmony with the environment in which it is constructed, whether urban or rural, maximizing the efficient use of the client’s capital and operational resources.I have worked in corporate and design-build architectural practices for 25 years prior to founding MtM Design LLC. My experiences reinforced that success in any endeavor is built upon robust and respectful collaboration conducted with a democratic spirit directed and tempered by strong leadership. While my duties as a sole practitioner are widely varied, providing this leadership is my highest priority. Whether I am making drawings, conducting a conference, or visiting a construction site, my first responsibility is to insure that whatever I am creating is leading towards an architecture that will satisfy the client and stand the test of time.

I am teaching a lab section of 13 students for Arch 445 Building Systems. The class is a large lecture / lab with about 110 total students. During the lab meetings, I will work with the students in studying the design and detailed construction of a case study building. I have selected the Here Apartments, 308 Green Street in Champaign, IL for the students to study. The building is a high rise apartment tower providing student housing. We will have the students analyze the overall building design and planning, and then study the construction systems used to build it. The students will make drawings of wall sections and details working from photographs and general design drawings.The case study building was built in 2014, designed by Hartshorn Plunkard, and constructed by Clayco Inc. I worked on the building exterior design preparing integrated shop drawings of the exterior wall panel system for Eisen Panel Systems, the major subcontractor for the exterior wall cladding.

Forum was and remains today a practice of architects with a “strong principal” management style, and in my work there I was above all responsible for creative design leadership and the successful implementation and construction of our design ideas in the buildings commissioned by our clients. For projects under my care, I provided design leadership through drawing, modeling and critique, client management, and fiscal accountability to the practice. I was responsible for new business development, preparation of proposals, and the presentation and sales of design solutions and services. I was the practice leader for all work undertaken in the commercial and industrial markets. I provided practice management and was responsible for development of technical proficiency, quality assurance, implementation of production standards, and development of CADD standards. I was the principal sponsor of the development and use of Building Information Modeling for design and production of drawings. Forum is a design-build practice, a subsidiary company of Clayco Inc. I was responsible for insuring effective cross discipline team work and design collaboration with the construction and real estate development divisions of the company.

During my employment at Cannon Design, a multi-office national design firm, I worked through several positions of responsibility, starting as a staff architect and working through project design, architect and management roles to the position of Associate VP. In this position I was one of three Studio Directors in the Saint Louis office, leading and managing the commercial market and general practice work undertaken by the firm. I worked as design architect, project architect, and project manager as required. Prior to undertaking this position, I worked for many years designing health care and educational buildings. For the general practice studio, I provided business development and performed client presentations. I was responsible for construction phase administration with particular clients. I participated in a practice development round table conducted by the firm, and managed the implementation of a firm-wide mentoring program in the Saint Louis office.

Facture Design was an interactive design collaborative founded by 9 principal members (including Michael Moran) who were all graduates of Washington University School of Architecture. Facture conducted operations at 1007 Washington Avenue in downtown Saint Louis, MO. The studio was multi-disciplinary in nature and focused on design services in architecture, product design, lighting design, and the production of original artwork in various media including drawing, print making, photography, painting, glass, metal smithing, and woodworking. I was the sole registered architect of the studio and provided leadership in architecture services, design, and practice. I also performed wood working and built furniture prototypes. One of my Facture partners introduced me to glass blowing and I worked as his assistant in the production of glass work for the studio, which included sculptural objects and components for lighting prototypes. The studio disbanded in 1992.

This was my first professional position. Before this job, I had worked in many building construction jobs while working my way through college. At Heery - HLM I was responsible for typical intern architect duties including making all kinds of drawings and models, for all phases of the design process. I worked under the supervision of experienced project architects. However, in my time in this position I did work up to more responsible duties including technical and design problem solving and assisting with client meetings and presentations.