Felix Weber advances complex façade and glass design at RDH out of our Oakland office. He is a highly creative engineer and experienced team leader with over 15 years of experience in façade consulting and structural engineering.

Trained as both a structural engineer and an architect, Felix has a passion for solving complex challenges, engaging with innovative technologies, and conducting research and development. He is comfortable working on all stages of a project, from conceptual design to detailed design and engineering through to realization. He has also worked on the development and testing of new products for the building industry and is an experienced lecturer.

Felix enjoys designing structures and façades influenced by individual materials or products. He has worked with many cladding types and specializes in structural façades, structural glass, complex geometry structures, and uncommon building materials such as ETFE and fiber-reinforced polymers.

John Krouse is a Ceramic Engineer and the CEO of Boston Valley Terra Cotta in Orchard Park, NY. Boston Valley specializes in the manufacturing of historic terra cotta replication, new construction and innovation in contemporary rain screen design and production. Krouse is a graduate of Alfred University with a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering and a minor in Ceramic Sculpture and has over 37 years of experience in terra cotta manufacturing. Boston Valley has successfully completed well over 3,000 building projects with Krouse leading the company. These projects range in size and scope from large government buildings to small private art galleries.

Mark Schwettmann is a Director based in SOM’s San Francisco office. With a diverse range of international experience in major mixed-use, residential, corporate, hospitality, and academic projects, he is also deeply involved in improving the built environment of San Francisco, his home city.

In his role as Director and Studio Head, he manages and mentors a group of design professionals working around the world, but particularly in San Francisco. In addition to these responsibilities, he leads the Digital Design Group in the firm’s San Francisco office. This group maintains SOM’s position at the forefront of design by integrating leading-edge technology into the design process. The intersection of his lifelong interest in digital technology and the complex issues of building in San Francisco led to the design and construction of SOM’s award-winning San Francisco Digital Context Analysis Model, which is used extensively in all of the firm’s work in the city, and also by government agencies for analysis of complex urban design issues.

With extensive knowledge of the project approval process in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mark has guided many projects through complex public processes. These projects include the Moscone Convention Center Expansion and Improvement Project, the 75 Howard Street residential tower, and 1500 Mission Street, a mixed-use project that will include the offices of multiple San Francisco city departments responsible for the built environment. Mark has also been involved in significant large-scale, mixed-use projects in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Fuzhou, and Wuxi, bringing environmental and social sensitivity to the energetic and fast-paced environment of large-scale development in China.

Trent Tesch is a Design Principal whose work spans the globe and represents a creative balance of program, context, technology, and craft. His interest lies in solving the distinct challenges posed by each project through collaboration and applying those lessons to future endeavors.

Ranging in scale from boutique residential buildings and human-scaled office towers to mixed-use developments and large airport terminals, Trent’s designs consistently focus on context and place. He believes every building should have a relationship with its surroundings, in dialogue with its context through either thoughtful contrast or assimilation.

Trent’s portfolio includes 415 Natoma, a state-of-the-art workspace anchoring the 5M SoMA development in San Francisco. Conceived as a blend of the historic and modern urban character of the city, the project’s façade articulates the delicate relationship between old and new. At Platform 16 in San Jose, the façade’s three module orientations create a sense of depth and texture.

As a Technical Director based in the Bay Area, Brent Van Gunten guides his teams in developing both new construction and major repositioning for commercial offices, life science facilities, and education projects. He facilitates the alignment of design goals with key energy performance metrics, from Nvidia’s bold new workplace and E. & J. Gallo Winery’s delicately shaded Dry Creek Building, to the high-performance solar shades featured at 633 Folsom, and the adaptive reuse of 1100 Broadway in downtown Oakland. Brent partners with clients to deliver cutting-edge energy strategy and innovative design solutions to commercial developments, laboratory R&D spaces, and university facilities.

Brent’s stewardship of construction assures the integrity of his clients’ investments in design. He accomplishes this through distilling complex architectural goals and technical demands into transparent choices which stakeholders can embrace. This approach enables design-sensitive solutions to user experience and sustainability. Brent holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University.

Lisa Rammig leads the teams in Eckersley O’Callaghan’s San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. Having joined the company in 2013, she has played a significant role in its expansion, establishing a West Coast presence and leading many of the group’s most challenging projects – including high profile corporate campuses in California working with Google, Apple and LinkedIn.

She is heavily involved in academia and has built strong links between research and industry, helping maintain the practice’s position as leaders in the field, and identifying new fields of research including a variety of materials and novel analysis approaches. Lisa is part of the Façade Research Group at TU Delft and an elected member of the Special Advisory Council of the Façade Tectonics Institute at the University of Southern California.

