Michelle Kaufmann, AIA, Design Principal

Michelle Kaufmann received her Masters of Architecture from Princeton University and her Bachelor of Architecture from Iowa State University. Prior to founding this Bay Area firm, Kaufmann was an Associate for Frank O. Gehry for five years in Los Angeles. After a frustrating experience with being a client looking for a dwelling of her own with a lack of affordable, well-designed, sustainable alternatives, she decided to do something about it. In 2002 she founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs and began the crusade to create cost-effective, thoughtfully designed, green buildings that are accessible to more people.

Kaufmann is a leader in the green design community, and her commitment to sustainable design remains constant with all of her work.  The Glidehousetm home is currently on display at the National Building Museum’s exhbit: The Green House.  She is a US Green Building Council member, and is currently pursuing platinum certification in the LEED residential pilot program with one of her Sunset© Breezehousetm homes.

Kaufmann has been a lecturer at the Green Construction 2006 Conference, West Coast Green 2006, AIA San Francisco, the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Dwell Magazine Prefab Proactive Conference, Dwell Prefab Now Conference, Dwell on Design Conference, the National Building Museum, AIA Minnesota Annual Convention, Design Within Reach, Iowa State University, and Architecture New York Symposium on Architecture and the Feminine. She is on the Advisory Committee for the architecture department at Iowa State University and has been a Professor of Architecture at Woodbury University and Iowa State University.

Michelle and her husband enjoy living in their Bay Area Glidehouse with their 2 dogs, Otis and Peekay.

For more about John, visit his website: www.mkd-arc.com