DDG is a fully integrated real estate investment and development company located in NYC and San Francisco with employees from diverse professional backgrounds. DDG combines capital, design, development, construction and asset management.

A core advantages of DDG is the company’s knowledge and experience in all phases of the development and construction processes from acquisition through completion. For the residential condominium building 12 Warren in TriBeCa, NYC, DDG served as developer, architect, builder, and property manager.

The building features a plethora of handcrafted and artisanal details, none more striking than the signature façade of rough-hewn bluestone quarried in upstate New York. The hand-laid façade is already an impressive addition to one of Manhattan’s most desired residential neighborhoods, creating an engaging contrast when seen among TriBeCa’s historic loft buildings and modern glass structures.

Each of the 13 expansive residences, ranging from 2 to 4 bedrooms and 1,700 square feet to 3,800 square feet, boast ceilings detailed with architectural board-formed concrete finished at heights from 10 feet in the full-floor residences up to 22 feet in the triplex townhouse residences. Windows are 7 feet tall, allowing for an abundance of natural light to fill each home. Custom features and details fill the residences, including bluestone accents that connect the interiors back to the building’s architecture. Many residences also feature direct elevator entry and private outdoor space.

A fairly avant-garde model apartment has been furnished by The Future Perfect, with lots of exclusive new pieces from Neri & Hu, the Shanghai-based architecture and design studio. Located on the 8^th floor, standout furniture pieces in the full-floor home include a massive timber top shaker dining table; Danish oiled walnut trunk low cabinet with black lacquer exterior; trio of brass- and copper-topped side tables; and Capo King Bed.

In the building’s lobby, a solid bluestone wall moved in place from the quarry is a centerpiece along with a custom Bec Brittain-designed chandelier. DDG has also commissioned award-winning fine art photographer Jacqueline Hassink to photograph the bluestone quarry where the building’s stone elements originated and permanently display these works throughout the lobby.

12 Warren has a one-of-a-kind private fitness center with reclaimed wood flooring, exposed brick masonry and board-formed concrete details. Additional amenities will include a 24-hour attended lobby, landscaped roof terrace, and DDG’s signature concierge service. Storage rooms and bicycle storage will also be available.

Location:

Tribeca, New York City, NY, USA

Project Data:

• Architect/Developer/Builder: DDG
• Residential units: 13
• Storeys: 13

Read more Architect-Developer posts here.

The post Expressive Stone Façade: Luxury Apartments in Manhattan by DDG appeared first on Archipreneur.

This week’s interview is with Declan Keefe, Strategic Director of Placetailor in Boston.

Placetailor developed from a design/build company to a company that offers design, development and construction – or, as Declan calls it, a plug and play business model.

Declan has a lot of experience in finding land, getting projects off the ground and placemaking and is  happy to share his expertise step by step with you! His marketing strategies go beyond websites and business cards and could be rather called a philosophy than a strategy.

Keep on reading to get inspired by an architect who believes in sustainability, collaboration and the power of community.

Enjoy the interview!

Could you tell us about Placetailor and about your role in the company?

I’ve been working in the company from the beginning. I took it over a couple of years into the business. I’m not the initial founder; I am the Strategic Director.

Placetailor in its current form is an architecture, construction and real estate development company. And my role specifically is to link those three arms of the business. I make sure architecture speaks to construction and construction speaks to development and all the other permeations of that as well.

Further I am setting the course for the company as it relates to our mission and our business model. What are things we care about, what are things that we have to have in a project for it to be deemed quality Placetailor project.

What is Placetailor’s business model?

When Placetailor was first started, we were what is more commonly known as design-build company. The model came from the thinking that the architecture and the construction professions these days are always at odds with one another. And we think that it’s quite a detriment to the profession.

The origin of both professions came from the master builder. So we created Placetailor with the question in mind “How can we recreate today – when we’re pushing more and more towards specialization – a business that can still do specialized work but also is able to be the architect and the builder?”

Originally we were looking for people who work as a carpenter and a designer. Today we still have some people who work on both sides of the business but there are also some people, who just work in construction or just on design.

A few years into the business we made a major transitions: to become a developer as well. And we felt like it fit very much in the conversation related to master builder because typically that was the way it worked. The master builder would work directly with the equivalent of a developer. The term didn’t exist back then, but it was someone building a cathedral or his or her mansion.