Brian White is the Technical Manager for the Americas Insulating Glass team at H.B. Fuller Company, where he manages research and development and technical service for North America. Brian has been with H.B. Fuller for 10 years, starting as a scientist developing insulating glass sealants and gaining experience and familiarity within the fenestration industry. Currently, he is active in the Insulating Glass Manufacturer’s Alliance (IGMA), Insulating Glass Certification Council (IGCC), American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA), and supports activities in ASTM and the National Glass Association (NGA). Brian earned his B.A. in Biochemistry from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota

Isabelle is a Senior Façade Engineer in Arup’s Los Angeles office with a background in structural engineering and materials. Isabelle holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her research focused on GFRP Sandwich panels in façade applications. After transitioning from academia to the industry, Isabelle works as a project manager and oversees the structural design of building enclosure systems and structural glass applications. In this role she has worked on challenging projects including high profile corporate campuses in California with Google.

Jeffrey Heller, FAIA is president and founder of Heller Manus Architects. Since its beginning in 1984, the firm has established a reputation for influencing architecture and urban design in the Bay Area, nationally and internationally. Jeffrey’s experience covers a broad range of professional endeavors. He is a leader in the profession and green movement with some of the first sustainable architecture and large scale urban planning projects in the US and China, including the first LEED Gold office towers in the sister cities of San Francisco and Shanghai, the first LEED Platinum neighborhood development master plan, a sustainable/livable master plan for Guangzhou’s North and South Axes, a sustainable urban plan proposal for Shanghai’s Yangpu Waterfront, and a sustainable urban plan for the city expansion area of Ulanhot, Inner Mongolia. His work in China often now involves land use implications for high-speed rail. Jeffrey is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He has been recipient of several awards and honors including AIA design awards and various professional organizations’ awards. He is particularly proud of receiving the National AIA Honor Award, ‘Citation for Excellence in Urban Design’. He has been guest lecturer and speaker at various academic and professional venues for more than 20 years. Prior to forming Heller Manus Architects, Jeffrey held various roles at well-known architecture firms including SOM, Gensler, and at KMD where he was partner.

Dr. Roy Denoon has been working in the field of wind engineering for 30 years, and is based at CPP Wind Engineering’s headquarters in Windsor, Colorado. He has been conducting wind tunnel testing and analyses for building envelopes for over a quarter of a century. As well as the design aspects, Roy is regularly involved in forensic analyses of failure and non-performance of façade components. The types of projects he has worked on range include major sports stadia, airport facilities, some of the world’s tallest buildings, and even single family homes. Roy serves on ASCE/SEI 7 committees, including the wind loading sub-committee, and has played a leading role in the development and application of Performance-Based Wind Design. His contribution to the field of tall building design was recognized in 2019 when he was made a Fellow of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Vince Polhemus has been the Vice President of Preconstruction for Walters & Wolf Glass since 2021, overseeing the preconstruction efforts throughout California and Nevada. As a leading façade subcontractor, Walters & Wolf Glass specializes in the design & construction of large, complex facades on commercial & institutional projects along the West Coast. Joining Walters & Wolf in 2004, Vince was originally an operational project manager before joining the Preconstruction Department in 2016 as Director of Cost Engineering. He holds a BA in Economics from UC Irvine, and an MBA from UC Riverside.

Ron Klemencic is Magnusson Klemencic Associates Chairman and CEO. An industry innovator and one of the preeminent high-rise structural engineers practicing today, he is sought by developers, architects, and contractors worldwide for his creativity, "big picture" approach, and unique ability to consistently produce cost-effective and inventive designs. Ron has designed projects in 29 states and 25 countries, with some as large as 11.5 million square feet and as tall as 112 stories, including Salesforce Tower in San Francisco; Vista Tower, 150 North Riverside, and Aqua in Chicago; and Rainier Square in Seattle. In addition, he has led the research and development of industry-advancing innovations that include SpeedCore and Performance-Based Seismic Design. He is a member of the National Academy of Construction and the National Academy of Engineering, an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, and a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

With over 23 years of experience in the practice of architecture, Joseph King specializes in residential, mixed-use, and project planning design. Joseph is responsible for the development of projects from concept design through construction administration phases. He supports the team by working with junior architects in preparation of drawings, studies, and models, as well as in the preparation of design and technical drawings and solutions to complex architectural and interdisciplinary problems. He is highly skilled in numerous digital modeling and rendering techniques that extend the possibilities of visualizing design ideas, as well as improving the architectural design process.

