Designing Tomorrow: A Deep Dive into Innovations and Trends

A Future-forward Exploration of Design, New Workspaces, AI Influence, Conversions, and the Latest Trends

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  Chad Yoshinobu

  Chad is a Principal and Global Practice Area Leader of Sciences at Gensler, the world’s largest global architecture and design firm. Chad believes in the aggregation of diverse design lenses, spanning life sciences, office buildings, tech workplace, and hospitality. This method allows our design teams to reinvent what we do for our clients by blending diverse sectors together. This enables us to differentiate our client’s products from their competition, providing an edge in the marketplace. Over the course of his 25+ years as an industry expert, Chad has shaped a diverse range of environments from life science campuses and buildings to office towers, hotels, food & beverage, retail, and the workplace interiors of technology and life science companies. His client list encompasses local, national, and global companies, with projects ranging from 500 to more than 3 million square feet. Chad has been honored with a multitude of awards for his work and frequently shares his extensive industry experience and insights as a speaker on local and national stages.

  Gensler

  Principal and Design Director

  Chad Yoshinobu

  Principal and Design Director

  Gensler

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  Todd Buchanan

  Todd is a senior principal and leads HOK’s studio in Seattle, where he oversees the daily operations and business development efforts. He also serves as principal-in-charge on select projects. With more than 25 years of experience, Todd knows how to bring together various stakeholders to create a highly collaborative team. He is adept at balancing a client’s vision and goals with budget and schedule requirements, maximizing efficiencies through each phase of a project. Todd has led complex architectural projects throughout the Pacific Northwest, spanning across several market sectors including Aviation + Transportation, Healthcare, Science & Technology, Corporate, Justice and Sports + Recreation + Entertainment. Todd is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Downtown Seattle Association and the Design-Build Institute of America.

  HOK

  Senior Principal and Senior Regional Practice Leader

  Todd Buchanan

  Senior Principal and Senior Regional Practice Leader

  HOK

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  Dan Murray

  Dan is an architect at DLR Group, where he is dedicated to shaping and strengthening the Seattle community landscape. With a keen understand of the intricate relationship between people and their environment, he seamlessly integrates the needs and aspirations of diverse stakeholders into the design process. At the heart of Dan’s approach to design lies a commitment to collaborations, bridging disciplines to ensure that each project reflects the unique essence and values of its community. By championing inclusivity and sustainability, he creates spaces that not only inspire but also endure, leaving a positive legacy for generations to come.

  DLR Group

  Principal

  Dan Murray

  Principal

  DLR Group

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  Vince Stroop

  Vince Stroop is an award-winning architect, designer, and photographer. Prior to founding the stroop design studio, he served as Partner & Executive Design Director at the renowned New York firms of Jeffery Beers International and Stonehill Taylor and additionally held the role of Principal at BBGM and Partner & Co-Founder at A2 Studios. Over the past 30 years, he sharpened his design expertise working across wineries, libraries, restaurants & bars, exhibitions, hotels & resorts, and all levels of residential developments. He has directed projects for major hospitality brands including Raffles, Rosewood, Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, One&Only, IHG, Equinox, NoMad Hotels, The Sydell Group, JLL, Chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, and for several boutique ventures. Always looking to explore creative outlets, he has led exhibition design for installations at Fuorisalone in Milan, Seattle Design Festival, Hotel Interiors Experience (HIX) in London, and an award-winning pop-up hotel concept featured during the Independent Hotel Conference in Amsterdam. He has been a featured speaker and panelist at industry events, most notably for Architectural Digest, The New York Times, Design Milk, Apartment Therapy, and NPR. He is a licensed architect in New York, California, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, & Georgia. NCARB certified and a member of NAIOP. Vince travels extensively, is an avid baker, loves the outdoors, is a runner, a skier and has recently taken to cold water swimming.

  Stroop Design

  Founding Partner

  Moderator

  Vince Stroop

  Founding Partner

  Stroop Design

Sustainability by Design: Crafting a Brighter Future

Exploring Green Buildings, Health and Wellness, Embodied Carbon, and Energy and Building Codes

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  Rachael Meyer

  Rachael Meyer, Director of Sustainability and Landscape Architecture Principal at Weber Thompson, champions the firm’s commitment to sustainable urban development. Rachael has helped strengthen the integration of health and wellness, biophilia and stormwater management into the firm's projects. Her notable work includes the award-winning Aurora Bridge Bioswales and the innovative landscape design at Northlake Commons, showcasing her dedication to cleaning toxic runoff and enhancing green infrastructure. An advocate for sustainable design, Rachael has shared her expertise as a speaker, author, and leader both within and outside the industry. Recognized for her contributions to innovative stormwater management in urban architecture and her passion for stakeholder facilitation, her role as Director of Sustainability underscores Weber Thompson’s enduring philosophy of integrating sustainable design into every facet of their work.