So we thought, internally, we could have that model expanded so that the development entity itself, which technically is a separate business, hires the architecture company, which is really ourselves, to do the design work and then hires the construction company, which is really ourselves again, to do the project as we’ve envisioned it on the development side. To the outside world, they look like one business: Placetailor that does architecture, construction, and development. On the inside, it’s a little more complicated because things are broken up for legal reasons, security and insurance.

Today about 75% of our work comes from our own development.

This model allows for our business to operate as what I call plug and play. We can be just the architect, the builder or the developer, or in a sort of the ideal visualization of the business model, we’re all of them.

How do you find land?

There are two paths:

The first is really a very simple one and maybe it’s hard to imagine until you do this. But it’s literally just driving around and looking for land.

The hunt looks different every time. It could be we see a piece of land and call the owner and they say, “Sure. We’ll sell it.” It could be easy as that. It could be years and years of, ”Well, sure, we’ll sell it, but we have all these tax issues.” And we’ve got to help work out the entire back end for them.

The other way, which I think is maybe even more of a fruitful path to take because it’s not just helpful for finding land but it’s helpful for really operating a business in general, is getting out and meeting people and being willing to collaborate and being willing to have a sort of open-ended conversations about something that could happen in the future. It’s the long-term approach.

When you collaborate you’re working with clients again. It’s not just a speculative real estate development. You bring them into your team. And they can help finance the project. So they’re both client and collaborator.

For architects who know very little about real estate development, how would you break down the process of getting the first project off the ground?

I think there’s something before the land hunt, which is really determining what it is you’re trying to get out of the project. Why do you want to be a developer and not just an architect? What type of development are you trying to do? Is it a residential development? Are you trying to do commercial?

And then looking at the markets that are near you as what could it bear. Analyzing a market means being in the area, being in the neighborhood, spending time at a coffee shop next door to the place you want to build or develop something, and learn what the people are saying that are there and what they feel, and how you could fit into that story.

A piece of land is a useful starting point because it’s going to be a fixed number. You know this land is on the market at certain price, and you know that you want to put an offer in that’s 10% higher than that. And because that’s how you think given what you’ve found from your research that the market will bear and you may actually get your offer accepted.

Then there’s the obvious question of where does that money comes from, right? There are many different answers. One example I mentioned already which is you could have already built up relationships, found people to collaborate with. For example you’re looking at a piece of land that three specific families want to live in. Now you pitch it to them first. You say, “Would you want to live here? We think we can fit a house that’s this big.”

Some of the initial architecture work is doing your zoning analysis, looking at your code analysis, what could actually fit on this potential lot. And then pitching it to the people, who want to live there or to some investors. You have to have a network of people who might be interested in supporting you as an individual at that point.

And there are those people out there who have a strong enough vision that they’re willing to support you. And sometimes they’re willing to support you because they know that they’re probably going to get a deal, if it’s your first project. Just to be honest about it is that you’re going to have to give and take a bit on your first one to make something happen.

But now you imagine you have that money, you put your offer in and the offer is either accepted or denied. If it’s accepted, then the next stage is the purchase and sale agreement, which is where all the contingencies of the deal really get ironed out. So that’s going to be in communication usually between realtors. It could be a direct communication though often the realtors are the go-between. And then it’s usually realtors who are then talking to lawyers. And the lawyers are really the ones hashing it out. And then it filters back through to the realtors and then out to the buyer and seller.

We often operate without realtors because we like to be more directly connected to the process. And so in addition to architecture, construction and development, usually, we’re also doing our own sales for the scale that we’re at currently.

So then let’s assume that our purchase and sale gets approved. Now likely that means you’re putting in some additional money. So the offer had a small amount. The purchase and sale would mean you’re putting a deposit in. So, you’re going to put in some small percentage, by 15% of the total sale. At which point you’re scheduling for your closing that and which when you’d actually own the land.

And it would be at that point where the attorneys would do a final sweep of, “Is the lot salable?” And if it is and there’s not really that much more negotiation that happens between the purchase and sell in the closing. At the closing itself, it’s a whole series of paperwork and you have to get your insurance lined up, and all of those. There’s a lot of sort of back end to it there.

