WRNS Studio Promotes 18: Diversifies Expertise and Market Reach
WRNS Studio — growing at an average of 20% annually — has named six senior associates and twelve associates to expand leadership across offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, and New York. The new leaders help WRNS Studio stay nimble, creative, and design-forward amidst rapid growth.
“These architects and interior designers bring a diversity of interests and talents focused on research, craft, technology, equity, community, delivery, and innovative building systems.” says partner Kyle Elliott. “This plurality brings great value to our studio culture and our ability to deliver transformative projects for our clients.” The firm leadership, under sixteen partners, will now be significantly strengthened by nine senior associates and thirty-two associates.
Scott Gillespie, Jason Halaby, Edwin Halim (top row), Ed Kim, John McGill, and Rochelle Nagata-Wu (bottom row) have been named senior associates. Scott Gillespie is currently delivering a new campus for Microsoft in Silicon Valley, on track to become the largest mass timber project built to date in the U.S. Jason Halaby leads the firm’s innovative use of Virtual Reality and Building Information Modeling and implements firm-wide training and standards. Edwin Halim, with numerous interior design projects for Google, Airbnb, and Facebook, is currently working to achieve the Living Building Challenge Materials Petal for WRNS Studio’s Seattle office. Ed Kim recently delivered one of a handful of university recreation centers to target LEED Platinum in a building type that typically consumes large amounts of energy and water. John McGill, based in New York, is leading projects for Princeton, Microsoft, and numerous private developers. Rochelle Nagata-Wu, who leads the firm’s Honolulu office, is delivering projects for the Hawaii Department of Education and the Rehab Hospital of the Pacific.
The twelve new associates include Goetz Frank, Prairna Gupta Garg, Stewart Green, Alexander Key (top row), Demetra Manolas, Parvaneh Mohaddes, Jahae Park, Kelly Shaw (middle row), Susanne Susheelan, Abdel Qader Tarabien, Christian Vollmuth, and Wesley Wong (bottom row). “These new associates advance our ideals of beauty, sustainability, and a positive contribution to the public realm through everyday practice,” says partner and director of human resources, Melinda Rosenberg. “We look to them and see the future of WRNS.”
WRNS Studio has twice been named Top Firm in the U.S. in Architect magazine’s annual ranking of firms across design, sustainability, and business. Notable projects include the Sonoma Academy Durgin Guild and Commons, honored with a 2018 AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Award.