For Jeff, architecture is about being a good steward of our environment, of our cities, and of the trust and good will of our people — clients, consultants and staff. Put simply, he believes in doing good work and treating people well, and these basic tenets have defined his 35-year career.
The environmental movement of the 1970s had a strong impact on Jeff. Between his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley and his graduate work at Washington University in St. Louis, he served as a Naturalist / Guide in Alaska’s Denali National Park. He also served as an Environmental Quality Control Field Engineer on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline project, one of the United States’ first large-scale infrastructure projects to employ serious conservation measures. Jeff’s deep connection to the environment informs our most site-sensitive projects, including recent work in the Tahoe Basin and the Presidio of San Francisco.
Jeff has established a number of beachheads with the goal of advancing sustainable, forward-leaning design. Before helping found WRNS Studio in 2005, he helped establish new offices throughout California. More recently he started WRNS Studio’s new office in Honolulu, helping land a commission to develop sustainable design guidelines for all public schools in Hawaii. Jeff remains at his core, an idealist, resolute in his conviction that architecture can — and should — have a profound and positive impact on place and people.
Jeff studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and earned his Master of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.