The Too Much Information Biography Page

The Simple Version

My goal is simple – to help architects communicate their ideas to interested audiences.

The Long Version

My office is South of Market at 1211 Folsom Street.  We share space with lots of interesting folks including Public Architecture (www.publicarchitecture.org), Peterson Architects (www.petersonarch.com), Mende Design (www.mendedesign.com), and Asato Communications (www.yoshasato.com).  Occasionally we throw parties for the design community in our space.  Remind us to invite you!

I live in Oakland, California, within sight of the hospital where I was born and not far from the town where I grew up. My earliest meaningful interaction with architecture was as an infant watching the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley (Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons) being constructed a block away from our home. Then in 1967 a family vacation to the World’s Fair in Montreal opened my eyes wide to fantastic structures by Buckminster Fuller, Frei Otto, Arthur Erickson, and Moshe Safdie, and in New York I was transfixed by the continuous floor in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum. At nine years old my life was changed forever. 

After receiving a bachelor of arts in urban studies from San Francisco State in 1981(never mind going to public school in the Richmond School District and all that) I landed a job as an office boy at Whisler/Patri Architects, then on Folsom Street in San Francisco, and my career in architecture began. Having been promoted within a few weeks to librarian (my office boy skills were somewhat limited) I returned to graduate school at UC Berkeley and received a master’s degree in Library and Information Studies in 1985. In pursuit of becoming an architectural librarian I published book reviews and articles in Architecture California and Design Book Review and other architectural publications. In 1987 Whisler/Patri suggested that since the library had become a little too social, perhaps there was a better place to put my skills to work and that I would be happier as Communications Manager. 

From 1987 to 1989, Whisler/Patri received press for the Nikko Hotel, San Francisco Centre, the Ritz Carlton, and several fine interiors projects. Communications combined my social talents with writing and research.  In 1989, I moved to Los Angeles and joined the venerable AC Martin practice as Communications Manager, and also joined the editorial board of LA Architect, for whom I edited an issue on architectural photography, edited interviews, and wrote several book reviews.  I also met with Elaine Jones, Hon. AIA as I was preparing a lecture on the work of A. Quincy Jones, FAIA  for UCLA.  I learned more about communications, not to mention modern architecture, during the hours that Elaine and I spent together at the Barn. I also studied and lectured on the work of A. Quincy Jones, During this time I purchased a bungalow in the historic Village Green housing complex in Baldwin Hills and helped publicize its still innovative design. It later became a national landmark. A few highlights of my life in Los Angeles stand out; marching from Baldwin Hills to the Olympic Stadium to hear Nelson Mandela speak about his incredible life, and attending the opening of the Case Study House exhibit at the Temporary Contemporary museum, a show which renewed public interest in humane modernism. Missing the Bay Area, I returned to Oakland in the fall of 1990 to join Berkeley-based ELS Architects as Marketing Director. 

ELS received the AIACC Firm Award, grew steadily through the 90s and was published frequently in the national and international press including a firm monograph. By late 1997 I decided it was time to share my ideas about communications and relationships to a broader audience and launched a consulting practice. 

Having grown up inside architecture firms I understand how to determine achievable publicity and marketing goals within reasonable budgets; no retainers, only news releases that contain news, and a focus on articles that resonate with target audiences.  Since 1998 I have worked with many architecture and design firms including (in alphabetical order, no favorites here) Architectural Resources Group, Anshen + Allen, Colour Studio, Gensler, Goring & Straja, EDAW, Huntsman Architectural Group, IA Interior Architects, Kwan Henmi, Leddy Maytum Stacy, SmithGroup, SOM San Francisco, and Turnbull/Griffin/Haesloop.

In the last few years I have also contributed to ArcCA (Architecture California), Architectural Record, Contract, Urban Land, Multifamily Trends, and AIASF’s LINE magazine (www.linemag.org), where I guest edited an issue on socially responsible architecture and continue to contribute interviews, book reviews, and commentary.  You can hear me speak every year or so at SMPS (www.smpssf.org) or the AIA (www.aiasf.org) about marketing related matters.

You may also be interested in the blog portion of this web site.