We're a team of 250+ architects, landscape architects, engineers, writers, filmmakers, and researchers, representing twenty countries around the world.

Ange Marie is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Francisco is an architect who has practiced in Spain, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. He joined MASS in 2018 as a Harvard Fellow and is now an Associate at the Boston office.

Francisco holds a Master in Design Studies with Distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor and Master of Architecture with Highest Distinction from the University of Alicante, where he was appointed as Honorary Professor of the Department of Architectural Design. At Harvard, his thesis looked at how the conservation of modernist colonial architecture represents an imposition of Western scientific knowledge as the universal model of reality and advocated the transition of architecture and design to practices rooted in a global ecology of knowledges.

Francisco is the recipient of the Fundacion La Caixa Fellowship for Postgraduate Studies, the European Union Tempo Project Scholarship, the Harvard Eduard Sekler Fellowship, and the Harvard GSD Community Service Fellowship. He is Editor at More Than Green, a multimedia platform for education on creative sustainability, and Obl/que, a journal at the intersection of critical theories, conservation, and design. Francisco’s work has been exhibited at the 15th and 16th Venice Architecture Biennale.

"I believe that every project is an opportunity to create a movement. To inspire this momentum, we must be one with the community, and together, go beyond the bare minimum."

Sierra began work with MASS in 2008 focusing on landscape architecture and joined full time in 2009 to finalize design and oversee implementation of the Butaro Hospital, MASS’s first project. Currently Sierra directs the ongoing design and implementation of MASS’s planning and architectural projects and is currently overseeing The Kayanja Center, an academic facility supporting rural health care delivery and research in Uganda, a number of African Conservation Schools in DRC, Tanzania, Zambia, and Rwanda, and the Butaro Hospital Expansion Plan, among others. Those completed include Butaro Hospital, the Umubano Primary School, the Butaro Doctors’ Housing, and the Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center.

Prior to joining MASS, Sierra worked for four years at James Corner Field Operations, primarily in design and oversight of implementation of Section 1 of the New York City High Line. Sierra has taught graduate level studios at various universities and from 2010-2012, Sierra served as Head of the Architecture Department at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Rwanda. At KIST, Sierra was instrumental in shaping the current curriculum. She is invited to speak regularly, including the keynote address at the Healthcare Design Conference, serving as a Sasaki Distinguished Visiting Critic at the Boston Architectural College, and lecturing at the Carter ‘Lectures In African Studies’ series, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, University of Toronto, and the American Institute of Architects, among others. Select features of Sierra’s work with MASS Design Group include A+U Magazine, Lotus, Mark Magazine, and Detail.

Sierra received her Bachelors of Arts in Art and Architectural History from Smith College and her Masters of Landscape Architecture and Masters of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Taylor joined MASS in August of 2018 as a Designer, supporting the RICA team. Prior to joining MASS, she was a Global Health Corps Fellow working as a Health and Housing Design Officer for ARCHIVE Global in New York City. She executed anti-malaria housing projects in Namibia and Swaziland through the construction and implementation of tactics screening homes. There she expanded on housing’s role in vector-borne diseases while overseeing the implementation of integrated sanitation systems in informal settlements in Delhi.

She received both her Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Environmental Design Degrees from Montana State University.

Elsemieke joined MASS in February 2020. She currently works on the development of stories related to the construction of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund while at the same time supporting the project’s impact tracking research.

She is interested in how communication tools like photography and film can be used to raise awareness around pressing global issues, such as those related to the environment and women. She believes visuals to be a very powerful communication tool that at the same time can connect and empower people throughout the process.

Elsemieke holds a Master of Science in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability with a focus on traditional ecological knowledge and visual anthropology and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies specializing in Latin America and urban planning. She took part in the Short Documentary Film course by the Danish School of Media and Journalism, World Press Photo and NOOR Images for which she produced a short film on the physical and emotional damage left behind by Hurricane Maria in Dominica in 2017. Prior to joining MASS, Elsemieke worked in communications with the United Nations Environment Programme and as a production assistant for Redfitz, a Brooklyn-based cinematic documentary and narrative film production company.

Jha D is the Director of the Public Memory and Memorials Lab which is an initiative that advances research, training, and built work around a central thesis: spatializing memory can heal us and inspire collective action for generations to come. Projects in the Lab’s portfolio include the Sugar Land 95 Cemetery Revitalization Project, Harris County Remembrance Project and several initiatives with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

At MASS, Jha D has also contributed to the Gun Violence Memorial Project, Franklin Park Action Plan, and the Louise B. Miller Memorial and Freedom Garden at Gallaudet University. Previously, she worked as a Designer at Sasaki Associates. She received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Northeastern University and her Master of Architecture I from the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to pursuing her graduate degree, she taught design studios at the Boston Architectural College. Outside of architecture, Jha D is a spoken word artist, event producer, and SpaceMaker for the LGBTQ+ communities of color.

T.J. joined MASS in the Kigali office in 2016 as a Global Health Corps Fellow. During his time at MASS, he has supported design development through construction administration of the new MASS Kigali renovation, MASS Fabrication Lab, and One Acre Fund’s Headquarters in rural Kenya. Most recently, T.J. collaborated on One Acre Fund’s Headquarters expansion and is currently supporting design and material studies for an agricultural university in Rwanda. Prior to MASS, T.J. completed his Bachelor of Architecture at Philadelphia University where he developed an interest in intersecting design, fabrication, and community impact. His passion for this intersection led him to Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia, where he served as a construction crew leader, building and renovating affordable homes in partnership with future homeowners.

T.J. is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Yvanie Kamikazi joined MASS Build in March 2020 as Procurement Specialist, working on the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund project. A certified M&E professional, Yvanie has extensive experience in supply chain management. Before joining MASS, Yvanie worked with Remote Group for 3 years as a Logistics Consultant on various projects including RICA. She also worked with other companies such as T-IT Africa Ltd and Horizon Construction. Yvanie holds a Bachelor degree in Law from University of Kigali.

Yvanie is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Denyse joined MASS in January 2018 and is currently working in the Kigali office as an IT Intern, focusing on technical support. Denyse holds an Advanced Diploma in Electronics and Telecommunication Technology and was awarded the best female graduate at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC-Kigali). Prior to joining MASS, her first career practice was with the cement production plant, CIMERWA, in maintenance and planning. Denyse is pursuing Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at the University of Rwanda - College of Science and Technology.

"As the first generation of professionals for Africa’s young construction industry, we have the responsibility to set the standards of what the society demands from their infrastructure, one of those being enhancing human dignity."

Martine joined MASS in March 2018 as a Quantity Surveying Junior Associate. She is currently working on the Rwandan Institute of Conservation Agriculture (RICA) project. Before joining MASS, she worked as a Quantity Surveyor at CABLELINE Ltd, a local Architecture and IBMS Services Company. She received her Bachelor of Science in Quantity Surveying from the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology. Martine is also a public speaking and debate trainer, as well as a mentor for the IMBUTO Foundation and ASPIRE Debate Rwanda to different Youth Centers in the Country.

She believes that there is no greater reward than working from the heart and making a difference. To her, making architecture and construction both dignifying and affordable is exactly that; rewarding from the beginning to the end.

Martine is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

"We have to design in a way that makes urban regeneration concrete and feasible. A sustainable design practice should economize while producing great results."

Shakira originally joined MASS in October 2016 as an Engineering Intern. Since then, she has moved on to support our growing engineering team as a Graduate Engineer. Her main focus is supporting structural design and site works, helping with construction administration. She has worked on a number of projects at MASS including the Butaro Oncology located in Burera district. She is currently working on the Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture ensuring quality control of structures. Before joining MASS, Shakira earned a Bachelor’s degree in Building and Construction Technology from Umutara Polytechnic University.

Prior to joining MASS, she worked with a local road construction company and an architecture consultancy company to increase her capacity and play a role in the development of her home country, Rwanda. Shakira’s aim is to redefine the future of the build environment and the lives of its inhabitants, in Rwanda and beyond.

Aline is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Andrew joined MASS in 2021 as a Designer and is based in the Hudson Valley office. With a background in both landscape architecture and architecture, he interrogates the ways ecological, cultural and political systems interact through time, constructing and deconstructing space. At MASS, he is eager to explore the ways community engagement and design can together contribute to social and ecological justice.

During his time at graduate school in Massachusetts, Andrew’s thesis work, Building/Unbuilding, explored the unbuilding work of design through a look at the settler colonial expansion of the United States across the continent. Prior to joining MASS, he gained experience at a number of design firms, most recently at Hargreaves Jones in Cambridge, MA and Atelier Jean Nouvel in Paris, FR.

Born and raised in the Great Plains, Andrew studied architecture, film and art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds a Master’s of Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s GSD and a Master’s of Architecture from MIT.

"I believe that everyone has the right to good Architecture, and by that I feel a responsibility to address social consciousness through innovative design."

Theo joined MASS in July of 2014 as a Global Health Corps design fellow and has since become an Associate on the architectural design team. Theo is currently working on the design of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Musanze, Rwanda as well as the design and construction administration for the headquarters for One Acre Fund in Kakamega Kenya. Previously, he has worked on the design and construction documentation for the 300-bed Munini District Hospital in Southern Province, Rwanda and construction administration for Mubuga Primary School that serves over 850 students in the Northern Province, Rwanda. Additionally, Theo was an integral part of the construction training for the African Design Centre fellows for their capstone design-build project at Ruhehe Primary School in Northern Province, Rwanda.

Prior to joining MASS, Theo received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University Of Rwanda School Of Architecture and interned at General Architecture Collaborative on design, project management, and participatory workshops for projects such as Masoro Earthbag construction. Theo is passionate about spending time on site and ensuring that construction processes have maximal impact on surrounding communities.

Theo is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Tracy Keza joined the MASS Kigali Office in February 2020 as a filmmaker. For the past year, Tracy has been creating digital media for the Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture. With an academic background in Environmental Science and minor in Photography, from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Tracy hopes to use the power of visual storytelling and filmmaking as a tool for the fight for justice and equity.

Prior to joining MASS Design Group, Tracy worked at 72andSunny as a creative resident where she and nine other artists created a collaborative storytelling platform to address mass incarceration and the challenges formerly incarcerated people face upon re-entering society. As a documentary photographer and multimedia artist, Tracy Keza uses a cross between fine art and documentary photography to challenge existing stereotypes of the “other.”

In January 2016, Tracy was selected as the artist-in-residence for Studio Revolt, an award-winning collaborative media lab currently engaged in international collaborative work. Her photography-based project “Hijabs and Hoodies” was being incubated with Studio Revolt and was activated in the Washington DC area in the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s CROSSLINES: A culture lab on Intersectionality.

Annie is a Senior Associate who joined MASS in 2021. Prior to MASS, Annie designed and managed architectural projects focused on social and racial justice. This ranged from supportive housing, schools, early education centers, community centers and restorative justice centers for non-profits and public agencies in New York City. Her projects received multiple AIA and SARA awards in New York state and nationally.

At MASS, she is currently working on the design of an affordable housing and health care project. She works with the Restorative Justice Design Lab, which leverages architecture to imagines alternatives, highlight spatial injustices, and advocate for decarceration and prison abolition.

She received her Masters in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she was a 4 year Dean’s merit scholar. Annie was awarded President Obama’s National Public Service Award for leadership and public service. As well as the GSD’s Unsung Hero Award, and two Public Service Fellowships for her work in Nairobi, Kenya, and teaching and mentoring youth in Boston. Once upon a time she was a Structural Engineer with full scholarship at the University of Washington and the SOM Traveling Fellow for Art, Architecture and Engineering.

Her work has been published in the UN’s Design for the other 90%, Harvard Prison Studies Project, Baltimore Open City Exhibit, The A4 Exhibit in Tokyo, Japan, and multiple Harvard GSD publications. She has taught at Harvard University GSD’s Career Discovery, Project Link, and Design Initiative for Youth. She has lectured at the Boston Public Library, Community NOW, and the Octavia Project.

She is a licensed architect in New York State and a member of AIA NY’s Architecture for Justice committee.

