BOND Custom 2024
1-on-1 with America's Top Luxury Residential Architects
October 24-27, 2024
CA, USA
About
1-on-1 Meetings and Networking with America’s Top Luxury Residential Architects.
This October, America’s most in-demand luxury residential architects will head to BOND Custom.
These are the people behind the most spectacular high-end custom home projects that you’d love to be a part of with the power to influence who gets specified and who doesn’t.
If you believe your products deserve a place in the most prestigious luxury custom home projects, these are the people you need to convince and this is your chance to sit down, one-on-one with them and have the conversations you’ve been waiting for.
3 days and nights away from projects and the office gives you the time and space you need to get to know each other properly. And, in a business built on relationships, that’s where the magic happens.
Discover the highlights from last year’s event – read our review!
Who Attends
America's top luxury residential architects. Guaranteed.
America’s most difficult-to-meet luxury residential architects are giving us 3 days of their time to come and connect with manufacturers who have suitably high-end products to show them and ultimately help them to deliver what their exacting clients want.
If luxury custom home projects are important to your business, these are the people you need in your life and you simply won’t get this level of access to them anywhere else.
To make this more real, you need to see who comes…
BOND Custom regular attendees include:
Brian Pinkett
Partner
Landry Design
Bruce Nagel
Managing Partner & Founder
Bruce Nagel & Partners
Evelyn Jung
Principal CFO
Candelaria Design
Maiju Stansel
Partner
Stansel and Case
Bob White
Owner
Forest Studio
Brian Mac
Principal
Birdseye
James LaRue
Principal
LaRue Architecture Design
Damien Blumetti
Principal
Damien Blumetti Architects
The Projects
Luxury Residential Projects Throughout America
BOND Custom is not like any other luxury custom home event: it’s how we qualify our ‘Buyers’ that sets us apart. Every single designer and architect that’s invited must:
- Be a Principal or above
- Work nationally in scope
- Evidence a portfolio of live, confirmed luxury custom home projects.
That’s how we deliver an unmatched event experience and ensure your best possible ROI. Here are just a few of the incredible custom home projects our architects have in their portfolios:
BOND has done a masterful job of bringing us together to discuss innovative, cutting-edge materials and products in a comfortable environment.
Quncie Williams
How it works
This is NOT a trade show
You know who’s going to be here before you arrive and you will have a guaranteed number of 1-to-1 meetings with the ‘buyers’ of your choice. And this is just the start:
You are all together for 3 days and 3 nights at a luxury resort, away from projects and offices, so there’s time and space to meet everybody and this opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Because there’s a real community feel here and everyone’s more relaxed and open and any number of conversations can light up the custom home project trail right in front of you – you’ll see!
> 18 pre-arranged 1:1 meetings
+ 72 hours of networking in a luxury resort
= a proven formula for success.
We will deliver America’s true luxury custom home project influencers with time and space to get to know each other properly.
You just need to show up!
Save your place
By the 3rd top-notch Architect we met on the 1st day we knew it was absolutely worth the investment! A BOND Event is not like a sales presentation. It is set up in a way that truly helps you develop a “BOND” with the Architects you meet.
John Finley
Program
Seminar timings and/or content may be varied at our discretion.
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
Thursday, October 24
Friday, October 25
Seminar - Putting buildings on a lowcarb diet: Integrating Carbon Analysis into the design process.
Vikram Sami | Director of Building Performance, Olson Kundig Architects
Synopsis
In response to the pressing need to address climate change, architectural firms are increasingly prioritizing the reduction of carbon emissions in their projects. This presentation delves into Olson Kundig’s strategic approach to low operational and embodied carbon analysis, showcasing innovative design methodologies and practical applications.
Operational carbon pertains to emissions generated during a building’s lifecycle, primarily from energy consumption for heating, cooling, lighting, and equipment operation. Embodied carbon, on the other hand, involves emissions from the manufacturing, transportation, and installation of building materials, as well as their end-of-life disposal. This dual focus is critical in achieving a comprehensive carbon reduction strategy.
The firm’s approach begins with an integrated design process, where interdisciplinary collaboration ensures that sustainability goals are embedded from the project’s inception. Key strategies include the implementation of passive solar design principles, high-performance building envelopes, and advanced energy-efficient systems to significantly lower operational carbon footprints. Additionally, the firm emphasizes the selection of sustainable materials, utilization of recycling practices, and adoption of low-carbon construction techniques to minimize embodied carbon.
By addressing both operational and embodied carbon, our holistic approach provides a robust framework for achieving carbon neutrality in the built environment. This presentation aims to inspire and equip architects, engineers, and builders with actionable insights to drive sustainable development and reduce the environmental impact of buildings.
Biography
Vikram Sami, Olson Kundig’s director of building performance, has been working on high performance design for over eighteen years, combining technical expertise with a love of design. Since joining Olson Kundig in 2016, Vikram has infused the firm with his infectious curiosity about how buildings can best support the health and well-being of their occupants. Often, this is achieved through a more harmonious relationship to nature. “In design,” Vikram notes, “high performance isn’t about finding the answers. It’s about asking the right questions. I want to ensure we are coming up with creative questions from the start that lead us down a path of discovery.”
Vikram earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the Academy of Architecture in Mumbai, India. Even before he began studying architecture formally, Vikram was most inspired by spaces that foster a connection between people and nature. At Arizona State University, Vikram found his calling in the Master of Science in Building Design program, focusing on energy performance and climate-responsive architecture. Since then, Vikram has worked for sustainability consulting firms as well as architecture firms. He has also developed Chhaya, an interactive analysis tool that quickly gives designers actionable building performance and climate data.