Chris Payne is a Senior Associate and Senior Project Architect at Gensler's San Francisco-based practice, leading diverse teams through the holistic process of design and delivery of projects. He has particular expertise in realizing innovative building enclosures, marrying aesthetic goals with technical and environmental performance targets. As the signature exterior expression of a building, he is inspired by the pivotal role façades play in reducing overall energy consumption, impacting internal occupant comfort, and providing a canvas for contextual material exploration. A few of his recent projects include Burlingame Point, 100 Stockton Street in San Francisco, and 200 Park Avenue in San Jose.

Chris is active in the industry through conference speaking engagements and as a member of the Façade Tectonics Institute Special Advisory Council. He also serves as a content editor of the Institute's monthly SKINS newsletter.

With a background as an architect, have been in the Glass Industry for the last 30 years.

Started at Cricursa, a highly specialized company on curved and difficult dimensional shapes. Opened the world market and have participated on a long list of exciting project. Among them have collaborated on Prada, Tokyo (Herzog & de Meuron),

Joined Interpane 12 years ago and put a foot on the US and Canada market. With a good market and great knowledge, backed by an excellent high-end quality product. We have been able to supply the largest high rise Buildings. Among a long list, we can highlight, Hudson Yards, 66 Hudson Boulevard, both in New York, 110 North Wacker, St. Regis both in Chicago or Block 16,in Austin,TX.

Willing to find new products with an unlimited curiosity. Researching the market to find new exciting projects that allow Interpane to go beyond the limits.

Karen Brandt, AIA, leads the West Coast office of Heintges, an award-winning curtain wall consulting firm offering the highest level of expertise in the design and implementation of the building envelope.Since joining Heintges in 2001, she has managed numerous projects in the U.S. and Asia and is the Heintges Senior Principal responsible for MIRA. Her expertise includes museums, cultural institutions, complex towers, and custom façades for luxury retail. She has taught at Pratt Institute and Parsons, and holds degrees in architecture from the College of Environmental Design at U.C. Berkeley and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

John Picard is a visionary and design innovator who understood the “internet of things” long before connectvity became the driver that it is today. Celebrated for his keen understanding of the innovatve principles of natural systems designs, John connects visionary thinking with emerging technologies to drive successful projects for corporatons, commercial buildings, college campuses, and even entre towns.

Amongst his many noteworthy design projects are Ashes and Snow Global Tour, the Aria City Center Hotel Las Vegas; the elegant Grand Wailea in Maui, Hawaii (the first greening of a world-renowned resort); greening of The White House, Atlantc Station in Atlanta. He also conceived and built out the first LEED Platinum private jet facility called Hangar 25 in Burbank, California. John also designed and built out 3 award winning Net Zero buildings in San Jose and today projects include San Francisco Airport, DFW and CVG airports leading their Digital Architecture and Sustainability efforts.

Today John is working in Silicon Valley with clean tech companies who have a fierce dedicaton to engineering and prototyping break through systems in energy, AI and Machine Learning, Digital Twin platorms which has launched a new class of buildings. Today John is connecting building systems together so that the skin, security, energy, water, controls, mechanical, lightng and building occupants are interoperable in real time. John’s buildings are healthy, sensate, adaptive, regenerative, cost effective, and more valuable. The more a system is connected to itself, whether an economic system or immune system, the healthier it is. The same holds true for buildings. Johns designs and system applications are driving record portfolio value for major real estate owners and developers.

A highly popular and much sought-after speaker, this passionate surfer, diver and world traveler balances his consultng at John Picard & Associates with personal appearances, conducting technology tours of the Silicon Valley showcasing ideas that promote innovation and sustainable solutions in every sector of the new economy.

As Sr. Vice President, Project Planning, Allison oversees Webcor’s estimating and preconstruction activities, along with design management, project support, Virtual Design Construction (VDC) planning, and contract compliance. Previously, she was a director within Webcor Drywall, one of the four self-perform groups within Webcor Craft.

Allison’s focus on continuously developing extensive construction knowledge and people management/leadership skills has fueled her confident, steady rise from project engineer intern to senior vice president. Allison has successfully navigated professional challenges ranging from working with different product types to leading Webcor’s self-perform divisions to managing various team dynamics while delivering positive results for Webcor.

An alumnus of Purdue University’s Construction, Engineering, and Management (CEM) department, Allison continues to serve as a mentor for CEM’s Women in Construction (WinC) program, which focuses on connections and mentorships between alumnae members and students. She’s also been a steering committee member for Women of Webcor, Webcor’s employee resource group (ERG) for women, for five years and served as committee chair for the last three years.