David Saladik is a Senior Principal overseeing MASS’s international health portfolio. Having joined MASS in 2008 during the design of the Butaro District Hospital, his work over the last decade has been aimed at leveraging the built environment to improve health outcomes as well as engage and empower communities. He has spearheaded MASS’s expansion into new geographies focused on long-term health systems strengthening, establishing new offices in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Monrovia, Liberia.

David currently co-leads MASS’s largest office in Kigali, Rwanda with more than 80 architects, landscape architects, and engineers. Notable recent projects for which he has served as Principal-in-Charge include the Samajik Health Science Institute & Research Centre, a 520-bed teaching hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Norrsken Kigali House, an incubator for social entrepreneurs in Kigali, Rwanda; and the development of health facility standards with the Ministry of Health of Lagos State.

He has taught design studios at Northeastern University and Roger Williams rethinking primary care health centers to maximize positive social impact and resiliency. In parallel to this research, he led the design of the Family Health Center in McKinney, Texas - MASS’s first built US healthcare project.

Sarah joined MASS in January 2017 as the Office Manager and now serves as the Director of HR in the Boston office. Sarah works across teams and offices to ensure that the MASS team is supported and inspired to deliver their best work. Sarah received her Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Florida and her Master's in Global Development Policy from Boston University.

Desire Mwemera joined MASS Build in March 2020 as a Storekeeper on the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund construction project. Desire has substantial experience in store keeping and customer care services. Before joining MASS, Desire worked with Foothills Ltd. as a Storekeeper and later worked with ESPERANZA Group Ltd. as the Assistant Manager. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Greenwich UK based in Lusaka, Zambia.

Desire is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Obed joined MASS in June of 2014 and is currently working from Kigali as MASS’s Engineering Fellow, focusing on structural design and supervision of construction works. His current projects include the Butaro Doctor’s Sharehousing (BDHS) in Rwanda, Maternity Waiting Village in Malawi, and the Mubuga Primary School in Rwanda. Before working at MASS, Obed received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Rwanda College of Science and Technology’s School of Engineering, focusing on structural design for multiple actions. With a skillset ranging from structural design, Obed works with architects, engineers and local people to increase skill capacity and to ensure that all activities meet both internal company standards and external regulatory requirements with respect to health, safety and the environment, to ensure the Company’s obligations and policies in these areas are fully complied with.

"By integrating engineering with architecture and responding sensitively to the local climate and available resources, a building can reduce its negative impact on the environment and create happier building users."

Tilly joined MASS in September of 2018 as an Engineers without Borders Fellow to support the engineering team in the Kigali office. She provides training and mentoring to graduate engineers and works on the mechanical and plumbing engineering for several projects.

Before joining MASS, she worked in London for 5 years, first as an Environmental Design consultant for Atelier Ten and then as Building Services and Environmental Engineer for Ritchie+Daffin focusing on low-carbon building and system design.

Tilly graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh where she also studied for one year abroad at the University of British Columbia before completing a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London.

Sharon joined MASS's Operations team in December 2021. Prior to joining MASS, she worked on the Southern New Hampshire's Education Initiative as a Senior Reviewer at GEM Hub Rwanda, and as a Renal Unit Manager at Africa Healthcare Network LTD before that.

Sharon is a servant and transformational leader with a passion for improving communities globally. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Management with focus on Global Perspectives from Southern New Hampshire University, and she is pursuing an MBA with a concentration in Business Intelligence.

Nadia joined MASS in 2016 and works in the Boston office. She is currently focusing on publications, working and coordinating a book about the architectural history of hospitals. The publication spans globally and charts the evolution of the hospital through essays, photo essays and case studies of African Hospitals, which are largely unexamined but imbued with rich implications for architecture and health outcomes.

Nadia received a Post Professional Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2016 and has previously completed a 5 year degree in Architectural Engineering from University of Patras, Greece

Prior to MASS she has worked at OYO Architects in Belgium and has been the 2015 recipient of the Community Service Fellowship from Harvard University to work in a non profit environment in the Greater Boston area.

Léa Sarabwe joined Mass in 2021 as a Senior Operations Manager. Before joining Mass, Léa was part of the management team at the Global Education Movement (GEM) Hub, a Southern New Hampshire University’s initiative with teams in Kigali and South Africa, and before that as a program manager at Kountable, a San Francisco-based start-up. She has experience leading and working with teams located across different countries and optimizing operations processes.

As part of the Rwandan Presidential Scholars, Léa obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the California Baptist University. She also has an MBA from the Oklahoma Christian University.

Talent joined MASS in 2021 as a Lead For Poughkeepsie Fellow and MASS Community Liaison where he will be leading community immersion initiatives to ensure that community voices are reflected in the design and operation of the newly constructed Youth Opportunity Union in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Talent will be leveraging his backgrounds in business, community organizing, and economic development to lend a hand with the national gun violence memorial initiative and the Poughkeepsie 9.44.55 project which aims to redesign the arterials to improve safety and travel time reliability, while also making them better integrated with the fabric of Poughkeepsie.

Talent received his Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration and minor in Leadership Studies from the State University of New York at Fredonia and his Master’s of Science in Social Entrepreneurship from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. There, he studied the intersection of social impact and entrepreneurship and how business can be used as a catalyst to solve pertinent social issues and restore dignity to communities on the fringe. For these reasons, Talent was drawn to MASS to continue learning about how human centered design and architecture can act synergistically to catalyze innovation and improve the quality of life of individuals in his hometown of Poughkeepsie and around the world.

Harriet Kirk joined MASS in July 2017 as a Geotechnical Engineer through Engineers Without Borders UK. She provides geotechnical design and construction expertise on MASS’s projects throughout East Africa, including Ruhehe Primary School, One Acre Fund Phase II and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture. She aims to improve the team’s understanding of geotechnical engineering and ground-based risk. Harriet also takes a leading role in improving site safety for projects during the construction phase.

Before joining MASS, Harriet worked for UK-based consultancies Ramboll and Atkins. She specialized in geotechnical design and construction supervision for onshore and offshore infrastructure projects, including foundation design for several offshore wind farms and remediation schemes for roads destabilized by landslides.

Harriet graduated from Imperial College London in 2009 with a first class Masters of Engineering degree. She became a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2014, and a Corporate Member of the Institution of Engineers Rwanda in 2018.

Sarah Mohland joined MASS Design Group in 2011 as a founding member of the Kigali Office. Sarah has since contributed to nearly all of MASS’s built work in Rwanda. She now manages MASS projects in the Northern Rockies and is a faculty member of the School of Architecture at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana – bringing home the lessons she learned while leading the Kigali office for nine years.

Sarah has led the design and implementation of projects that span the typologies of higher education, primary education, housing, and healthcare. Most notably Sarah contributed to the design and construction of Butaro Doctors’ Housing, the Butaro Cancer Centre of Excellence, the Butaro Cancer Support Centre, and the University of Global Health Equity Student Housing. In all of her projects, she cultivates a deep engagement with local builders, material suppliers, and local agencies, as she seeks to challenge the building industry to improve construction standards and maximize impact during the construction process. With a deep investment in creating equitable opportunities within the design profession, Sarah has led several training initiatives at MASS, including forming the curriculum for the African Design Centre and leading the Design Build of Ruhehe Primary School. She has taught at the University of Rwanda, formerly known as the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.

Sarah is from Great Falls, Montana, and earned a Master of Architecture from Montana State University and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Montana State University.

Katherine W. Swenson is a nationally recognized design leader, researcher, writer, and educator. She is a Senior Principal of MASS Design Group, an international non-profit architecture firm whose mission is to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity. Before joining MASS in early 2020, Swenson was vice president of Design & Sustainability at Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit organization that invests more than $8 billion annually in community development. Katie’s work explores how critical design practice can and should promote economic and social equity, environmental sustainability, and healthy communities.

A member of the second class of the Enterprise Rose Fellowship, Swenson was tapped to grow and lead the program in 2007, after completing her fellowship with the Piedmont Housing Alliance in Charlottesville, Va. Under her leadership, Swenson recruited and mentored 85 fellows who are the next generation of leaders in architecture and community development. The Rose Fellowship has been showcased at the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the New York Center for Architecture, and the National Building Museum and been recognized by the American Institute of Architects for its groundbreaking work, receiving AIA Awards in 2017 and 2018 for Collaborative Achievement. Swenson founded the Charlottesville Community Design Center and has received numerous design and social innovation awards. Katie has 20 years of experience in the theoretical and practical application of design thinking and is a talented global public speaker and thought leader.

A prolific writer, she is releasing two books in the fall of 2020: Design with Love: At Home in America, and In Bohemia: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Kindness, both by Schiffer Publishing. In 2008, she co-authored Growing Urban Habitats: Seeking a Housing Development Model. She is a contributing author to Activist Architecture: Philosophy and Practice of Community Design and Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Architecture from The University of Virginia. Katie was a Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is fluent in French and is the single mother of three spirited daughters.

Design with Love: At Home in America is an essay and photo book featuring the work of Rose Fellows from 2000 to the present by Katie Swenson. With photography by Harry Connolly, the book is a photojournalist dream and coffee table book documenting partnerships and innovations in design across the U.S. led by some of the most talented social entrepreneurs, architects, and community planners in the country. The book captures the lessons of 20 years of community-based development to create beautiful, well-designed affordable housing for some of America’s most vulnerable communities, from the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles to disinvested blocks of West Baltimore. These hopeful stories and photographs show how designers, social activists, and community members have worked together to improve justice and equity — even in the direst of circumstances of inequality, racism, and neglect.

For more information on Katie’s new book, click here.

Agathe joined in MASS 2021 as Senior HR Manager, supporting MASS's Operations team. Prior to joining MASS, she worked with The AfricaWorks Group of companies based in Kenya as the HR & Talent Manager. Agathe has also worked with HEINEKEN in Rwanda, Nigeria, and Myanmar as and HR Advisor and HR Business Partner. Agathe holds a master's degree in Applied Economics from Annamalai University.

Arlette joined the team in June of 2018 and operates as a hybrid between our communications and business development teams. Here at MASS, she supports the team through top-notch coordination of the sourcing and tracking of potential opportunities. She also contributes to the production of marketing and press materials.

Born and raised in Kigali, she journeyed to Canada in 2014 to pursue her undergraduate degree at Quest University Canada. There she received her Bachelor of Arts and Science focusing on health policy. During her studies, she worked as a Marketing and Development Assistant for the university, documenting International students’ experiences. Arlette worked collaboratively with her team to develop a fundraising campaign plan to raise money intended to contribute to 20 full scholarships for students with diverse backgrounds. She’s also been a Program Assistant at the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Rwanda, where managed the logistics for the training of district project managers and completed different administrative tasks, such as facilitating communication and meeting with visitors.

Arlette is passionate about improving people’s lives by working on projects that impact vulnerable populations, particularly those affecting children, women, and the impoverished. In the future, she hopes to pursue a Master’s degree in Global Health so that she can continue to work to find innovative solutions to public health challenges presented in developing countries.

"The impact of good design stretches far and can be a focal point for positive change in a community. As designers, we need to consider all the potential impacts, positive and negative, from the beginning."

James joined MASS as an Engineers Without Borders UK Fellow in 2017 and has since led the structural design of The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. He has expertise in designing low-carbon buildings, seismic engineering, and designing with non-conventional materials.

Since James graduated from the University of Sheffield he has worked for AECOM in the UK as a Structural Engineering and Project Manager, designed schools for UNICEF in Malawi, and volunteered as an Engineer in Nepal after the Gorkha earthquake. He is also a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Anton Larsen is a Principal in the Kigali office. Anton joined MASS in 2017 and has been instrumental in the design and construction of seminal projects like the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA), a 1400 Ha off-grid climate positive agricultural university campus with over 60 buildings, awarded with the 2020 ASLA Award of Excellence for Analysis and Planning, and most recently the Norrsken Kigali House new campus in downtown Kigali, first example in Rwanda of adaptive reuse of a historic site to convert it into Africa’s largest hub for entrepreneurs to help fuel growth and investment in the region.

