BOND Custom

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.

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.

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.

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.