Pedram Farashbandi is a Principal at David Baker Architects, a collaborative architecture and urban design firm based in San Francisco and Birmingham, Alabama. Pedram grew up in Shiraz, Iran, a city known for its gardens, poets, literature, and wine—all of which influenced the way he perceives his surroundings and approaches design. Over a decade of practice with DBA, Pedram works on diverse projects at the initial phases, rethinking conventional approaches and adapting workflows to suit specific challenges. His projects include affordable housing, hospitality, modular design and construction, micro-units, and innovative live-work developments. He is currently overseeing the design and construction of Tidal House, a residential tower on Treasure Island.

Jeanette Walton has broad experience working on residential and education projects at DLR Group. As a versatile designer, she has contributed to the progression of multiple projects through the design, documentation, construction, and closeout phases. Jeanette is always working on a diverse set of projects, balancing aesthetics and functionality, maintaining the integrity of the design throughout the entire process, and approaching it all with a strong work ethic and desire to have fun. She is on the design team for Freedom West Homes in the Fillmore District and The Rockwell in the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

Ashley Welton is a Project Manager at IQHQ, a premier life science real estate developer with a portfolio of over 10 million square feet. Ashley develops project budgets and manages teams for one of the company’s largest West Coast developments. With more than eight years of experience on over 35 mid- to high-rise projects, Ashley is skilled at managing both new and existing developments from schematic to project closeout and was honored by the San Diego Business Journal as a Woman of Influence in Construction in 2023. Prior to joining IQHQ, Ashley held prominent project management and engineering roles at Nova Partners and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH). Ashley received her Master’s & Bachelors of Science in Engineering from Arizona State University.

Kerenza Harris is an associate principal at Morphosis where she oversees advanced computational design and simulation for all projects. Her team focuses on the research, development, and integration of advanced technologies into the design and construction process, using diverse software to design, document, and mock-up architecture envelopes. She also guides the firm’s use of XR technology to create immersive environments that aid in testing and communicating concepts through all phases.

Joining the firm in 2008, she has played a central role in major projects including the AIA National Honor Award-winning Perot Museum of Nature and Science, where she led the creation and coordination of the facade’s innovative pre-cast concrete paneling system.

Kerenza is also faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), where her teaching focuses on digital design tools and construction. She is a frequent lecturer on design computation and the intersection of architecture and XR.

Prateek Jain is a Senior Environmental Designer with Atelier Ten. As a core member of Atelier Ten's carbon practice, he specializes in carbon reduction strategies for building and landscape projects. He helped create the Pathfinder tool, a landscape carbon calculator, with CMG Landscape. He has worked on several large-scale high-performance projects, including the UC Merced 2020 Project, an 11 LEED Platinum building expansion. He is a LEED and WELL accredited professional with a Master's degree in building construction management from Purdue University.

Diana is originally from Mexico - living in San Diego California. She holds a Construction Science and Management degree from the University of Texas and MBA master’s degree from The University of Buckingham. She joined the façade world back in 2017 as a façade specialist and business developer for Hilti, specializing in attachment systems for curtain wall, window wall and store front working with the biggest glazing contractors in the West and helping them find the best solutions for installation and engineering for their projects. She was promoted and joined Hilti’s Digital Construction team as a Regional BIM Project Manager helping general contractors and subcontractors digitalize their projects for an increase performance from the design phase to installation at the job site.

Diana recently joined Cosentino as a Regional Façade Manager supporting the West and specializing in ultracompact surfacing materials using rainscreen attachment systems for façade projects.

Edlyn Garcia La Torre enjoys working design challenges with a bioclimatic lense. With an architecture background and a specialty in environmental analysis and facades, her design approach is based on form follows data to achieve high performance.

Edlyn is a facade consultant at Morrison Hershfield and forms part of the Facade Engineering team within the Building Science group. Her work involves design assistance for unique building facade and envelope projects during phases from schematic design to construction. Her technical skills focus on environmental and thermal analysis that assist in facade design based on performance. She has been working in the AEC industry since 2006 with a focus on facade design since 2012. From 2015-2018, she was a facade consultant at Front Inc, where she worked with numerous international projects from well-renowned architects. She also worked as an environmental designer with Atelier Ten, a sustainability consultant firm, from 2018-2019 before returning to the facade industry.

As an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts, she teaches Bioclimatic Skins, a building technology elective that focuses on high-performance and responsive facade systems design and innovation inspired by nature. From 2013-2015, she was a lecturer and a researcher at the School of Architecture in the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, where she co-directed a research and design studio that focused on biomimicry.