As a thought leader, Anton’s research has been focused on climate positive design and has been advancing the work of the Performance and Provenance Council, contributing to MASS’s organizational sustainability goals and implementing carbon targets and measurement tools across project teams. His research has also been focused in developing viable opportunities for affordable housing in East Africa, implementing possibilities like prefabricated low-carbon AAC construction (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) for the Masaka Housing project and the first and largest 3D printed housing development on the continent for 14-Trees in Kenya.

An architect and urban designer, Anton first came to Africa in 2011 with Peter Rich Architects in South Africa, and has led teams on projects ranging from education, civic, workspace, housing, equity, urban design, research and policy in multiple countries across East Africa, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. Anton is a member of the Rwanda Green Building Organization and is an accredited EDGE Expert, IFC green building certification and design tool to certify resource-efficient and Zero Carbon buildings.

Anton has been involved in strategic planning and policy work for the Government of Rwanda, and led the SEA of the National Urbanization Policy to strengthen socio-economic, environmental, and green urbanization aspects of the policy. He was a key contributor to the Kigali Green City Concept developed for the Ministry of Environment and GGGI, a 600 Ha green district development, was the co-author of the Green Gicumbi Low Carbon Climate Resilient Settlements project proposal to the Green Climate Fund for the Ministry of Environment and Rwanda’s Green Fund Fonerwa, as well as a contributor to the Ministry of Trade & Industry Domestic Market Recapturing Strategy, also called the Made-in-Rwanda Strategy.

Anton has a portfolio of over US $130M designed. His projects have spanned across affordable housing, sustainable architecture and urban planning as well as innovative projects such as the Rwanda Cricket Pavilion, a technologically advanced earth vaulted structure built using local materials and local labor, winner of the 2018 IStructE Structural Award for Small Projects of under £1 million.

Anton graduated from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. While he was still a student, Anton began his involvement in social architecture and his projects were exhibited twice at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB).

Herve joined MASS in June of 2018 as an Electrical Engineer and will be supporting the RICA team. Prior to joining MASS, he worked at consulting firm, Star Construction & System ltd., dealing with building design and construction supervision. Before that, he worked with other private organizations in the telecommunications industry such as Tigo and Ericsson, along with public institutions such as the Ministry of Infrastructure and the former Energy Water and Sanitation Agency (EWSA).

He became passionate about electrical engineering because of the way it supports the building services to ensure the comfort and safety of the occupants (artificial lighting, indoor air conditioning, transportation, pumping, security and safety, etc). He comes to MASS excited to have the opportunity to work with experts from around the world and to expand his professional networks. Hervé is a Registered Engineer in Rwanda and received his Bachelor of Electrical and Power Engineering from the University of Rwanda as well as his Post-Grad Diploma in Business Administration from Mount Kenya University.

Joseph, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is the Director of MASS's Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a community designer and educator, his work explores how architecture, planning, and construction can be leveraged to positively impact the built and unbuilt environments within Indian Country. Joseph’s early work focused on the research of exemplary Native American Indian housing projects and processes nationwide. This research work has developed into emerging best practices within Indian Country, leading to an online Healthy Homes Road Map for affordable tribal housing development, funded by HUD’s Policy, Development, and Research Office.

Joseph’s portfolio includes exemplary Indian housing projects and processes nationwide, including emerging best practices and a web-based “Healthy Homes Road Map” for tribal housing development, funded by the Department of Housing & Urban Developments’ Policy, Development, and Research Office. From 2013-2016 Joseph lead the development of a 41-unit Low-Income-Housing-Tax-Credit development, which started with an Our Town grant funded by the National Endowments for the Arts, and led to an ArtPlace America grant award.

In 2019, Joseph was awarded an Obama Fellowship for his work with Indigenous communities. He also received a 2018 Rauschenberg SEED grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and a 2019 Creative Capital Award. 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. Most recently, Joseph was awarded the 2021 inaugural Elaine Johnson Coates Award, by the University of Maryland’s Alumni Association.

Born and raised in Rwanda, Theophile’s background has enabled him to garner an immense amount of hands on skills, training and leadership development in the wood working field and forestry. Prior to joining MASS, he worked as a trainer at a secondary school for two years, teaching wood technology related subjects in forestry trade. Following this engagement, he joined Rubengera Technical Secondary School where he specialized in carpentry. He was a trainer of wood technology and workshop management subjects while he simultaneously acted as a workshop manager and technical advisor for the Rubengera Production Unit.

Theophile also worked for GiZ, a German-Rwandan Cooperation as a Technical and Vocational Education and Training Advisor at the national level. He was responsible for the capacity building of carpentry trainers, on the job training for local carpenters and advising different wood-related projects in Rwanda. He also performed other duties like project planning, management, monitoring, evaluation and construction site activities like planning and procurement.

Aside from his career, Theophile enjoys engaging in interesting conversations with his friends and family about the possibilities of the future of Rwanda in terms of development and architecture.

Michael Murphy, Int FRIBA, is the Founding Principal and Executive Director of MASS Design Group, an architecture and design collective that leverages buildings, as well as the design and construction process, to become catalysts for economic growth, social change, and justice. Since MASS's beginnings, their portfolio of work has expanded to over a dozen countries and span the areas of healthcare, education, housing, urban development. MASS’s work has been published in over 900 publications and awarded globally. Most recently, MASS has been recognized as the winners of the national Arts and Letters Award for 2017 and the 2017 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. Michael’s 2016 TED talk has reached over a million views, and was awarded the Al Filipov Medal for Peace and Justice in 2017. MASS's project, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice was named the single greatest work of American architecture in the 21st century. Michael has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, University of Michigan, and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Michael is from Poughkeepsie, NY, and holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago.

Isabel Strauss is a 2021-22 Space and Society Fellow at MASS Design Group. Strauss worked to establish the African American Design Nexus with the Frances Loeb Library in 2017 and contributed to research for the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Project from 2020 to 2021. Strauss holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and received her Bachelor of Arts in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard College. She is recipient of the 2021 Clifford Wong Prize in Housing and was nominated for an Irving Innovation Fellowship that same year. Her work in collaboration with Rekha Auguste-Nelson and Farnoosh Rafaie of Riff Studio is on display as part of the exhibit Architecture of Reparations at the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial The Available City. Part of this larger body, her work Up from the Past: Housing as Reparations on Chicago’s Southside is on display at the Graham Foundation Madlener House.

"I believe that architecture leads communities to be creative and innovative."

Samson joined MASS in 2012 to help with office operations in Rwanda. In December of 2014 Samson began working as an Accounting Intern for MASS’s Mubuga Primary School, while he sought a degree in Finance from Kigali Independent University. Following that, Samson became a Finance Fellow where he helped with managing accounts on projects and supporting MASS’s Operations and Development work. Since July of 2016 he has served as a Finance and Accounting Jr. Associate. With his experience and history with MASS, he plays an important role in the office and in supporting MASS to achieve its company goals. Samson recently garnered his Masters Degree in Finance from Kigali Independent University.

"As designers, we must embrace our role as protagonists in the built environment."

Jeffrey Yasuo Mansfield leads MASS’s Deaf Space and Disability Justice Lab, uplifting the lived experience of Deaf and Disabled communities to bring equity and dignity on a number of education and cultural projects. His current research explores the formation of Deaf and Disability spaces as expressions of cultural resistance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, for which he is a Graham Foundation grantee. Jeffrey has been deaf since birth.

Jeffrey is also a recipient of the Ford and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Disability Futures fellowship and is a John W. Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress. He has taught design studios at the University of Michigan and Harvard Graduate School of Design.

His work has been published in the Cooper Hewitt Design Journal, AD, Tacet and presented at MoMA PS1, Bergen Assembly, Sao Paulo Biennale, and the Sharjah Biennial. He is co-author of the book, The Architecture of Health, published by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Jeffrey holds a Master of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and an AB in Architecture from Princeton University.

Azarias Kuradusenge Joined MASS Build in February 2020 as Foreman on the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund construction project. With 8 years of experience in the construction industry, Azarias previously worked on various projects, such as the RICA project in Bugesera as a Foreman for Remote Group Ltd. Azarias holds Bachelor’s Degree in Architectural Technology and Design from Institut Supérieur Privé des Technologies in Burkina Faso.

Azarias is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

DaMario joined MASS as a Designer in May of 2021. He is currently working in the Restorative Justice Design Lab and on Project Bridgeworks. He is passionate about social justice and understanding architecture’s role when it comes to creative placemaking in marginalized communities and addressing homelessness. Prior to joining MASS, DaMario worked full time for a Lexington-based firm focusing on justice facilities. During graduate school, he held internships at firms based in Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia and Lexington.

DaMario received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Cincinnati. His thesis focused on examining the existing conditions of an all-black town founded by freed African-Americans during Post-Reconstruction. This project proposed a re-imagining of the town through a series of interventions and a main catalyst that would help revitalize and share the rich history of the town. He also received his Bachelor of Science in Architectural Sciences degree from Western Kentucky University.

Carolina Kammel joined MASS in 2019. As Administrative Manager, she fosters a productive and connected MASS team by maintaining operation policies and protocols, managing MASS’s US-based workspaces and assets, supports day-to-day culture, and connects MASS teams globally. Carolina aims to maintain positive workflows by cultivating an office culture rooted in inclusivity and equity.

Prior to joining MASS, Carolina worked in various administrative settings for other nonprofits and corporate companies across the United States. Carolina received her Bachelor of Arts in Global and International Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara with an emphasis in Latin America.

Ana joined MASS in 2018 as a designer and is based in the Boston office. With a background in architecture, she is motivated to work in vulnerable contexts where design can play a leading role to achieve social equality.

Prior to joining MASS, Ana worked for four years in Spain and France, where she was involved in multiple architecture and urban projects in Europe, West Africa, United States and Middle East. During her time at Lacaton & Vassal Architectes in Paris, she worked on projects that claim a modest, simple and committed architecture that enhances the users’ freedom.

Ana received her Bachelor and Master of Architecture from the University of Alicante and the Technic School of Madrid (ETSAM). Her thesis focused on researching social exclusion processes that are the result of architectural and urban design practices in downtown Paris. She has taught undergraduate architectural studios at the University of Alicante. Her studio courses advocated the critical reconsideration of traditional conceptions of architecture and of the agency of designers in the twenty-first century.

Cristoforo Magliozzi is a full-stack filmmaker and designer who joined MASS in 2021 as a Boston-based member of the multinational film team.

Over the ten years since receiving his BA from Harvard University, Cristoforo has worked as an interdisciplinary creator with the White House Office of Digital Strategy, Techstars’ incubator program, Piaggio Fast Forward, and metaLAB (at) Harvard — an experimental media-making research and teaching unit. He received his MFA in Film & Media Production from the University of Texas at Austin.

Cris has been a guest speaker at the Boston Public Library and Harvard’s i-Lab, collaborated on art installations for Boston’s Illuminus nighttime festival and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and has directed films and animations shown at the UN, French National Library, Aspen Shortsfest, and the LA Indie Film Festival.

With past projects that have prompted travel to Italy, Ghana, and Mexico, Cris was eager to join MASS’s international family to co-create stories with impact — wherever they may be.

"As we respond through design, we also have a responsibility to listen, learn and approach all issues and communities with a level of humility that will allow us to find the most be-fitting solutions."

While working on residential and commercial projects, Lamy realized he needed to explore design outside of the ordinary typologies available as a means to better advocate for design as a problem-solving tool. This exploration began in the final year of his Bachelor of Architectural studies at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Annual Des Baker Student Competition provided a platform to embark on a national design brief that would improve street traders working traditions. His team helped dramatically expand the scope of the brief and used the opportunity to speak about the oldest street trading profession; sex work. Through the competition, they initiated a dialogue, which eventually got published, on the safety of sex workers in South Africa and explored how a design intervention could improve their working conditions.

This led him to work for Boogertman & Partners, working on commercial projects, while also offering pro-bono services alongside a developer to design an AIDS orphanage & village. Since moving to Rwanda in December 2015, he was employed as an Associate at Studio4 Architects & Urban Planners, a South African based firm with an office in Kigali.