  Weber Thompson

  Principal and Director of Sustainability

  Rachael Meyer

  Principal and Director of Sustainability

  Weber Thompson

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  Joanna Callahan

  Joanna Callahan. As Principal of Hess Callahan Grey Group (HCG), Joanna has been active in developing sustainable, award-winning commercial office projects in Seattle with a focus on Fremont and the North Lake Union submarket. With deep ties to Seattle, HCG Group has earned a reputation for delivering high quality, distinctive spaces for tenants who value sustainability, innovation, and one-of-a-kind designs. Her current project, Northlake Commons, will be the largest mass timber project in Seattle. Using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Northlake Commons is also the first mass timber project designed to accommodate life science space. Jo’s experience includes legal and development roles over her 10+ years in the real estate business, earning her recognition by the Puget Sound Business Journal Commercial Real Estate Leadership Awards as 2019’s “Up and Coming Developer.” Her projects have been recognized with awards including, NAIOP WA Office Development of the Year, NAIOP WA Sustainable Development of the Year, and Architizer A+ Award. Jo holds a B.A. from Yale, a Master of Science from the London School of Economics, and a law degree from the University of Washington.

  Hess Callahan Grey Group

  Principal

  Joanna Callahan

  Principal

  Hess Callahan Grey Group

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  Jared Silliker

  Think of Jared as a general contractor for sustainability efforts. Like the best traditional GCs, he coordinates projects, solves problems, and is a friendly partner who leverages his extensive network. Pairing big-picture strategy with detailed research and logistics, Jared focuses on human systems within the built environment. Jared is a trusted advisor who delivers successful sustainability programs and business development for mission-aligned organizations. These clients want to protect the environment through smart business strategy. Jared is often on the case to optimize building energy performance. But this sustainability work can take many forms—from healthy materials to electric vehicles to smart building technologies. Jared has collected nearly two decades of sustainability knowledge, and coordinates technical experts to deliver transformative, high performance initiatives. He excels at the intersection of the technical and non-technical, and is adept at balancing triple bottom line priorities. As an advocate for change, Jared instills confidence, mitigates risk, and accelerates impact. Jared is passionate about solving the climate change crisis, especially with systems that can scale impact. He believes that creative solutions can pay it forward to future generations while paying for business today.

  NBBJ

  Senior Sustainability Strategist

  Jared Silliker

  Senior Sustainability Strategist

  NBBJ

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  Mathew Albores

  Mathew Albores, AIA, is a Principal at Seattle-based The Miller Hull Partnership. Albores has always been deeply shaped by his environment. Growing up overseas, his family routinely moved from country to country, exposing him to a variety of places and cultures. His design philosophy has been shaped by these influences and is the foundation for his practice. Since then, Albores' focus has expanded to include large-scale residential projects, buildings of diplomacy, public libraries and initiatives that advocate for black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). His involvement in Miller Hull’s internal operations groups – Culture Ops and Equity Lab – helps spread awareness throughout the firm and beyond on equity in design, representation, and leadership.

  The Miller Hull Partnership

  Principal

  Mathew Albores

  Principal

  The Miller Hull Partnership

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  Jeannine Ryan

  Jeaninne joined USI in 2013. With 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, Jeaninne has been working with Northwest- based companies to help manage their insurance and risk programs. Her clients’ range in size, as well as maturity, and represent a variety of industries with a focus in the Architecture/Engineering/Environmental Consulting world. Throughout her career, Jeaninne has fine-tuned the art of analyzing client business issues and challenges to design the right program customized to each client’s needs, then representing them accurately and positively in the insurance marketplace to deliver highly customized solutions with measurable economic impact. From new venture formation, through all stages of business development, she works with companies to address strategic risk issues, whether they are local, stateside or international. Jeaninne is particularly careful to properly align contractual obligations with insurance programs. In addition, Jeaninne focuses on counseling clients on matters related to unusual risks and mitigating uninsured risks. Jeaninne is responsible for leading the entire service, technical resources, claims, analytics teams in the servicing of client accounts. She coordinates all services within USI for her clients to ensure our commitment to our customers is met continuously.

  USI

  SVP

  Moderator

  Jeannine Ryan

  SVP

  USI