My work has always been inspired by creative regionalists, architects trained ‘globally’, who nonetheless devoted themselves to a particular place and people. Gaudi, Mackintosh, Maybeck and Wurster confined their work to the places they knew best, neglecting fame for a deeper satisfaction and a worthier product. I have chosen this path, here in Santa Cruz. In fact it was my dedication to recording and preserving the Scotts Valley Tree Circus that led to my settling here permanently.

In an effort to understand this community, I have involved myself in its governance and its protection in ways that employed my architectural and planning skills to the greatest effect. I have received local recognition for my work in historic preservation and have served as chair of the Santa Cruz Historic Preservation Commission. I was also a member that city’s Earthquake Recovery Task Force (Vision Santa Cruz) and helped draft design guidelines for the reconstruction of downtown Santa Cruz. I have chaired their Zoning Board and the Mission Street Widening Task Force and Design Committee. I took an active role in promoting alternative, socially responsible development for Santa Cruz as an elected member of the City Council. And I was the initial promoter of the Santa Cruz Green Belt.

I have not fled from media exposure, though I rarely pursue it. My projects have appeared in Metropolitan Home, Fine Homebuilding, the New York Times and Dwell magazines. My theoretical work has been published in AD magazine, Archetype and CoEvolution Quarterly. My drawings have been exhibited in London, Edinburgh, Brussels, Santa Cruz and Harvard University.

Working almost exclusively in Santa Cruz County, I have benefited from the exigencies of a general practice. I have designed one of most everything, be it church, brew pub, school, museum, winery, restaurants, golf clubhouse, barns, corporate headquarters, straw bale building, homeless shelter, SRO hotel, apartments, cafes, stores, warehouses, artists’ work/live studios, or an entire LEED neighborhood.

Accommodating the needs and desires of the people who inhabit my architecture is my first responsibility as an architect. Doing so in a way that enhances the urban environment is the second. Making those plans a reality in the context of local government and local resources (i.e., raw materials, trades people, etc.) is the third. These are the skills that I have honed these past thirty years in Santa Cruz.