The nature of entrepreneurship in his field has allowed him to become a mentor with Bridge2Rwanda, where he engages with local schools and institutes (AKILAH Institute) to help students prepare for their journey into entrepreneurship and university outside of the country. He recently joined Global Shapers Kigali, an organization centered on serving communities through various initiatives, the current one being VISA Free Africa, to further engage and connect with Rwanda and the continent.

"Good people build empathy and humility. I suppose design can happen without these things, but where's the fun in that?"

Megan joined MASS in August 2018 as an Associate in the Kigali office. She comes to Rwanda from Philadelphia where she worked at KieranTimberlake on large, collaborative university projects. She is a former Lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, where she taught design studios and served as the Associate Director of Initiative reCOVER and as the Research Director of the Yamuna River Project.

Megan is excited to return to East Africa after volunteering in Uganda in 2010, and conducting research in 2013 with Engineering Ministries International and Building Tomorrow. She is also the recipient of the UVA thesis prize and the Alpha Rho Chi medal.

James is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Brandon Surtain lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. A native New Orleanian, Brandon attended graduate school at Tulane University, where he received Master’s of Architecture and Master’s of Sustainable Real Estate development degrees. Brandon received his Bachelor’s of Fine Art, with a concentration in painting and drawing, from Louisiana State University. During this time he was also a member of the LSU football team. Brandon’s interests in Architecture, Art and Real Estate Development stem primarily from a place of cultural preservation. Much of his work implicitly responds to life in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina. Focusing on preserving the static and dynamic aspects of the built environment through art and design occupied the bulk of Brandon’s research at Tulane University. Brandon is a former Design Futures student leader, which promotes social and professional equity, as well as design thinking in all aspects of life. He is an exhibiting artist, represented by the Arthur Roger Gallery and a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects.

Amie Shao is a Principal with MASS Design Group, where she oversees research focusing on health infrastructure planning, design, and evaluation. Amie also leads the MASS.Made team in interior design, including space planning, testing and fabrication, and furniture design for office and healthcare spaces. Her work is aimed at engaging and empowering stakeholders in the design process; creating human-centered environments that are functional, adaptable, and mission-driven; supporting and substantiating the impact of design on health, social, and environmental outcomes; and and translating research into guidelines that can be used to advocate for policy change.

Currently, Amie is supporting the firm’s COVID-19 research and leading Maternal Health projects with IHI and PATH in Africa and South Asia. Blending human-centered design practices with evidence-based research, Amie has collaborated with Ariadne Labs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to investigate the Impact of Design on Clinical Care in Childbirth, worked with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to design for the spatial needs of children with Cerebral Palsy, and coordinated the production of National Health Infrastructure Standards for the Liberian Ministry of Health.

Prior to joining MASS, Amie worked for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Beijing, WORK Architecture Company in New York City, and EnSitu, S.A. in Panama. Amie received her Master of Architecture and a Certificate in Urban Policy & Planning from Princeton University.

Jonathan is a licensed architect with MASS Design Group. At Harvard, Jonathan was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi medal for leadership, service and promise of professional merit. Since then, his work has ranged from affordable multi-family housing to planning and urban design work for nonprofits and public agencies, but the through line has always been a focus on initiatives with measurable community value and public interest.

Jonathan is currently working on building out MASS’s portfolio in affordable housing projects, including upcoming developments in Cleveland, Ohio and Brighton, Massachusetts. Jonathan is also the project manager of a new memorial dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King in the Boston Common.

He has taught undergraduate and graduate level studios at the Boston Architectural College and Northeastern University, and has lectured at the conference of the National Organization of Minority Architects and at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Jonathan is a Mayoral Appointee to the Boston Civic Design Commission, where he serves on a panel that reviews significant projects that impact the city’s public realm.

Chris joined MASS in January 2018 as a Senior Design Associate based in Kigali. Prior to MASS, he was an Associate, Coordinator of the Fabrication Studio, and a member of the Technical Resources Group at Sasaki in Watertown, MA. Chris has researched and lectured on the emergence of digital fabrication and the integration of modern craft in architecture.

He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. He previously held an adjunct professorship at the Boston Architectural College where he taught design studios. Chris is currently a member of the Education Advisory Council for CSI’s annual conference.

Ishimwe is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Caitlin joined MASS in 2018 as an architect with a background in food and farming; she brings to the firm an interdisciplinary focus on environmental, economic, and social justice in the food system. She directs the Food System Design Lab at MASS, and is leading projects around the country including the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, the Poughkeepsie Public Market, and the Pepper Place Pavilion.

Caitlin lives with her family in East Haddam, Connecticut, where they own and operate an organic vegetable and cut flower farm. She has taught advanced architecture studios at the Yale School of Architecture, Columbia GSAPP, and Cornell AAP, and previously worked at firms in New York City and Connecticut.

Her previous work on urban flood control in Las Vegas was awarded the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction Gold Prize. Caitlin studied biochemistry at Wesleyan University and received her Masters of Architecture from Yale School of Architecture, where she received the Henry Adams Medal. She is a registered architect with licenses in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Divine joined MASS in July 2018 as a GHC Design Fellow after garnering her Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology, School of Architecture and Build Environment. She has interned with GMK Architecture, a Rwandan architecture firm, where she focused on how architecture can provide a better life for people with different abilities/disabilities, in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects. She also participated in FemEng Rwanda, a workshop that aims to spark an interest in STEM subjects among high school girls in Kigali, in order to inspire them to see a future career in engineering and architecture. Divine also participated in the Pavilion conceptual design workshop of IMBUGA City Walk, the first designed public space in Rwanda.

Toussaint Salvator Kaneza obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Option and a minor in Telecommunications in 2012 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, as part of the Rwandan Presidential Scholars program. He then pursued a PhD in Engineering Science and Systems in Telecommunications at the same university just under two years until he took a leave of absence from school in February 2014 to join the Bridge2Rwanda (B2R) team in Kigali.

Prior to joining MASS, Toussaint served as the IT Manager of B2R Training center for a year and a half. Later, he served as the Deputy Director of Bridge2Rwanda until he joined the Kigali office as an Operations Manager in July 2018. Toussaint has experience in IT system administration and desk support from a number of organizations including Acacia Accounting, Gashora Girls Initiative and Bridge2Rwanda.

He specializes in implementing affordable management strategies that integrate in-depth financial accountability with the latest connectivity technology. At B2R, these strategies ensured that the B2R Training Center ran as smooth as possible. His primary responsibilities included upholding accountability and transparency. He is also familiar with strategic technology trends and utilizes these skills to encourage organizational expansion and growth.

Toussaint is fluent in three languages and holds various certifications from Microsoft, Cisco and the Internet Society.

Nathaniel Corum is an architect, planner and a founding member of the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative. His focus is culturally and environmentally responsive design, with work ranging from the Elder Hogan Homes Initiative, to the Plastiki Expedition cabin, to projects with more than twenty tribal community partners. He has also helped connect over 500 students to real-world design workshops and projects. Corum’s productions and publications include: Native American Green, a PBS episode featuring exemplary indigenous architecture; the Healthy Homes Road Map, an online housing-development tool; and Building a Straw Bale House from Princeton Architectural Press.

Prior to joining MASS, Nathaniel held leadership roles at Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative, Architecture for Humanity, and Indigenous Community Enterprises. A Fulbright Scholarship, a Senior Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas Fellowship, an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship and a Creative Capital Award have supported Nathaniel’s work, which has been featured in Dwell, Domus and The New York Times and exhibited at venues including SFMOMA, the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

Nathaniel received a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors of Arts in Design Synthesis: Architecture from Stanford University.

Chris joined MASS to co-found the Hudson Valley Design Lab in Poughkeepsie NY in 2017. As a committed architecture and urban design educator, he moved to the Hudson Valley to convert his teaching into practice as a revolutionary and immersive model of listening and engagement. The design lab has become a thinktank for pioneering community design practice in American "Fringe Cities.” He sees architecture and design as a daily practice of outreach, showcasing adaptive reuse and new buildings both as coalition building methods to boundary span across multiple interests and regenerate city fabric. In addition to directing design projects, he leads all Poughkeepsie based community outreach work, serves as a design consultant to the Poughkeepsie Planning Board, and volunteers on a number of community and regional coalitions.

Prior to working at MASS Design Group's Hudson Valley Office, Chris has a career in award-winning architectural design practice, spending a decade as an associate partner with Dean/Wolf Architects where he conducted a series of award-winning projects in all stages of design and construction. “Restless Response: Emergency Medical Station 50” at Queens Hospital garnered the American Architecture Prize Gold Medal in Institutional Architecture in 2016, and the station was featured in Architectural Record in March 2017. Additionally, “Ephemeral Edge House,” a rural retreat home south of Albany won a Progressive Architecture Award in 2012 and a New York City AIA Honor Award in 2019.

Chris holds his Master of Architecture degree from Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) where he received the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize, and his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia, where he received the Sean Steele-Nicholson Memorial Award. He teaches studios and seminars regularly at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, as well as in the Pratt Institute’s Graduate Architecture and Urban Design programs, and has held lecture positions at institutions worldwide.

Nolaste Dushimerurema is a Health & Safety Environment professional with 8 years of experience providing HSE services in the oil and gas (All Phases), Hydropower Generation, Construction, and Production industries. He joined MASS Build in November 2020 as HSE Manager on the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund project. Before joining MASS, Nolaste worked for DC Frontier Energy Ltd, Afriprecast Ltd and Q-Sourcing Ltd. He holds HSE training certifications in NEBOSH, Emergency First Aid, Sea Survival Training Techniques, International scaffold Inspection, Electrical Safety, Spill Management Awareness, Fire Warden, Water Safety and Transfer awareness, and others. Nolaste holds a Bachelor’s of science Civil Engineering & Environmental Technology from the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology.

Nolaste is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Bethel joined MASS in 2015 as a member of the development team, where she used her design and architectural background to provide the executive team with day-to-day strategic and communications support, while helping identify and pursue the most relevant new projects for the organization.

She has since worked with the research team to develop the Purpose Built publication, and is currently working on the design team on projects such as the African Leadership University (ALU) and the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID).

Bethel received her Bachelors of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Her senior thesis examined contemporary African architecture through the archeological remains of a 13th century ruin in her native country of Ethiopia. While at Tech, she also worked with the design/build Lab where she played a role in the design and construction of the Smith Creek Park - a former tire factory, turned into a public amphitheater and recreational area, that is playing a key role in the revitalization of Clifton Forge, one of Virginia’s historic towns. Bethel was drawn to MASS's model of architectural practice out of an interest in understanding the significance of the built environment within economic, social, and cultural contexts.

Asyncrite joined MASS in October 2018 as a CAD Technician, working on drafting structural and MEP service drawings. Prior to joining MASS, he worked with Creative Century Engineering Ltd. as a Civil Engineer coordinating finishing word of radiography rooms at a district hospital. He eventually moved on to become a Consultant Civil Engineer at Africa Building Company (ABUCO) Ltd. Asyncrite graduated from the University of Rwanda in Civil Engineering in 2018 and is passionate about exploring the use of construction softwares for structural and architectural design as well as their implementation on constructions sites.

Andre joined MASS in June of 2018 to support the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA). Prior to joining, he worked as a site-based quality engineer at VISION CITY Phase 1, a residential project located in Gaculiro, Rwanda. He has also worked as a site supervisor for just shy of two years during the construction of HUYE Stadium, located in Huye District.

He is excited to be working for MASS as he believes that engineering is a rewarding, hands-on, people-oriented profession. He believes we can work to create standards and construct infrastructure that ensures a positive impact on people’s lives.

Andre received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the National University of Rwanda in 2013.

Cameron Bailey joined MASS’s Kigali Office in February 2019 as a Senior Associate Structural Engineer to support the structures team in all aspects of technical design and site supervision. He is currently acting as the lead engineer on the second and third phases of the Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture and overseeing the design of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Before joining MASS, Cameron worked for eight years at Structure Workshop, where he worked with many of London’s up-and-coming architects and artists. Key projects include Homerton Dining Hall, an ambitious new building for a Cambridge College, and Paradigm by Conrad Shawcross, a monumental sculpture located at the new Francis Crick Institute in Kings Cross. He became a Chartered Member of the Institute of Structural Engineers in 2014.

