Ever since I finished my service with the Peace Corps and entered the field of architecture, I have been interested in applying my architecture skills to serve people in need of quality affordable housing and vibrant community designs.
I have a Bachelor of Architecture three years experience working in the field of Architecture with emphasis on innovative sustainable building systems and passive solar design.
Currently, I volunteer for a startup community outreach organization, Front Range Eco-Town grassroots campaign. Its mission is to foster a movement towards establishing ecologically minded and socially vibrant towns based off the co-housing and eco-village template in Colorado.
Brian Bowen Architects, Designer/Architectural Intern
• Worked collaboratively on design solutions that marry aesthetics to sustainable building practices.
• Worked on a range of residential projects from schematic design through construction documents.
• Built innovative window shutter systems for a prototype passive greenhouse.
Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, Designer/Architectural Intern,
• As an Americorps volunteer, worked collaboratively with other organizations to restore housing needs in the impoverished community of East Biloxi, MS, after the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
• Designed a home and produced a complete set of drawings for permit for a woman with a physical disability.
• Designed a home for a family of six in Gulfport, MS.
• Produced drawings for a rehab of a single family home in East Biloxi, MS.
• Worked on the preliminary designs of an affordable housing project in Pass Christian, MS.
• Worked on the development of a community plan for the Oak Street neighborhood in East Biloxi, MS.
Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Designer/Architectural Intern
• Worked on the design and construction of a prototype module building system, GroHomes, for application in disaster relief and low income areas.
• Worked on the design and layout of a community-wide based application of GroHomes in the Lower Ninth Ward,
• New Orleans, incorporating principles of Solar Envelopes.
• Participated in the planning of resource site balancing protocol to be established in the development of Varano, a large scale urban development project being planned near College Station, TX.
• Designed and built a structure (Bat Tower) for housing bats and collecting guano for fertilizer, to be a part of the Texas A&M entry for the Solar Decathlon 2007.
Dignity Care, Caregiver
• Assisted elderly clients maintain independence by helping them perform all activities of daily living.
Peace Corps, Mali, Natural Resource Management Volunteer
• Established partnerships and programmatic work methodologies, and developed and administered needs assessments for six villages.
• Organized and taught a seminar on fruit tree grafting and orchard management.
• Created a training seminar for 10 men to learn well construction techniques to build a 1-hectare women’s community garden and 20m deep Dutch-brick well.
• Taught English in the local school and helped produce a radio show educating listeners on various topics.
• Evaluated program effectiveness on local, regional, and national levels, and established a joint commitment to promote Natural Resource Management techniques through environmental education in schools.
• Learned and participated in regional ethnic housing construction practices.
Peace Corps, Mali, West Africa, Natural Resource Management
Natural Resource Management and Bambara Language Training.
University of Washington, BArch, BA in Architecture, minor in Environmental Studies
Studies included:
Straw-bale Design-Build StudioWorked as a class studying and developing straw-bale construction methods to best address the housing needs of the Crow Nation in Billings, Montana.
Designed and built a straw-bale home for a single mother on the Crow reservation.