If you’re getting financing through a bank, it becomes a little more difficult for a first developer to prove that they should take that risk, but it’s feasible with the right bank and the right project. If you’re working with partners, such as homeowners who want to live there, they’re getting their finances together maybe through their banks or maybe just through capital that they have and putting it in place. You’re probably forming an LLC with the entities who will own it in the end. And even we do that. We have an LLC per project. So we start a new company every time.

And then let’s say that the closing is done and we now own the piece of land, at which point we go beyond that initial massing or zoning study to figure out what could go there. And for us, we just start the architecture. If you’re just a developer, you’re hiring an architect. And you do the design, you submit, l and if all goes well, you get your approvals.

Then we submit again for building permit. And then we have building permit, we build it because ideally, we will have already gotten approval for our financing from the beginning. You’ll have to finish that paperwork to get the second round of release for the construction lending. And then once you build the whole project, you’ll get construction lending throughout.

And then when it’s built, depending on the type of project you’re working on, either you sell it or you could rent it if that is your chosen development method.

And those processes look different whether it’s commercial or residential or whether it’s what we call condos here or co-op housing, or you know whatever the processes. It looks slightly different to sales. And then hopefully, at the end, you have some money left and that would be the profit of the project.

What marketing strategies have been most effective to find new clients, promote services or sell your products?

I think the thinking about marketing and the definition of it should be expanded beyond your web presence or your business card to whatever it is that people are left with after they’ve come in contact with your business in any way. So that contact could be through social media, through giving lectures at a local conference or through students at the school that I teach at. Or it could be me running into them in the coffee shop. And I think being really cognizant that all of this relates to marketing is very important.

And for us, we have a few things, which we think of as differentiators. And a differentiator works for us in our marketing, in our branding. And it works for us fairly well in the sales of our actual units because the project themselves become differentiated by the fact that we have these differentiators in our business.

So one is our business model, that we’re the architect, developer and contractor. That’s great for clients because they feel like they can trust one entity. They don’t have to worry about bringing in somebody else.

Another one is that transition we made, around the same time we started doing development: we became an employee on cooperative.

It’s a strong social mission of ours, that anyone that works within our company has the potential to become an owner, if they stay with the company for three years or more.

And so it gives a longer-term commitment to the business. And the cooperative model that we use is equal profit share, equal vote.

And so depending on who I’m talking to, this fact is useful to show we have the skill set internally for design, for architecture, development and construction. We care about our people.

The third differentiator that we have is related specifically to the way in which we do design and construction. And this one was really able to launch the business early on. And so we work exclusively on high performance, energy efficient and sustainable architecture. So we won’t take projects that aren’t that way. It is who we are. We believe that is the baseline and we need to be raising the bar even higher.

And then I believe that you need to have a basis of a solid branding as it’s typically thought of where they’re going to go to your website and it needs to feel the same way that your conversation just felt. And you need to hand them business card that feels the same way that you’re conversation just felt like because if you’re mixing your messages, they’re not going to believe that’s true.

Everybody is talking about placemaking these days. What’s your strategy on this?

I think it is all about being engaged with all the stakeholders and not just the client. And for us, we have a business model that allows us to do that a little more collaboratively even because we have the architect, the builder and developer in the room. So we can quickly do a lot of those conversations upfront.

But even if that’s not your business model, I think there needs to be a considered effort to get the builder and the developer in the room and have those conversations. And maybe they could all come to the community meeting so that they can all get it. So I think that’s the basis of what placemaking should be about.

In addition in our company we do the design very collaboratively. I fear the idea of a solo architect as developer who can get too caught up in their ego as an architect. Who then wants to design their masterpiece and try to put all of the things that they imagine they ever wanted to do in one project. I have seen this happening before.

And that actually doesn’t make good architecture in the sense of good placemaking. It makes good pieces of architecture that operate on their own. And it’s probably too expensive and you probably won’t make money on the development.

Whereas, if you are thinking about the design collaboratively, it’s not just one person’s vision that appeals to just that one person. And I think it’s fine if you’re building your own house. If the development is anything but your own house, I would urge you to get out of your own head and into the community and with other people.

I think that’s the process of placemaking: connection to the community and a collaboration internally.

Do you have any advice for archipreneurs who are interested in starting their own business?

My biggest advice is: Have the right reason for doing this. Truthfully, it’s a lot of administrative work. The reality behind the romanticism of architect as developer is you do less of the fun stuff and more of the not fun stuff. But you do get a little bit more freedom.
And potentially, if you do it well, you can make more money. But if you do it just okay, you’ll loose a lot of money and time, and you could disrupt your whole career. So my advice is: Do not take it lightly.