Nailla joined Mass in March 2021 as an assistant producer. Previously, she worked with Dric Ent, a video production company based in Kigali, Rwanda. As a young female creative, Nailla is passionate about telling community-changing stories through visuals.

Edmond is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Rylee Smith is an architectural intern here at MASS and a fourth year architecture student at Northeastern University. She is excited to be part of MASS's team, working on projects that will address the critical need for affordable, high-quality housing across the US. Rylee has studied architecture, in addition to urban studies and philosophy, and did an internship with Utile. Outside of MASS, Rylee is an active student leader at Northeastern as the current VP of Studio Culture for their AIAS chapter.

Matt is Managing Director at MASS Design Group where he co-leads the Santa Fe Office and Global Operations. Leveraging organizational design, he has supported MASS’s growth ten-fold in staff size and revenue while ensuring the organization remains mission focused.

Raised in Montana, Matt is committed to rural community development and is interested in ways design can strengthen community capital, enable civics, and convene dialogue around critical issues of economic disinvestment, climate change, and community identity. He now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is an active member of Atalaya Search & Rescue, an avid trail runner, climber, hunter, and fly fisherman.

Matt holds a Masters in Development Practice from Columbia University where he was the recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. Matt was also the recipient of a David L. Boren Fellowship, studying Kiswahili and entrepreneurial development programs in East Africa after graduating from Montana State University where he studied Business Management and Ethics.

Justin is a co-founder and Principal at MASS focused on expanding architectural work in the U.S. He leads the Hudson Valley Office in Poughkeepsie, NY and is dedicated to the growth of MASS’s Social Justice and Adaptive Re-use portfolios. He was the Project Architect for the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice and founder of the Fringe Cities Design Lab, which researches vulnerable American cities and follows community-engaged design practices to unlock upstream capital to transform liabilities into assets.

Prior to MASS, Justin has led award winning projects at Gensler in Washington DC, Perez APC in New Orleans, and Toshiko Mori Architect in New York. He has guest lectured in seminars at Harvard Graduate School of Design, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, University of Toronto, and Dartmouth College. He holds a Master in Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

"We need to create an embedded understanding of the systems and identities that construct place."

Therese joined MASS in 2018 as an Associate to support the landscape team and the Rwandan Institute of Conservational Agriculture. Prior to joining MASS, Therese worked for Gustafson Guthrie Nichol in Seattle, WA, Coen + Partners in Minneapolis, and the Center for Public Interest Design at Portland State University. In her work, she has been afforded the opportunity to contribute towards a diverse range of projects addressing topics such as homelessness, resilience, urban revitalization, and community engagement.

Therese received her Bachelor of Environmental Design and Landscape Planning from the University of Minnesota in and Masters of International Cooperation in Sustainable Emergency Architecture from the International University of Catalonia in Barcelona. Her master's thesis was a theoretical comparative analysis of the relevance and suitability for integrating Landscape Design within the existing framework of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction.

Annie joined MASS in February of 2018 as a Design Associate and is currently working on a kindergarten in Vietnam and a health clinic in Texas. Before MASS, she worked at Peter Rose + Partners and AMO/OMA in Rotterdam where she conducted research for publications and editing. She received her Bachelor of Art in psychology and architecture from the University of Toronto and her Master of Architecture I from Harvard Graduate School of Design.

"I believe that architecture can mend the broken hearts, recover the mind and stimulate the soul. There is still hope."

Jean Paul is a designer with MASS Design Group in Kigali. He was raised in Rwanda and he completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Rwanda in the school of Architecture. As an architectural student, he participated in the traveling studio which analyzes different architecture in various countries of East Africa. Jean Paul joined MASS as an intern where he participated on the implementation of different projects including Butaro Doctors’ Housing, the Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center, and the design of Bishop Masereka Medical Center in Kasese, Uganda. Placed at MASS as a GHC fellow, he was the construction administrator for the second phase of the Doctors’ Housing Butaro. He attended the Building Design and Engineer Approach for Airborne Diseases course at Harvard University to understand the design considerations for all health infrastructure. Jean Paul is currently working on the design of the University of Global Health Equity-UGHE Housing that will be constructed in Butaro.

Christopher Conway first joined MASS in 2017 as an intern before returning in 2018 as a Junior Associate. Working closely with the Communication and Narrative teams, Christopher is excited to work on projects related to research, writing, and content development. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Amherst College in 2018, where his studies focused on language and narrative across a variety of media.

Georgios Orfanopoulos joined MASS in 2019 as a Landscape Design Associate. A registered Architect with the Dutch Register of Architects, he has broad experience in projects ranging from large scale master plans, public space design, flooding, and water-related design. At MASS, Georgios has worked on various projects including the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture and Norrsken Kigali House in Rwanda, Sok’An Library in Cambodia, and The Green Heart of Kenya project. Currently, he is working on Samajik Health Science Institute & Research Centre, an urban health campus with a 520-bed hospital, medical college, and health technology institute in Bangladesh.

Prior to MASS, Georgios was rebuilding and designing schools in earthquake-ridden rural Nepal. Before that, he practiced for 6 years in various international offices, Mecanoo, LOLA, etc. where he worked on projects with MVRDV, OMA, ARUP as well as independently with his LandArch studio. Georgios has also worked on many large infrastructure, masterplanning and architecture projects in the Netherlands, UK, Taiwan, China, Chile. He has received numerous architectural competition prizes and awards, many of which turned into realized projects. Georgios received a national award for his Architecture diploma thesis “EarthSea” and was exhibited in the 7th Landscape Biennial in Barcelona. He has published research in Urbanism and Landscape as well as strong digital skills regarding complex geometries and larger-scale projects requiring creative workflows and R&D - specifically, GIS, Grasshopper, custom tool making, topography scanning, D-Fab and cartography. Georgios worked at the D-Fab lab of ETH Zurich and researched on dikes/flooding while in the Netherlands. He holds a Master’s degree of Advanced Studies in Landscape Architecture from ETH Zurich in Switzerland and a Diploma in Architecture from the University of Patras, Greece.

Alan is a Founding Principal and the Chief Design Officer of MASS Design Group. He leads strategy and design of the 100-person firm, which has projects in over a dozen countries that range from design to research to policy—a portfolio that continues to expand the role of design in advancing a more just world.

In 2017 Alan and MASS were awarded the National Design Award for Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the annual Awards program celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of the impact of design through education initiatives.

In 2018 he and MASS received the Arts and Letters Award for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Each year the Academy honors over 70 composers, artists, architects, and writers with awards and prizes. Recipients must be nominated by an Academy member and this year the jury included Annabelle Seldorf, James Polshek, Tod Williams, Billie Tsien, Steven Holl, Kenneth Frampton, and Thom Mayne.

Alan is a member of The Forum of Young Global Leaders with the World Economic Forum, a community of over 800 men and women selected under the age of 40, who operate as a force for good to overcome barriers that elsewhere stand in the way of progress. The community is made up of leaders from all walks of life, from every region of the world, and from every stakeholder group in society.

Currently, he is the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture and has previously taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He regularly speaks, writes, and creates films focused on the role of architecture in catalyzing social change. Chris Anderson, chief curator of TED, described his TED talk as “a different language about what architecture can aspire to be.”

He has a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Melissa Naranjo is a Master in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and is a licensed Architect from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana - Medellín, Colombia. She is the 2018 Harvard GSD International Community Service Fellow and her project “Les Alpilles Wild-Garden'' was the recipient of the 2019 Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship by the Harvard University Committee on General Scholarships. Her academic work has been published by the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo (FAU-USP), Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, and more recently at Harvard GSD. Melissa has practiced as an Architect since 2010 and her experience includes the design direction of projects and competitions from the concept through the executive phase with LCLA office and Mazzanti Architects. As a Landscape Architect, Melissa worked as the lead designer of Moakley Park in Boston, MA (STOSS 2019-20'). Melissa is currently an Associate with MASS Design Group.

Christian joined the MASS team in April 2012 as a Fellow, and first worked on construction of BDH (Butaro Doctors Housing). Christian has worked on design phase and construction documents for many projects, including the BACC (Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center), where he provided successful engineering solutions to the team based on his calculations and site experience. Prior to joining MASS, Christian worked on temporary structural design works on different projects such as Kisima Apartments, ECOLE DU St ESPRIT, and worked for different consultants. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the National University of Rwanda.

Aimable joined MASS in September 2017 and will be working on construction administration at Butaro Cancer Support Center while also helping with the design for the Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture, RICA. Prior to joining MASS, Aimable worked at GMK Architecture Ltd. as a Resident Engineer on the construction of student hostels in Kigali. He earned his Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the Lovely Professional University in India.

He is interested in geotechnical engineering and has been researching the sustainability of earth construction to promote the use of locally available materials in order to contribute to the team's mission.

Aimable is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

"Engineers have the theoretical and practical skills to generate technology equality, which is essential to conquering poverty."

As MASS’s Engineering Director, Rosie Goldrick leads a diverse team of international and multidisciplinary engineers in the design and implementation of innovative projects throughout East Africa. She has led structural design and construction supervision on a range of projects in Rwanda including the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA), Norrsken Kigali Hub, Ruhehe Primary School and One Acre Fund Headquarters in Kenya. She has expertise in seismic design and the use of non-conventional materials. Her role on RICA involved structural design and construction supervision of 56 buildings using earth and timber, interpreting local and international building codes to design structures that are seismically appropriate for the region. Subsequently she is contributing to the development of standards for adobe block construction.

Prior to joining MASS, Rosie worked for five years at Atkins designing infrastructure, including working in India as a design coordinator on the Doha Metro. Rosie has a first class Masters of Civil Engineering and Architecture from the University of Southampton. She is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Corporate Member of the Institute of Engineers Rwanda, and sits on the Rwanda Standards Board Technical Committee for Civil Engineering and Building Materials.

Kara Westhoven joined MASS in 2021, supporting external communications, public relations, and storytelling across the organization. Previously, Kara worked at VIA Art Fund, where she managed donor engagement and communications. She has experience in a variety of arts and non-profit settings including The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the international NGO Save the Children. Kara received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Art History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Emily joined MASS in 2016 as a Design Associate based in Boston. She is currently working on a memorial in Montgomery, Alabama and the Redemption Caldwell Hospital in Liberia. Prior to joining MASS, Emily worked as a Designer at Sasaki Associates in Watertown, MA. At Sasaki, Emily was involved in several large scale projects, both domestically and internationally, spanning from recreational sports facilities to library learning environments. Most recently she worked on the new main library for Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico.

Emily received her Master's degree in Architecture at Roger Williams University with semesters abroad in Florence, Italy and Buenos Aires, Argentina. At Roger Williams, Emily was awarded the Master's Thesis award for her work on informal architecture and slum redevelopment for a potters community in Dharavi, Mumbai, India.

Francisco Coch was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1998 and received his B.Sc in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in 2020. He worked and studied in New York, Mumbai, and Firenze between 2018 and 2020 and arrived at MASS in 2021 as a designer.

Patrick joined mass in October 2020, working as a plumbing supervisor for the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture project. Patrick has 9 years of experience in plumbing and mechanical engineering, and holds a BSE in water and wastewater engineering.

Patrick's roles include managing quality and code compliance, providing overall on-site administrative and technical management for a wide range of construction projects. Patrick also helps to manage project budgets, design and implement plumbing systems, and manage plumbing and mechanical teams.

Peter joined MASS Design Group in 2019. He currently leads the global Human Resources and Administration teams as part of the Global Operations business unit, responsible for leading the team to advance policies, benefits, and create improved career paths for team members. Under his leadership he strives to empower the voices and potential of all staff members. Working to ensure that decision making and organizational power is balanced, dynamic, and solution oriented. One of the priorities for the human resources team is the development of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice strategies for the organization, in collaboration with external and internal stakeholders across all the disciplines. The administration team is reorganizing to ensure all teams also have the tools necessary to successfully, effectively, and efficiently achieve their goals.

