Looking Forward: Sustainable Materials

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of welcoming Kate Greenberg to our office, where she shared her journey into furniture design and the inspiration behind her amazing work. Based in Oakland, Kate is an artist and designer working across furniture, lighting, and objects. Her work has been featured in The Local Project, Surface Magazine, Dezeen, and Architectural Digest, and has been exhibited in the Bay Area, New York, and Milan. In addition to her practice, she curates Works in Progress—an ongoing exhibition series celebrating the Bay Area’s vibrant craft and design community. Kate holds a Master’s degree in Furniture from California College of the Arts.

We're exploring four emerging building materials that offer exciting potential for sustainable design: hemp-lime for carbon-negative insulation, cork for natural fire-resistant cladding, atmospheric water generation panels for off-grid water supply, and phase change insulation for thermal energy storage. Each material aligns with our commitment to resilient, regenerative low-impact architecture.

Learn more about this week's staff spotlight, Kyra Johnston.

Learn more about this week's staff spotlight, Daisy Tuller.

Learn more about this week's staff spotlight, Nate Ingebritson.

As a studio, we’re always looking for ways to design with durability, resiliency, and beauty at top of mind. We work to curate material palettes that conceptually support the design parti, react thoughtfully to the site, are sourced sustainably, and futureproof the structure while protecting its inhabitants.

Last month, four members of our studio, Anjali Iyer, Chris Kurrle, Matt Lindsay, and Norman Wong, became Certified Passive House Designers after completing a 3.5 month long course hosted by the Passive House Network in partnership with the Passive House Institute. This course, which was recommended to us and partially subsidized by PG&E, consisted of weekly sessions with a national cohort group that featured guest speakers, industry experts, and provided a holistic curriculum about the theoretical and technical aspects of designing Passive House homes.

This week, we spoke with Ema Peter, a globally recognized photographer we've had the pleasure of working with on numerous photoshoots. Her images have been published in Architectural Digest, Objekt International, Dwell, Wired, The New York Times and in 2021, she was named the Top Architectural Photography Studio in the World by Architizer. Ema holds a Master’s degree in art and applied photography from the national academy of theatre and film arts in Sofia, Bulgaria.