Today, Vikram leads Olson Kundig’s participation on the AIA 2030 Commitment and provides mentorship to the firm’s designers with regards to thermal comfort, materials impact, energy use and any number of other performance strategies. He also helps the firm understand sustainability ratings systems such as LEED®, WELL Building and Passivhaus. Vikram is active on the research side of building performance, speaks regularly at sustainable leadership conferences and has served as adjunct faculty at Georgia Tech and the University of Washington. At Olson Kundig, Vikram frequently leads workshops and charrettes to explore new green building innovations with colleagues.
Seminar - “Radical” Flexibility and Architectural Practice
Diana Nicklaus | President & CEO, SAAM Architecture
Synopsis
Both during and after the pandemic, architects jumped on the task of assisting their clients in rethinking the physical and virtual work environments. But have these firms also adopted their own progressive approaches to how they work? With new modes of architectural practice available, some firms have evolved their practice model, others have reverted to traditional studio operations. This breadth of work modalities has disrupted the architectural labor market, shifted how we collaborate both internally and with clients, redefined staff expectations, and offered a variety of critiques on how we as architects work.
Hear from Diana Nicklaus, President & CEO of Saam Architecture on the successes and lessons learned of operating a hybrid firm since 2014. Since its founding, Saam has offered its staff remote/hybrid work, “radical” flexibility, and unlimited vacation. Initially an experimental way of practice, the Saam team has leveraged this culture and become a successful firm of 25 competing with some of Boston’s largest firms.
Biography
In 2014, Diana co-founded Saam Architecture with the mission of delivering design excellence while providing a progressive HR model to attract top talent to an equitable environment. In doing so, Diana began an intentional experiment. She understood that a level playing field for all team members was essential to designing the firm she had envisioned throughout her career. After working in large firms for 15 years and experiencing the limitations of traditional practice, Diana reconciled her past experience and vision of supportive firm culture through a progressive practice model that empowers all team members to balance their work and life commitments.
Saam’s practice model quickly drew attention as an innovative, equitable, and new approach to practice. Audiences are both eager to learn more and often skeptical about how “radical” flexibility works without compromising design collaboration. Frequently asked questions inspired Diana to develop a shareable proof of concept intended to embolden others to become change agents.
From conversations hosted by the Boston Society of Architecture to national conferences (#EQxDV Symposium; AIA Women’s Leadership Summit), multiple AIA components have engaged Diana to speak on practice, including her role nationally as an Advisory Board Member for the Center for Practice. Diana has shared Saam’s experiment, highlighting how this model has emerged as a practice that is 88% women and includes team members from 9 countries who speak 11 languages. Diana’s approach, rooted in supportive teams and radical flexibility, has overcome many of the industry career pinch points for staff — moments of inflection where many often leave the profession.
Diana holds a B.A.in Art History from Tufts University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin.
Saturday, October 26
Seminar - Visible Green: New Material Opportunities in Sustainable Design
Blaine Brownell | Professor and Director, UNC Charlotte School of Architecture
Synopsis
Today, a global material revolution is in full swing, propelled by intensified material research and development efforts as well as an acute cultural interest in creative material expression. Given the critical role that the choice of building material plays in affecting the flows of resources, waste, and emissions, architects have realized the importance of developing more extensive material expertise. Yet the construction industry has, thus far, hesitated to take full advantage of the expressive potential of new green materials. This talk will consider innovative opportunities enabled by sustainable materials in architecture and strategic methods of pursuing new design strategies that are visibly green.
Biography
An architect and researcher of emergent materials and sustainable building technologies, Blaine Brownell, FAIA is a Professor and Director of the David R. Ravin School of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A former Fulbright scholar to Japan, he has authored nine books on advanced and sustainable materials for architecture and design, including Matter in the Floating World, Material Strategies, and the four-volume Transmaterial series. He writes the Mind & Matter column for Architect magazine, and his work has been published in over 70 architecture, design, science, and news journals, including Nature. His latest book, The Pandemic Effect, addresses the inoculation of the built environment.
Seminar - Layers of Light
David Warfel | Founding Designer, Light Can Help You
Synopsis
After a long day at work, the human body and mind are ready for relaxation and rest. Lighting during the evening and nighttime hours plays a critical role in fostering safety, security, and a sense of welcome to residential and hospitality projects. Discover a new, client-friendly approach to illuminating interiors, learn what makes some light fixtures better tools, see why we are putting lighting in the wrong places, and explore the intersection of light, human wellbeing, and intelligent controls. Author, speaker, and innovative lighting designer David Warfel will take you on an engaging journey through everything that is wrong with lighting today and plot a course for a brighter future.
Biography
David Warfel is Midwestern farm boy turned lighting designer, author, and educator who passionately shares the gift of light. Whether blogging at languageoflight.blog, writing for Fine Homebuilding, Designing Lighting, Technology Designer, and Houzz.com or designing residential and entertainment experiences from coast to coast, David simply wants to help others live better lives through the scientific and artistic application of light.
From the local theatre to Carnegie Hall, from his parent’s kitchen to multi-million-dollar homes, from local pizza joints to the Las Vegas Strip, from school cafeterias to Royal Caribbean Cruise Line projects, David is endlessly fascinated by the power of light to reveal and transform space. David is founding designer of Light Can Help You.