Peter grew up in Guatemala in a family dedicated to growing coffee and other crops. He relocated to the United States where he eventually served as global sustainability director for a leading specialty coffee company. In this role, he found his passion for challenging the status quo by leading a team that developed an award winning sourcing program. He has volunteered on the board of Boston Children’s Museum, Project Citizenship, and Newton Wellesley Hospital.

"I am a believer that everyone deserves beautiful Architecture, and it is my duty as an Architect to best serve the community."

Jean Paul Sebuhayi joined MASS in 2013 and currently serves as a Principal in the Kigali office. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology and is a registered architect with the Rwanda Institute of Architects. Having been educated in the first class of architects in Rwanda where the numbers are still quite small, he believes that everyone deserves to experience beautiful design. Thus, he strives to best serve the community through consultation and engagement early in the design process.

At MASS, Jean Paul has led multidisciplinary teams to create sustainable designs for the Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and eHealth, the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture in Rwanda, and Samajik Health Science Institute & Research Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has also supported design teams as an Architect for various other projects such as the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Masaka Affordable Housing, Butaro Doctors’ Sharehousing, and the Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence. Currently, Jean Paul is also supporting the team to carry out construction administration of the Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and eHealth and Munini District Hospital, the first implementation of National design standards designed by MASS for Rwanda’s Ministry of Health in 2014.

Morgan O’Hara is a cultural historian of cities and the built environment. She has worked at MASS Design Group since 2018, where she conducts research to support built projects and exhibitions, and crafts written work alongside strategy for business development. Her backgrounds in cultural research, public history, and collaborative design have informed her approach to socio-spatial research to develop human-centered histories of urban space and infrastructural systems. For the Fringe Cities project, Morgan conducted longitudinal analyses of small cities in the United States that participated in mid-century urban renewal, and while at the Hudson Valley Office, she was embedded in the public engagement work necessary to craft meaningful community design solutions in Poughkeepsie. Her passion lies in elevating creative and community-driven expressions of lesser-known histories in public space. Morgan studied anthropology at Reed College and graduated from Columbia with a Master's in Historic Preservation. She has served as co-faculty for Studio II in Historic Preservation at Columbia GSAPP since 2021.

Since joining MASS as an Engineering Associate in January 2018, Jean Damascene has been working on Construction Administration for the first phase of the Munini District Hospital, a168 bed district hospital located in Nyaruguru District, one of the poorest districts of Rwanda.

Before joining MASS, Jean worked as a Civil Project Manager at Skol Brewery Ltd. (Rwanda), after working for nearly a year as a Site Manager in Swidal Network Ltd. Before then, he had worked as a Site-based Project Engineer at SYNERGY Property Development Services Ltd, on arguably the biggest and most luxurious residential development in Rwanda, that included 504 luxury housing villas and apartments. Jean holds Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the National University of Rwanda and a Master of Science in Urban Design from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.

Jean is particularly interested in development and implementing the highest standards of Construction Administration procedures and practices, which can be added to MASS's unique innovative design to achieve the team’s overall goal.

Regina joined MASS in 2013. While based in the Kigali office, she led MASS’s immersion practices, helping to guide mission-driven design through community engagement and building the firm’s capacity to understand and partner with stakeholders. She moved to the Boston office in 2015 to lead a research project investigating the impact of capital projects, and developing tools to capture and share lessons learned.

Currently, Regina directs MASS’s Research and Publications arm. In this role, she guides and implements impact evaluation initiatives and oversees editorial strategy in publications and exhibitions. Regina guides MASS’s strategies in frontier markets, bringing together philanthropy, partner and project development, research, and advocacy through five subject matter-specific Design Labs. As the Principal leading the Gun Violence Memorial Project and the Restorative Justice Design Lab, she maintains a deep commitment to community engagement and diligent research in her work, and aims to help create space for truth telling, healing, and collective action. Her work helps to hold our work accountable, internally, with our communities, and with our partners. Regina studied Civil Engineering and Architecture at Princeton University and received her Master’s in Urban Planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Christelle joined our team in Kigali as a design intern in the summer of 2017. She’s worked on several projects including UGHE Office Expansion, African Leadership University Kigali Heights, our Kigali office renovations, and Butaro Oncology.

Born and raised in Bujumbura, Burundi, Christelle journeyed to Drexel University to receive her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2007. Thereafter, she graduated in 2018 with her Master of Fine Art in Interior Design, from the New York School of Interior Design, where her thesis focused on the redesign of the Gakinjiro furniture market as a makerspace in Kigali.

Her work experience consists of multiple internship opportunities that allowed her to work closely with other interior designers in regard to space planning and construction, FF&E specifications, sourcing and installation of furniture, lighting, and accessories. Christelle hopes to continue working in interior design as she is passionate about exploring the ways in which designers can utilize local craftsmanship and artistry to create adequate spaces that reflect the identity of the community it is serving.

Bob joined MASS as Director of Graphic Design in January of 2022. He will work in a wide range of capacities, helping to move the firm’s brand forward in all mediums, working to develop strategic management of MASS’s fast-growing archive of visual assets, providing design direction and graphic support to business development and project leadership through refinement and development of graphic standards and templates, mentoring and sharing of ‘best graphic design practices’. He will also join the expanding exhibit design practice at MASS, and will contribute environmental graphics and wayfinding expertise to architectural and planning projects.

Bob studied Architecture and European Culture at Princeton University, received an MFA in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art, and furthered his studies of typography and printing in Venice, Italy, on a Fulbright Grant. He has worked in a wide variety of design firms, specializing in branding, architecture, and exhibition design, as well as a period focused on marketing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He loves to learn, and to teach, and to work with mission-driven colleagues. He is happy to be able to bring the full depth and breadth of his experiences together in a new role at MASS.

Eddison joined MASS in September 2017 as a Project Quality Control/Quality Assurance Engineer. He is proud to be working on one of the largest infrastructure projects in his home country of Liberia. The project is New Redemption Hospital, a two story, 155-bed pediatric facility in the town of Caldwell. Before joining, Eddison worked as a Junior Construction Manager, Regional Engineer, Project Engineer for AECOM, Global Partnership for Education Project and Tumarsi Construction respectively.

Maggie Jacobstein Stern has more than a decade of experience in exhibition development to MASS, having served as a content and education specialist at Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the New York-based interpretive museum planning and design firm. Select projects there included the Russian Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, the Presidio Officer’s Club in San Francisco, the Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum in Anchorage, and the Sentosa Maritime Museum in Singapore, among others.

She earned her B.A. from McGill University in Montreal and her Ed.M. from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education., where she studied the intersection between design and learning.

Emery Karenzi joined MASS in March 2020 as an Intern and has since transitioned full-time to the design team as Designer. At MASS, Emery has worked on different projects including Norrsken Kigali House in Rwanda and Manicaland Education and Maternal Health Facilities in Zimbabwe. He is currently working on Samajik Health Science Institute & Research Centre, an urban health campus with a 520-bed hospital, medical college, and health technology institute in Bangladesh.

Before joining MASS, Emery worked as a Designer and Superintendent at Construction Zone, a high-end residential and commercial design and build company in Phoenix, Arizona. At Construction Zone, he worked on various residential projects contributing to the design team and leading the implementation of some of the projects such as Mclinden and Allen-Cowley residences. Prior to this experience, Emery also worked on workspaces projects including Element at Kierland and Marina Heights while at Davis Architecture. He was part of the Intsinzi 4 Lifestyle, a local interior design company where he worked on furniture, planters, artworks, and interior space design. Emery holds an outstanding bachelor of science in Architecture from Arizona State University, where through Barrett Honors college, he conducted his thesis, Active Architecture, on the impact of the natural disasters on architecture and how architecture can be designed in a way that it adapts to changes taking place in nature. During his time at ASU, Emery also participated in different design competitions including the ASU Biophilic Design Competition in which he was ranked second.

Bright Rubibi joined MASS as a Finance Manager in March of 2018. Before MASS, Bright worked at several reputable professional service firms as a Senior Associate and Finance Manager. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the School of Finance and Banking at the University of Rwanda. He is currently obtaining membership of Professional Associations, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK and hopes to pursue his Masters’s in Economics in the future.

Mayrah is an architect based in MASS's Santa Fe office. Her work has ranged in scale and typology but remains grounded in a deep commitment to living ecosystems, environmental justice, and architecture's role in equitably redefining territory. Prior to MASS, she worked with Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative on building design and technical capacity in Indian Country, with Urban- Think Tank on community-led shack upgrading in South Africa, with Global Citizens for Sustainable Development on migrant housing in India, and with Enterprise Community Partners on documenting best practices in affordable housing.

A licensed architect in New Mexico, Mayrah holds a Master of Architecture with Honors from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Environmental Studies with Honors from Wellesley College. She is the recipient of the Kinne, Watson, Schiff, Albright, and Noble Foundation Fellowships and author of "On Fragile Architecture: Exploring Causes of Indigenous Housing Insecurity" and "Bangalore: Urban Development and Environmental Justice".

Gabriel Nyirijuru joined MASS in September 2020 as a Filmmaker. He is currently documenting the progress of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund along with several other projects. Gabriel spent the last four years as a freelancer engaging with the Rwandan film industry as a videographer, editor, and photographer. Gabriel received his COC in Filmmaking from Kigali film and television school, and his Bachelor of Science in Quantity Surveying from the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology. He has worked for a number of companies and individuals including the S/H Industries, EDUCAP, and The Groundtruth Project. His experience has allowed him to gain technical skills behind the camera and develop cinematographic techniques to produce compelling stories.

As a Rwandan native, Gabriel has been an active participant in his country’s media outreach, working on documentaries, advertisements, wedding videos and promotional videos. Gabriel is well-versed in cultural content works and brings knowledge and expertise to our team. He hopes to continue harnessing the powerful narratives of his community and the continent at large.

Gabriel believes that film being the most advanced form of art so far created by man as it not only involves images but also includes sound and movement is the perfect medium of communication to all people from all sorts of backgrounds; from highly educated to illiterate, poor or less privileged but most importantly and notably to the youth that makes up more than 18% of the global population.

"As architects we have the mission to provide buildings that improve peoples lives, while simultaneously preserving the environment. Buildings should not be intimidating, uncomfortable or alien for the end users. They should manifest an identity by adapting themselves to the environment where they are being built."

Noella Nibakuze joined MASS in 2017, and is a Design Associate working on architectural design, construction administration, building technology, and sustainability. A registered architect with eight years of experience, she has a particular interest in projects that have a positive impact on vulnerable communities in Africa, and hopes to improve people’s lives through built environments that promotes sustainability and justice.

At MASS, Noella is leading the construction of the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA), a 1400 hectare One Health agricultural campus conceived and funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and supported by the Government of Rwanda. Prior to RICA, she worked on the design of Masaka Affordable Housing, a high-density, sustainable model for affordable housing, designed to meet the environmental, cultural, and social needs of Rwanda’s growing cities. Noella was also a Program Coordinator of the African Design Center, a twenty-month fellowship set to empower African designers to build a more equitable, just, and sustainable world.

Before joining MASS, Noella was an Architect at Studio 4 Architects in Rwanda, where she worked on education facilities, hotels, housing complexes and residential units, including Vision City Estate, the biggest residential housing project in Rwanda to date. Noella is also passionate about supporting young women pursuing STEM and design related careers. In 2020, she was an architectural design mentor on sustainable architecture to ten young Rwandan women artists taking part in the Green Architecture Project, a six-month project by the Soul of Nations Foundation. Noella is a 2018 Techwomen Fellow and is also involved with the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Rwanda, where she has been a Visiting Lecturer for the past four years.

Noella is a member of the East African Institute of Architects, where she served as the treasurer between 2018-2019, and was nominated in 2021 by the Rwanda Institute of Architects to represent the Institute on the Union Institute of Architects’ UIA 2021-2023 Working Groups on the Community Architecture Group. She holds a Master’s Degree in Architectural Technology from Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria.

"I have become a big believer that architecture can and should drive social justice. It is not just about designing a beautiful building; people matter."