The second piece of that advice is to not just know why you’re doing development, but know what you’re trying to achieve as a person in this world. What is the impact you want to make? We as a firm are looking at our total impact, our carbon footprint as a business, the carbon footprint of each building, the social footprints of the buildings. How is a building affecting the place? How are we affecting the people who we get to work with? And we want all of those impacts to be positive.

Because if we’re too caught up in the fact that we are making it just for the sake of making a building, we’re not looking at the potential positive impact we can have on the world. We’re setting in stone something for hundreds of years potentially that isn’t what we really want to represent as people.

The connection between architect and developer gives us the control to start making those decisions unlike you have in most other scenarios. If you’re just the architect, you can make some of those decisions. But the clients make most of those decisions. They won’t let you do energy efficiency. They won’t let you do those community meetings.

But when you start to have control, it really means you need to have your moral code in the right place so that you yourself make the decisions that are right for the future generations.

How do you see the future of the architectural profession? In which areas (outside of traditional practice) can you see major opportunities for up and coming developers and architects?

One of the things that will change how the industry works is the automatization of things in robotics. And I think that it is going to have a much greater impact on the architecture profession than it feels like to me. And I say that because the modular and prefab buildings have been of interest for a long time, but they’ve not been out major in market share. And it’s partly because the processes that have been for modularization of architecture have still actually been pretty inefficient.

And we’re getting to the place with automatization and robotics. But that’s not going to be the case for very much longer. And we’re going to have such automatization that the construction field is going to become a completely different thing.

And in some cases, I think the architectural profession will start to disappear, as we see it now, because it’s the case that most architecture work is done for just the top 1%. And this goes back to my advice about what is it you really want to be doing. If those are the people that you’re trying to support with your work, that’s total your prerogative.

If we’re trying to do design work for the rest of the world, then we will have to start thinking about different business models. One of them maybe to be working alongside this modularity and improvements in manufacturing such that the result of that is not just cheap, inefficient, uncomfortable houses, but quality, high-performance, healthy, light-filled, comfortable places for people to live. And that’s the work of architects.

And it would be too easy for us as we go down the path of automatization for that to go the wrong way. And so I think we shouldn’t leave that in the hands of just the roboticists and the engineers. Even though I’m sure that they’re wonderful people, they’re not thinking about what the architects are. So we need to be in those processes and thinking ahead.

About Declan Keefe

Declan is a founding member of Placetailor, and is a current owner as well.  As the strategic director, he keeps the company in order and oversees all of Placetailor’s projects.  If you are interested in Placetailor helping you with a project, Declan would be the guy to talk to.  Declan is LEED AP, a certified passive house consultant, and like everyone at Placetailor, he is a designer as well as a builder.

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We recently spoke with Jim Zack, founder of Zack/de Vito Architecture + Construction, an expert in design/build development. His practice’s projects cover residential, restaurants and small commercial sites, but also takes on their own residential developments.

But vacant parcels of land that offer a clean slate for development are rarely available in San Francisco. Committed to finding opportunities to design and build in one of the most popular neighborhoods in the city, the development team of Zack/de Vito Architecture + Construction have proven that vision and creativity can address this challenge.

Inspired by a standard city RH-2 parcel with a modest cottage positioned at the back of the lot on the popular Church Street corridor, the development team recognized the potential. While lot coverage of this sort cannot be created on vacant land, this existing dwelling was ripe for change. The large flat front yard offered a footprint for a new structure. And by working imaginatively within the envelope of the existing structure, the designers could create two urban homes in the heart of the City.

In 2014 the team unveiled two of the most innovative modern dwelling designs in San Francisco. Two unique, freestanding condominiums share a single lot while maintaining their individual architectural identity. Maximizing the function of a 7.6-m/25-foot wide lot, both homes are accessed from a common courtyard, a deviation from the traditional street-front entry. The unapologetic modern design is planned for maximum spatial efficiency with unsurpassed attention to detail and craft, expressing handmade quality at every turn.

SteelHouse1

Occupying the front of the lot, a new, ground-up townhouse, with an impressive modern façade, stands out from the more traditional buildings along this urban corridor. Clad with Corten steel, fiber cement siding and stucco, this building encompasses two full floors of light-filled living space accommodating three bedrooms and two full baths.

