Architecture + Design Summer Academy

Ann Komara

Ann E. Komara is an award winning scholar and professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Colorado Denver, where she served as department chair 2009-2019. She holds Master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture and Architectural History from the University of Virginia. She has taught seminars, design studios, and lecture classes at the graduate and undergraduate levels, directed theses and independent studies, and led Study Abroad programs. She was a 2008 Fulbright Research Scholar in Helsinki, Finland. Komara’s research in landscape history, theory and design considers the constructed narratives evidenced on landscapes. Numerous projects, articles and books include her award-winning book Lawrence Halprin’s Skyline Park (2012), and Civilian Conservation Corps ANF-1, which won a national HALS Documentation Award. Her research on urban landscapes of Second Empire Paris has been supported by fellowships from the Graham Foundation, Camargo Foundation and Dumbarton Oaks, where she was a 2019-20 Fellow in Garden & Landscape Studies.

Tamarah Begay

Tamarah Begay is the Founder of Indigenous Design Studio + Architecture (IDS+A), a 100% Native American Woman-Owned architectural and planning firm based in Albuquerque, NM. Ms. Begay is a member of the Navajo Nation, the first Navajo woman registered architect and has over 15 years of experience working in Native American tribes with connecting culture, language and tradition through design. Tamarah is committed to educating clients on the importance of embracing Indigenous world view values of design and planning. She is also committed in supporting minorities in particular Native Americans in architecture & planning and related fields, through business opportunities and professional development. Ms. Begay is currently the President of the American Indian Council of Architects + Engineers (AICAE) and AIA New Mexico 2021 Young Architect Award Winner.

Eric Rodenbeck

Eric Rodenbeck is the Founder of Stamen Design in San Francisco, which builds beautiful, playful, technically sophisticated mapping and data visualization projects for clients from the Dalai Lama to the World Health Organization to scientists around the world. Uniquely interdisciplinary, for twenty years his work also intersects with the world of fine art, has been exhibited worldwide at the Venice Biennale, Victoria and Albert Museum, SFMOMA, Art Institute of Chicago and others, and is in the permanent collections of MoMA & the Smithsonian. Eric was expelled from the Cooper Union and studied science fiction and the history of technology at the New School for Social Research, both in New York City. Stamen is the winner of the 2016 National Design Award for Interaction Design.

Francisco Uviña

Francisco Uviña Contreras received his Masters of Architecture and Masters Certificate in Preservation and Regionalism in 2009 from the University of New Mexico where he graduated with distinction. Francisco worked for Cornerstones Community Partnerships, a non-for profit organization, from 1994 to 2008 to assist with field assessments, documentation of historic buildings, adaptive re-use design and new design work utilizing traditional building methods as the Architectural/Technical Manager.  Francisco is the co-author and illustrator of Cornerstones’ Adobe Architecture, A Conservation Handbook. In the present, Francisco serves as the Director for the Historic Preservation and Regionalism Graduate Certificate Program at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico.  He is also the coordinator for the Patrimonio Histórico+Cultural Iberoamericano (PHI) in the United States and a member of the Scientific Committee for the Traditional Architecture Journal.

Ke Vaughn Harding

Ke Vaughn Harding developed extensive knowledge of architectural conservation best practices through hands-on experience and leadership in the rehabilitation of historic dwellings in his hometown of Falmouth, Jamaica. He has served as the director of Falmouth Heritage Renewal, sat on the national council of the Georgian Society of Jamaica, and acted as the Jamaica National Heritage Trust’s representative in Falmouth. His skills in interpreting the cultural values of historic built environments are both a direct product of this past work, and a point of departure for subsequent preservation and design initiatives. Ke Vaughn received his undergraduate degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Technology, Jamaica, followed by a Master of Architecture degree and a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation and Regionalism from the University of New Mexico. He is currently based in the Santa Fe, New Mexico office of AOS Architects, where his work spans the spectrum of historic building assessment and rehabilitation to contemporary, regionally responsive design.

Jennifer Siegal

Jennifer Siegal is Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at USC and the founder and principal of Los Angeles-based Office of Mobile Design (OMD) which  has been recognized internationally for its research and development of prefabricated construction systems. Jennifer is also Managing Partner and Chief Design Officer of Wildernests, launched in 2021—described as “the Tesla of real estate” for disrupting the real-estate industry and spearheading the sector’s transition from carbon-intense to carbon-negative.  

Jennifer was a 2003 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and has held tesidencies at The MacDowell Colony, Taliesin, Arcosanti and the Chinati Foundation. Her books include Mobile: The Art of Portable Architecture, and More Mobile: Portable Architecture for Today  (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002 and 2008) and Jennifer Siegal (China Architecture & Building Press, , 2005). Recent OMD projects include WillowTree and Sanderling K-8 Waldorf Schools; Senior Mobile Housing Parks; and residences in Malibu, Big Bear, and Palos Verdes Estates.

Kathleen Kambic

Kathleen Kambic is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of New Mexico and is an affiliate with the Water Resources Program and the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. Before teaching at UNM, Kathleen taught landscape architecture, architecture and design history courses at the University of Colorado, where she is also an affiliate with the Center of the American West. She has worked for multiple nationally known design firms, including EDAW and NBWLA. Her research interests include water infrastructure, marginalized urban space, feminist political ecology, and landscape theory. Her current research explores feminist critique of landscape architecture as well as water governance in arid landscapes. Recently, Kathleen has taught graduate seminars and studios on decentralized water infrastructure, site planning, drawing, and typologies. Kathleen’s research on water infrastructure has morphed into a larger study of the major river basins of the West, most recently of the Rio Grande and Elephant Butte Reservoir in particular.

Claudia Meyer Horn, PLA, ASLA, CLARB

Since founding Design Office in 2008, Claudia Meyer Horn has established a reputation for thoughtful, high quality landscape architecture, planning, and infrastructure design. Her environmentally responsible design approach is evident in a wide variety of project types and scales. During the past 8 years, she has steadfastly worked to generate landscapes for people to enjoy that integrate function with the beauty of ecological systems and design.

Accredited as a LEED professional since 2002, she strives to incorporate environmentally responsible design to all projects in which she is involved.

She was educated at the University of Texas at Austin (B.Arch. and B.A.-Plan II) and the University of Pennsylvania (M.L.A.). After working in Paris France and Luzern Switzerland, she broadened her architectural education to include landscape architecture. With over 25 years of experience managing projects, her experience includes working for the internationally known firms of Santiago Calatrava, OLIN, DesignWorkshop, and James Corner Field Operations.

Claudia Meyer Horn's Website

Joseph Kunkel

Joseph Kunkel, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is a Principal at MASS Design Group, where he directs the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab-based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a community designer and educator, focused on sustainable development practices throughout Indian Country. His work includes exemplary Indian housing projects and processes nationwide. This research work has developed into emerging best practices, leading to an online Healthy Homes Road Map for tribal housing development, funded by HUD’s PD&R Office. His professional career has centered on community-based design, material research, fabrication, and construction. In 2019 Joseph was awarded an Obama Fellowship for his work with indigenous communities. Joseph is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Civil Society Fellowship, a partnership of ADL and The Aspen Institute, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.