Janvier joined MASS in March 2019 as a Junior Associate supporting the Finance and Accounting Operations team. Prior to joining MASS, he served as an Analyst at Vanguard Economics focusing on financial analysis for various projects such as affordable housing. He also worked as an Equity Analyst for the William C. Conner Foundation Educational Investment Fund. Janvier holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Business Information Systems from Texas Christian University. He is currently pursuing his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma, an International Business Honor Society.

Janvier is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

John joined MASS in early 2014 and spent two and a half years working in MASS' Kigali office before moving back to Boston, and is now based in Chicago. John has led design teams on two hospital projects currently under construction in Rwanda, Munini and Nyarugenge District Hospitals, and most recently New Redemption Hospital in Caldwell, Liberia. He is currently working on the design of a behavioral health furniture line and construction oversight for New Redemption Hospital. He's worked on projects in East Africa, West Africa, South Asia, and North America. Prior to joining MASS, John was awarded two Public Service Center Fellowships from MIT for water, sanitation, and hygiene projects in Tamale, Ghana. As a Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis in the spring of 2020 John led a studio focusing on the social determinants of health and design interventions in North St. Louis. He is currently pursuing an MBA at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business as a Neubauer Civic Scholar. John received his Master of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis.

Anibal Marie di Francia Niyitanga joined MASS in 2017 as a Global Health Corps Fellow and has since joined the team full-time. At MASS, Anibal has worked on the design of various projects including Masaka Affordable Housing, One Acre Fund Headquarters in Kenya and now working on Samajik Health Science Institute & Research Centre, a 520-hospital in Dhaka Bangladesh. He also worked on the implementation of various projects including acting as Site Administrator for the Nyarugenge District Hospital, a 300-bed urban realization of the hospital plans developed by MASS for the Rwanda Ministry of Health, as well the University of Global Health Equity - a university in Rwanda that will train a new generation of global health leaders from around the world.

Prior to joining MASS, Anibal worked at General Architecture Collaborative where he focused on empowering local communities to build houses for themselves using earthbag construction techniques. He is a Registered Architect in Rwanda and he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Rwanda - College of Science and Technology.

"Real change happens when people who need it lead it. A barrier to this is the gap between visual tools and the people they serve. I believe that as designers, it's our responsibility to involve communities and design for reflecting their voices."

Vrinda joined MASS in 2017 and is based in Poughkeepsie Office. She was born and raised in India and is passionate about amplifying the strength of communities for collective empowerment. Before joining MASS, she received her Masters in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). She was deeply inspired by the local initiatives within the community during the Fall Design Studio focused on Poughkeepsie and decided to return to the community to work with them. She has contributed in various local projects in Poughkeepsie including Trolley Barn, an adaptive reuse community art space and FallKill, an inclusive creek revitalization project. Her work at MASS has developed her design skills to reinforce social roots by involving the community in the discourse of design.

Prior to the U.S. chapter, she has worked in India and holds a Bachelors in Architecture from Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, India.

"I am on a perpetual pursuit to acquire the knowledge of design that allows the inception of architecture to promote social serenity. I believe that it is a seed that grows beyond the thresholds of a building’s envelope."

Originally from Rwanda, Symphorien received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Rwanda. He was awarded academic acknowledgement for his thesis presentation, “City Lungs: A Network of Public Spaces” inspired by his love for people and space, and how the powerful pursuit of beautiful expressions of human being’s spatial rights as a means towards fostering healthy communities. Symphorien has also worked as a design manager on the conception and design of the first pedestrian public space in Kigali in collaboration with the city hall and the University of Rwanda. All of his experiences speak to his ultimate desire to pursue a Master’s Degree in Urban Design.

Thatcher joined MASS in 2013 to document the construction and use of MASS Design Group’s health infrastructure in Rwanda. The resulting videos accompanied Alan Rick’s TED talk on how buildings can heal communities. Since then he has worked with MASS as a media producer to explore how video can be used as a unique tool to assess and convey the impact of our built environments. Thatcher obtained a BFA from the University of Colorado film studies program.

In 2014, Thatcher Bean helped establish a film production studio within MASS Design Group. Over the last five years, this studio’s unique capacity has been leveraged to document, illustrate, and promote the effects of the built environment on society. The studio has produced dozens of short films and interviewed over 100 of our building’s users, builders, and clients. In 2017 he directed and edited MASS’s first feature length film, Made In Ilima, which premiered at the New York Architecture and Design Film Festival. He has been a guest speaker at SXSW Eco, The Impact Building Summit in Washington D.C., A Better World by Design Conference at Brown University, is a frequent presenter at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and has served as a guest critic at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and presenter at the Yale School of Architecture.

Christian Benimana joined MASS Design Group as a Global Health Corps Design Fellow in 2010. Today, Christian works as one of the firm's Senior Principals and Managing Directors, and is Director of the African Design Centre, a field-based apprenticeship that is set to empower leaders who will design a more equitable, just, and sustainable world. At MASS, he has been involved with design/build projects, development initiatives, operational and administration leadership. Christian has been listed among 10 architects and designers that are championing Afrofuturism and 2017 Quartz Africa Innovators. He has authored articles and book chapters including Re-Thinking the Future of African Cities in The African Perspective Magazine and Creating Design Leaders: The African Design Centre in Public Interest Design Education Guidebook.

Christian has taught at the Architecture School of the former Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and his goal is to develop the next generation of African designers with socially-focused design principles. Before joining MASS, he worked with LongiLat Architecture and Research in Shanghai assisting with the Porsche Center in Shanghai and the Netherlands Pavilion in the 2010 International Expo. Christian holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) of Tongji University in Shanghai, China (2008), and has served as the Secretary General of the East Africa Institute of Architects.

Jessica has over 20 years of experience in architecture, design, and construction, where she has worked on multiple building program types and scales, including high-rise residential, commercial, biotech, academic, office, and fine arts institutions. She has served as the project lead on teams consisting of architects, associative consultants, owners and contractors through design inception, planning, coordination, construction, and final project completion.

Prior to starting her own practice, Jessica was a Senior Associate at Handel Architects, where she managed the design and construction of some of the firm’s most notable projects including 400 Park Avenue South, a 43-story residential tower in New York City designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Christian de Portzamparc, The Viola in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, and lead the Journal Squared team to a winning competition entry in collaboration with HWKN. Her involvement with several renowned LEED projects, including the first LEED Gold residential building in greater Boston at 75 Station Landing, while at Elkus Manfredi Architects, and the first LEED Platinum mixed-use retail complex in Hangzhou, China designed with the former firm of Wood + Zapata, speaks to her commitment to responsible and sustainable design.

Jessica received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Michigan School of Art & Architecture, Master of Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, and is a candidate for a Master of Science at Columbia University. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects and LEED-AP accredited, registered architect in the states of New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

Edmond first joined MASS as an intern in the summer of 2019, working in the business development department where he learned about tracking and sourcing various opportunities, as well as coordinating administrative tasks. He rejoined MASS in 2021, working as the business development lead for MASS Build. Edmond received his Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from Norwich University, the Military College of Vermont in 2019. He then pursued and attained his Master of Architecture at the same institution in 2020. His thesis was centered on designing a memorial for the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis in Rwanda, and it examined how architecture can heal, while embracing memory and creating social, emotional and cultural significance.

Prior to joining MASS, Edmond worked as an Architect at EAACON Ltd, where he supervised projects, and drafted building details. He also interned at GMK Ltd where he learned about project management and project coordination. Edmond is inspired by the socio-economic development of his home country, Rwanda, and believes that he has a major role to play in contributing to its growth.

Evelina joined MASS in the Summer of 2017 as an intern and is now a Design Associate. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota and her Master’s in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University. Her passion lies in just and equitable food systems, understanding that food is a primary cultural and social integrator that takes place at many different scales and in varying contexts. Though it is a necessity, equitable access to food is confounded by large and complex systems that are difficult, though not impossible, to change. Much of her work in Minnesota focused around improving institutional food sourcing by building awareness and empowering students. Evelina’s career in design has led her to appreciate the power of visualization and community engagement to prompt unique perspectives and catalyze change on many levels. She has been conducting research in the Hudson Valley into the concept of gleaning networks and is excited about the dialogues and opportunities it unleashes.

Julie Rhoad is Senior Director at MASS Design Group where she manages philanthropic strategic programming and relationships. She joined MASS in October 2020 and supports MASS clients and organizations including the Emmett Till Foundation, the Rosenwald Schools Initiative, and the Gun Violence Memorial Project. Rhoad’s expertise lies in understanding the purpose behind an organization and leveraging the core mission to grow the organization’s reach, potential and storytelling ability through narrative, programming, design and fundraising.

Prior to joining MASS, Rhoad was President and CEO of The NAMES Project Foundation, caretaker of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Her priority duties included stewardship and strategic planning necessary to keep the issues of HIV & AIDS prevention, advocacy and social justice front and center with thought leaders and the public.

Under her leadership, the foundation expanded advocacy and outreach programs to ever-growing communities in need of The Quilt’s important prevention, education and advocacy messages. During her tenure, Rhoad worked to expose the inherent value found in the stories contained in The Quilt to scholars, educators and other community leaders working in the fields of theology, art, public health, science, sociology and civil and human rights and at the same time secured the future for the programs and collections entrusted to her care by establishing The Library of Congress and The National AIDS Memorial as their new permanent stewards.

Before joining The NAMES Project Foundation, Rhoad served the communications and design communities in a variety of capacities including: creative director, producer and project manager for corporate communications firms providing innovations in communications strategy, and corporate meeting, exhibit and special event planning. Rhoad has worked throughout the world creating, producing and executing domestic and international events, exhibits, presentations and programs for museums, visitor centers, customer and product presentation centers and traveling expositions.

Nelson joined MASS’ growing Engineering team in October of 2017 as a CAD Technician. Since then, he has been working on various projects such as OAF Phase II and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture.

Prior to joining MASS, Nelson worked as an Engineer at QUESTAFRICA ltd, a local Architecture and Engineering Firm for nearly 5 years. Some of the projects he contributed to include the Women’s Health Pavilion in Burundi and Rugarama Park Estates. Nelson holds an A1 Advanced Diploma from the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) in Rwanda and he is currently attending weekend classes toward a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering.

Having worked as a Designer with Powell Kleinschmidt in Chicago for nine years, John first joined MASS as a designer working on the Liberia MOHSW Design Standards and Redemption Hospital Masterplan projects in 2011. After a 10 year hiatus during which he worked in a lead design role with KGD Architecture and Fox Architects on numerous commercial projects in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas, John rejoined MASS in 2021.

A licensed architect, Ashley has spent her career translating the spatial implications of organizations undergoing change, having worked with a full spectrum of education, technology, creative and nonprofit organizations in both design and strategy capacities. Her work has influenced furniture designers in Germany, youth in rural Idaho, major global technology companies, and emerging talent at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, where she has lectured.

Ashley joined MASS in 2018, driven by a desire to address the spatial implications of our rewired culture of life, learning, and play. For helping a public school in Oakland, California win a $10 million XQ Super School prize, Ashley was named ‘40 under 40’ by the San Francisco Business Times. Her research has received funding from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and been included in the conference proceedings for the Environmental Design Research Association, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference. Ashley was part of the team that wrote The Third Teacher –one of Fast Company’s best design books of 2010. She is the founder of a social impact studio at Cannon Design called Open Hand Studio, and is a past recipient of the Design Futures Council Emerging Leader award.

"I strongly believe in finding and using new Architectural ideas to solve different Global issues."

Originally from Bujumbura, Burundi, Lysette joined MASS in the fall of 2015.

She is currently working on the Gitwe Medical School and Teaching Hospital Masterplan in Rwanda, and on the Muso project, in Mali. Furthermore, she will be working on the construction documentation for the Munini District Hospital, In Nyaraguru, Rwanda.

Lysette completed a Bachelor of Science in Architectural technology at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. During her studies, she worked on challenging Community oriented projects that mainly sought to understand the social, functional and cultural impact of Architecture. Additionally, she participated in a number of national architectural student competitions in Malaysia.