The dramatic open floor plan is enhanced by clean lines and sophisticated modern finishes, including industrial structural steel complimented by warm oiled-oak floors and custom walnut cabinetry. The master bedroom boasts a private roof deck illuminated by its desirable western exposure. The ground floor includes one car parking and a private office space, nicely isolated from the main living levels.

SteelHouse2

Occupying the back of the lot, the fully renovated, two-story structure has been transformed to fit perfectly into this modern context. This building also encompasses two full floors of living space, with the entertaining spaces positioned at the top level.  The open floor plan is enhanced by extraordinary light with modern steel and wood details that visually connect the two floors.

This building accommodates two bedrooms and two full baths on the lower floor, with a third bedroom with en-suite bath at the upper, main living level. A private south-west-facing deck is directly accessed from both the kitchen and the upper bedroom at this level. Finishes include walnut stairs, oiled-oak flooring, custom rift-cut white oak cabinetry, and composite quartz counter-tops. One car parking is provided for this unit in the front building.

Both buildings incorporate green design which includes radiant floor heating that is zoned for efficiency; state-of-the-art thermal-rated windows; material selections that are driven by sustainability; and mechanical and structural systems that are ‘solar ready’.  The two modern buildings live like single-family homes, while offering a unique opportunity for an extended family or single owner to enjoy the entire compound.

Location:

Church Street, San Francisco, CA, USA

Project Data:

• Architect: Zack/de Vito Architecture
• Architects team: Jim Zack, Lise de Vito
• Client: Zack/de Vito Architecture
• Structural engineer: Don David
• Planning/Construction: 2012 – 2014
• Residential units: 2
• Storeys: 2 and 3
• Parkings: 2, one for each house
• Floor area of the lot: 232 sqm (2,500 SF)
• Net saleable/rentable area: House 1: 270 sqm (2,900 SF), House 2: 167 sqm (1,800 SF)

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This week’s interview is with Jim Zack, founder of the architecture and construction company Zack/de Vito based in San Francisco.

Prior to studying architecture, Jim was a carpenter and a builder. He carried out his first design/build development with his father when he was 23 years old.

He then opened his own practice after grad school. Having always been a hand-on kind of guy, Jim quickly became an expert in design/build development. His practice’s projects cover residential, restaurants and small commercial sites, and Jim also takes on his own residential developments.

Jim now has 25 years of experience as an architect and 40 years as a builder behind him. We were eager to ask him about his career decisions, how his business model changed over the years, and his take on real estate development.

Enjoy the interview!

What made you decide to found Zack/de Vito? Was there a particular moment that sealed the decision for you?

I have always been very independent and self-motivated, a leader, not a follower. I was never a ‘good employee,’ preferring to forge my own path since I was quite young. I had my own small construction company when I was 20. I started my own office right out of graduate school, it was not a ‘decision’, it is just what I did.

I rented a studio with some friends to have a place to work and build things. I spent about one month looking for a job. The second interview I had was for a young architect I knew. Instead of offering me a job, he asked me if I could build a custom table for an office. It was my first commission. I never looked back after that.

I was an obsessive maker, I had to build things.

In addition to my independent streak, I was an obsessive maker, I had to build things. I set up a small workshop and started fabricating objects for other architects.

What is your firm’s core specialism?

Over the years we have done a variety of projects but the mainstays of our work are custom, modern residential, and restaurants. We do an occasional commercial project, offices, stores, etc., and a few private educational projects, but these days 75% is high end, modern houses, small multi-unit or mixed use and restaurants.

Our ideal project is a new one- or two-unit urban building where we can do both design and construction, and a client who appreciates modern design and a high level of craft.

Your company has now been in operation for 25 years. Did you have to adjust your business strategies over the years?

Yes and no. On the one hand, I feel we do more or less the same thing as usual, but of course we adapt to the times: more digital, more sophisticated clients, higher budgets, etc.

One thing that never seems to change is that we are bad at marketing; we never do enough so we always seem to need more work even when we are busy. Based on my conversations with colleagues, we are not alone in this!

Looking back, what was the best decision you made for your practice?

