Grumeti Fund RISE Research Facility

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.

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.