An intensive collaboration with her Design studio colleagues culminated with the first runner up prize in Capsule design during the PAM (Malaysian Institute of Architects) "Dualisma" competition in 2013 and the Second Place at a student competition in designing Affordable housing, organized by PAM and LaFarge in 2014.

Adam joined MASS in 2011, managing the Haiti office and completing the Ludwig Pavilion Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis Hospital and Cholera Treatment Center, both for Les Centres GHESKIO in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He then turned to manage MASS’s operations in Liberia, working with the Ministry of Health and the World Bank to plan the New Redemption Hospital Caldwell. Adam has also managed the Construction Administration for Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama and Nyarugenge District Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. Currently, he serves as Principal and Director of MASS Build leading the construction of The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture.

Prior to MASS, Adam assisted with recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake through Architecture for Humanity. He also interned at Carazo Arquitectos in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Perkins + Will at their New York and Atlanta offices. Adam received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from James Madison University and his Master of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 2011.

Adam is the director of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Shema joined MASS in February 2018 as a Junior Associate. He is currently working as a Construction Administrator on Nyarugenge District Hospital; a 120 Beds Hospital located in Kigali. Prior to joining MASS, Shema worked for a General Contractor for 5 years on Office, Hospital and Educational construction projects first as site engineer and later in management roles.

Shema received his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in 2012. He then became a corporate Member of the Institution of Engineers in Rwanda in 2015.

Shema is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Andrew leads the South Africa Lab, established to address regional issues of inequality in housing, environment, and health. He joined MASS in 2010 as a Design Fellow in Rwanda, where he worked on health, education, and housing projects across the region, including the Umubano Primary School, Mubuga Primary School, Butaro Doctors Housing, and Rwinkwavu Village Housing. In 2014, Andrew moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to serve as the project manager for the Ilima Conservation School where he supervised the construction management and documentation of the school.

He received a Masters of Science in Architecture and Building Technology from MIT where he was the recipient of a TATA Center Fellowship and the 2018 Tucker Voss award for Building Technology. Andrew completed his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Oregon.

Joel Muhozi is an editor, Director of Photography and colorist with more than 10 years of experience in the film industry. He started his journey in Kigali, Rwanda and later ventured into China. His work focused on music videos, short films and TV commercials, and worked for clients such as Pizza Hut, Monster Energy Drink, Republic of Gamers and many more. Joel has experience with camera operation, sound mixing and choreography. He is inspired by life and the environment that surrounds him. His goal is to create visuals that leave an impact on its viewers.

Adam is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

"I believe that there needs to be balance between what is beautiful and what is just in this world, and I believe it can stem from how we design our environments."

Taylor joined MASS in October 2017 as a Junior Landscape Design Associate. Prior to joining, she graduated from the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture, where she specialized in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism. Throughout her undergraduate degree, she found her passion in exploring thoughtful and simple design that could benefit one’s quality of life. Taylor assists in research and design at the Boston office and is currently working on a relocation project for Isle de Jean Charles, a community that is facing the effects of climate change. She plans to pursue a Masters of Architecture in the future, and to hopes to expand notion of the need for a beautiful and just world.

Alejandra joined MASS in 2019 as a design researcher and is based in the Boston office. With a background in architecture practice and research, she is motivated to do work that promotes design inclusion, across all layers of difference and representation, in ways that are accessible to everyone. At MASS, she is eager to amplify research building on existing knowledge, expertise, and project work and developing new methods for design to respond to social issues that impact both the built environment and architectural practice.

During her time in graduate school in Minnesota, Alejandra's Masters research thesis explored the ways architectural projects create local economic impact in the communities they are built. Prior to joining MASS, she gained experience in architectural design and medical planning of critical access hospitals in the Midwest region of the United States.

Born and raised in Mexico, Alejandra pursued architectural education in the United States and holds a Masters of Science in Architecture with a concentration in Research Practices from the University of Minnesota and Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Houston.

Chris joined MASS in 2011 and has worked on multiple projects in East and West Africa, India, Haiti and the US. He has lead design teams for new large hospital complexes, new hospital buildings, and renovations. He has worked closely with MASS’s Haiti team, advising on the construction of the completed GHESKIO CTC and TB Hospital. Additionally, he deeply values his role as an occasional mentor to a broad range of projects and individuals at MASS. He values the intensely collaborative aspect of MASS’s work both within the office and with our partners and clients. For instance, he recently worked closely with IDEO.org and the Gates Foundation on a project to design public toilets for the developing world. Prior to MASS, Chris worked as an architect in Boston providing design, project management, and construction administration expertise on multiple institutional projects, which included libraries, courthouses, and a wide variety of academic buildings. Chris is a registered and LEED certified architect. He received his Masters in Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

"As architects, we have a responsibility to ensure that intangible attributes of served communities are integrated into design as a tool to empower them and celebrate their legacy."

Youssouf joined MASS in March 2018 as an intern. He has worked on the new pedestrianized "car free zone" street in Nyarugenge, Kigali as an Assistant Architect. This is the first designed public space in the country named "IMBUGA City Walk”. Most recently, he has been working on housing projects as a freelancer. Youssouf holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Rwanda where his thesis focused on improving people's lives and fostering social cohesion among segregated communities. He intends to pursue a Master’s Degree in the near future.

Youssouf is a member of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

"I believe that the built environment impacts our lives and we can design the process to create positive social change."

Patricia Gruits is a Senior Principal with MASS Design Group leading both design and research projects in health, education, and equity. Since joining MASS in 2013, she has led the design of the Maternity Waiting Village in Malawi with the Malawi Ministry of Health, the African Leadership University, a series of primary schools in East Africa with the African Wildlife Foundation and the MSquared Foundation, and the development the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Currently, Patricia leads design and research initiatives at MASS with a focus on planning, design, and evaluation. Her work is aimed at engaging and empowering stakeholders in the design process; supporting and substantiating the impact of design on health, social, and environmental outcomes; and translating research into design strategies and decision-making. She has coordinated the creation of the Purpose Built series— a set of tools for creating impact-driven design— and has implemented this approach in the design of affordable housing, healthcare, and urban design projects around the globe. Patricia has also managed a range of design projects aimed at proving the impact of the built environment on individual and community health in the United States, including a collaboration with the mayor’s working group to address issues of homelessness, addiction and recovery in Boston and partnered with community development corporations to create affordable and supportive housing.

Patricia collaborated with the Joint Center of Housing Studies at Harvard to create guidelines for Safe Interaction in Senior Affordable Housing in response to COVID-19, and has lectured at the Harvard School of Public Health as a part of the USAID sponsored Airborne Infection Control course. She has taught design studios focusing on social impact at the Boston Architectural College and RISD. Her work has been published in journals of architecture and health and was recently awarded the “Top 40 under 40” for Sustainable Design by Impact Design Hub.

Emily Ebersol is a 2021-22 Space and Society Fellow with MASS Design Group. She recently completed her Masters in Architecture from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Emily received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019. Throughout her professional career, Emily has worked at the intersection of spatial, editorial, curatorial, and organizational design. She has worked with LTA Studio, the Community Design Center of Rochester, Perkins Eastman, Point Line Projects, and Clark Patterson Lee. She co-created and co-conspired the Design Justice Actions for Taubman College, a student-led, anti-racism campaign that works to decolonize and dismantle racist structures embedded within the institution and architecture education at large. Emily was an awardee of the University of Michigan Martin Luther King Spirit Award in 2021. She was recently published by Ediciones ARQ for a piece she co-authored, Recasting the Gandhian Urban Legacy in the Indian City: Nature, Alterity, and Activism.

Joe Christa Giraso joined MASS Build in August 2020 as a Site Landscape Architect. At MASS, Joe Christa oversees the implementation of the landscape for the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Her responsibilities range from quality insurance of the softscape and hardscape to the coordination with different disciplines and subcontractors. Prior to joining MASS, she was Deputy Lead of the Infrastructure Department at One Acre Fund before joining TPM Landscape as Assistant Landscape Architect. At One Acre Fund, Joe Christa led the infrastructure team to complete landscape and interior projects, implemented a team development plan, and managed the maintenance team.

Joe Christa holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Design from the University of Rwanda – College of Science and Technology and a Master's in Landscape Architecture from Leeds Beckett University. Joe Christa is a 2017 Mandela Washington fellow YALI and 2018 Chevening Scholar.

Alain joined MASS in October 2020 as HR Lead of MASS Build. He provides support in MASS's Operations team. He aims at improving functions of the HR department in developing, updating and implementing new policies and strategies. Before joining MASS, Alain worked for Remote Partners Ltd, RPC (Rwanda Printery services), GT bank Rwanda and BNR (The National bank of Rwanda) in HR, Admin, and Finance departments.

Okechi started at MASS as a Mechanical Engineering Intern in May of 2018 and has since transitioned to our growing engineering team full time. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, he gained his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Covenant University, Nigeria in 2016. His experience derives from his one year National Youth Service Corps engagement as a Graduate Services Engineer at Kenol Nigeria Limited. There he engaged in project supervision, preparation of project reports and ensured that site activities complied with quality standards. He also had multiple internship opportunities with Giants and Davie Artelier and Debour Nigeria Limited, both in the nation’s largest city of Lagos.

He is passionate about restructuring and improving the housing delivery process in Africa, particularly in rural settlements.

"It is our shared mission to utilize architecture to confront social justice. Good design strives for positive impact on global equity and responds to its place-based context and communities."

Rene first joined MASS in 2015 as an intern for two years and then in 2018 as a Junior Associate. During his time with MASS, he has worked on various projects including the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE). He received his Bachelor of Architecture in 2017 from the University of Rwanda. Rene has also interned with EarthEnable on the research team, which in turn widened his aptitude on research-based thinking processes. Rene worked with ThinkImpact in administering and organizing teams to mediate Western-based educators to lead innovative development experiences with local people as community-participatory solutions. He was committed to learning about how these organizations respond to community problems by embracing participatory-empowerment. Prior to rejoining MASS, Rene worked as an Associate with EarthEnable, where his passions lied in empowering local communities through the construction domain, by installing earthen floors in rural homes.

Elena joined MASS in January of 2019. Her work with the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab and the Restorative Justice Design Lab focuses on engagement and design that elevates community voices. Her partnerships and projects seek to address the future of Indigenous sovereignty, healing through the arts and education, and decarceration. Prior to joining MASS, Elena worked as part of a Los Angeles-based design-build team. She received her Masters of Architecture from Yale School of Architecture and her Bachelor of Arts from Boston University.

Megan is an Architect and Project Manager who joined MASS in 2021. Prior to MASS she worked on a variety of project types ranging from single-family residential, small commercial, tenant improvement renovations, masterplanning, and most recently, managing complex affordable and market rate housing projects of up to nearly 300 units. Aside from a diverse portfolio, Megan’s passion for social justice and affordable housing has guided her career. She has volunteered in a variety of capacities such as leading advocacy efforts for AIA Seattle’s Committee on Homelessness, where she helped push the city’s groundbreaking inclusionary zoning legislation through City Council. She had done pro bono work for Architects Without Borders and volunteered with All Hands and Hearts Smart Response following the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. She has been a guest panelist for undergraduate and graduate level architecture courses and served on a task force for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) helping develop the cut score for the Architectural Registration Exam. Megan earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree at Oklahoma State University in 2011 where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and was awarded the AIA Henry Adams School Medal.

Brandon Bibby AIA, NOMA, NCARB, WELL AP is a 2021-22 Space and Society Fellow and architect with MASS Design Group. Bibby is an artist and architect motivated by movement, culture, and familiarity in contemporary southern space and questioning representation and access to equitable and quality design in the built environment. He continuously strives to merge his passion for choreography with architecture by utilizing visualization and narrating through movement and expression. He is a graduate of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and the ninth African American architect to hold an active license to practice architecture in Arkansas. An award-winning professional for his leadership and community engagement, Bibby is a recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi Bronze Medal, 2021 AIA Arkansas Diversity Award, and named to the Arkansas Business' 20 in their 20s New Influential 2019 Class. He has lectured, and moderated panels with the American Institute of Architects, Architecture and Design Network, AARP, and currently serves as a Health Equity Advisor with the International Well Building Institute.