It would have to be to embrace design/build on our own terms, doing what we know, and to trust our business instincts. For 10 years, I fought the idea of doing construction work; I wanted to be a cool, mod designer, not get my hands dirty. Perhaps in the early 90s design/build was not cool like it is now. I tried to stop building a few times and fortunately failed in that effort, and now we embrace design/build 100%.

An equally important decision was to have my wife, Lise de Vito, quit her job and join my firm as a partner. Working and having a family has been easier and more successful because of her involvement.

You told us that you carried out your first design/build development with your father when you were only 23 years old, even before you went to architecture school. What did you learn from it?

Design matters!! These were terrible houses, but it did give me insight into the whole idea of building and selling.

What are you working on right now?

We bought a rare vacant lot in a good neighborhood of San Francisco. It is zoned for two units, and instead of two flats we got a variance to have two detached structures on one lot, a 2,900 sq ft house at the street, and a smaller 1,800 sq ft house in the rear yard. We are at the tail end of a two-year permit process and will break ground in the spring, then sell them as condos.

For clients, we have a couple of smaller residential renovations, then a series of smaller multi-unit and mixed-use projects – 2 units, 3 units, 4 and 5 units and one that is 9 units. We also have an over-the-top wine country estate, a great new, modern house and guesthouse on top of a hill in the Napa Valley. It will be finished in 2017. We just finished an office for some friends who are landscape architects, and we have a couple of restaurants. About half of these projects are design/build.

What is your strategy to find new sites and to get a project of the ground?

I am always looking at local real estate; I get feeds form a couple of realtors and know most of what is available. I guess I am a real estate geek, always looking for opportunities. We have a client who bought the site next to the one we were working on and negotiated a deal to be a 1/3 partner in the second project, five units over commercial. We are open to creative partnerships but we are also cautious; you have to have projects work out when you share them.

For architects who know very little about real estate development, how would you break down the process of getting the first project off the ground?

A tried and true approach is to buy something you can invest and live in, maybe a duplex, but something you can put ‘sweat equity’ into. Lack of financing also seems to be a hurdle but the money is out there if you can cultivate those connections. Loans are easier to get but you still need your 20% equity.

In a stable real estate market maybe try and get the seller to finance the land sale. This does not work on my area; land is scarce and there are multiple buyers for any opportunity. There are also crowdsource web sites like realtyshares.com where you can raise capital.

All architects know how to manage a project, so making the leap to managing everything is not that hard.

Also, learn about real estate, financing, loans, and of course construction. All architects know how to manage a project, so making the leap to managing everything is not that hard.

Do you have any advice for archipreneurs who are interested in starting their own business?

Understand your own comfort level for risk. There is no doubt that working for other people on their projects and their money is easy and safe. Development is not for the faint of heart. If you are a low-risk tolerance person, development may not be for you. Entrepreneurs are by definition risk takers.

As far as starting out on your own – do it when you are young and can afford to lose, or wait to know the ropes and can cultivate clients.

As far as starting out on your own – do it when you are young and can afford to lose, or wait to know the ropes and can cultivate clients. I had a unique background that gave me the confidence to go at it alone early on. Many people just do not have the experience.

How do you see the future of the architectural profession? In which areas (outside of traditional practice) can you see major opportunities for up and coming developers and architects?

I think there are huge opportunities in figuring out how to weave technology and architecture. I am not sure how, but I do think there are new ideas waiting to be cultivated.

I recently met a young architect who had just launched a platform to quickly and affordably allow architects to set up a new website. No out of pocket costs; use his templates and pay a monthly fee. He is rolling out features specific to how architects need to market. As an architect, he knows how to do this; a tech-focused person might not get it. Check it out here: monograph.io

I also see more clients who appreciate our one-stop shop. We can do more, not necessarily for less, but for less hassle. We can design, build, do interiors, help on branding, design furniture, etc.

About Jim Zack

Jim Zack is a California native and the founding principal of Zack/de Vito Architecture + Construction. He has been practicing architecture since 1991 and building since 1977.

His professional experience covers a diverse range of project types with an emphasis on modern residences and restaurants. Prior to studying architecture Jim was a journeyman carpenter and contractor in his hometown of Carmel, designing and building his first residential development when he was 23. The current emphasis of his firm is on completing well crafted, design focused design/build projects.

Jim received both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley and is a California licensed architect and contractor. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and partner, Lise de Vito, and their two kids. When not designing and building, you can often find him on two wheels – cycling or racing motorcycles.

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