Growing up along beautiful sandy shores of Lake Michigan on the Door Peninsula, blossomed some of my passions and aspirations. A strong sense of service, a wanting to help others, and love for community was inspired partly by growing up in the small village of Sister Bay, Wisconsin.
My passion for design began at a young age and became more evident through furthering my education. As a young boy, I can remember creating vast cities out of containers, cardboard cereal boxes, and things from the Hot Wheels sets on my bedroom floor that stretched from wall to wall. Getting older, I began to notice aspects of life amid and became awestruck by the built environment. Attaining more knowledge through my studies, I began to realize the importance of design and how it may be used to better the lives of those who come in contact with it.
My other passion with the potential to complement my design skills is a need to help and assist others. Growing up in a small community, everyone always helped those around them. We are all here on this planet together, and I believe that our passions may make it a better place when blended. Assisting others could be considered something as little as opening the door for someone or as grandiose as ensuring someone is comfortable in the built environment in which designers attribute.
In our profession, there are grand opportunities to become advocates of good design for all members of society. I am an advocate for the preservation of existing structures, incorporating sustainable components into buildings, and in designing structures that remain relevant across generations. Designers can promote these and other design practices to better the lifestyles of all people, produce meaningful design, and help preserve the environment. Good design should be made available to everyone and, it is an architect’s role to advocate, instigate, and defend the interests of the public.
Ubuntu Architecture Summer Abroad Program, Durban, ZA, Chief Operations Officer
Through this role, a direct relationship with all leaders in the senior management team helps ensure steps towards aligning with the mission, values, and goals of the organization are moved towards. It is the hope in this position to help further establish the non-profit organization through the implementation of business strategies, plans and procedures. One goal is to bring the organization to a sustainable growth plan to be self-sustaining and begin being able to pay full salaries of staff members.
Responsibilities:
_Handles day to day operations of the organization and directs tasks to team-members
_Works with the CEO and Founder to develop sustainable business strategies and plans
Accomplishments:
_Developed an organizational Strategy to launch the program and begin its first cohort
_Established a campaign to successfully acquire 21 students thus far for the 2021 cohort
_Developed an organizational Strategy to launch the program and begin its first cohort
_Established a partnership strategy to fully fund the organization, house build, and savings
_Established the Customer Relations Management (CRM) database and its many processes
ZFMK Creative Firm, Door County, Wisconsin, Lead Designer
This company was established in 2017 to help the smaller business owner, non-profit organization, and individuals who may not have a large budget to help elevate their online presence or branding. Smaller operations are not always able to hire someone to be a part of their team, ZFMK helps grow their vision while promoting their contributions to the community and society. ZFMK has made marketing and strategy more affordable so that everyone may promote their good works, products, and services.
Responsibilities:
_Provided brand strategy, online management, and business operations management
_Collaborate with brands to help shape their message to customers
_Content creation that aligns with the story the business seeks to tell
_Established branding elements and guides to help clients speak with one voice.
Accomplishments:
_Increased visibility of up to 74 percent with over 14 brand social media collaborations
_Increased search keyword clicks by 77-205 percent and SEO position by 13-25 percent
_Increased website traffic by 55-342 percent with redesigns amplifying client businesses
_Increased online visibility of six clients by more than 200 percent
Wesenberg Architects, Oshkosh, WI, US, Designer
An architecture, planning and contracting multi-disciplinary firm with a focus toward the strengthening of communities through the built environment. Wesenberg Architects is committed to understanding your vision, realizing your project and strengthening the communities in which we live.
This position was the first in the architecture profession as a designer (without a professional license) who worked together on a team to help with all phases of the design process to advance multiple projects at one time.
Responsibilities:
_Collaborate with other professionals to develop and advance multiple projects at one time
_Collaborate with stakeholders during design process to maintain design intent and comply with owner specifications
_Maintain compliance with established milestones
_Determine impact of applicable zoning and development ordinances to determine project constraints
_Prepare diagrams illustrating spacial relationships and functional adjacencies
_Prepare site analysis diagrams to document existing conditions, features, infrastructure, and regulatory requirements
_Perform building code analysis for projected use and create documentation for review
_Communicate design ideas and concepts to the client graphically with drawings and reports
_Participate in professional development activities that offer exchanges with other design professionals
_Prepare marketing documents that accurately communicate the firm's experience and capabilities
Accomplishments:
_Designed preliminary design concepts that were selected by the owner to be built
_Established graphic standards and created templates to align with new branding
_Lead presentation and proposal graphics on all projects
_Helped establish an easier to navigate and organized file management system
_Introduced firm to Revit and the many benefits in using the program for projects
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, SE, MArch, Real Estate and Construction Management
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, US, Bachelors, Architectural Studies
Every student who attends the School of Architecture and Design at UL Lafayette goes through a program that compounds each year of studies gravitating to two final projects each consisting of one semester.
Year 1 — Attaining the Art of Design
Year 2 — Analysis Behind the Art
Year 3 — Applying Reasoning to Space
Year 4 — Awakening of Structure and Rules
In my fourth year of study I looked into how a building can impact a community and provide an instigator of change. The first project consisted of a mixed-use building at the end of the downtown sector that would instigate a connection to the north side communities. The second project was not one of a building, but rather a master plan of how the City of Detroit could take advantage of its urban meadows and create a connected series of parks and community farms. This could then create a system to support the local residents, improve their quality of life, take advantage of the growing zone's potential.
