Partners
Jason F. McLennan
CEO of McLennan Design and Chief Sustainabilitiy Officer at Perkins&Will
Considered one of the world’s most influential individuals in the field of architecture and green building movement today, Jason is a highly sought out designer, consultant and thought leader around the planet. He is the recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize (the planet’s top prize for socially responsible design). He has been called the ‘Steve Jobs’ of the green building industry, a “World Changer” by GreenBiz magazine and has been selected as the Award of Excellence winner for Engineering News Record- one of the only individuals in the architecture profession to have won the award in its 52-year history.
McLennan is the creator of the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, as well as a primary author of the WELL Building Standard, which is sweeping the globe. He is the author of seven books on Sustainability and Design – used by thousands of practitioners each year, including the Philosophy of Sustainable Design, which is considered the ‘bible’ for green building’ – and is both an Ashoka Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Design Future’s Council. He has been selected by Yes! Magazine as one of ‘15 people shaping the world’ and works closely with world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, leading NGO’s, major universities, celebrities, and influential development companies –all in the pursuit of a world that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. He serves as the Chairman of the International Living Future Institute and is the CEO of McLennan Design – his own architectural and planning practice designing some of the world’s most advanced green buildings. McLennan’s work has been published in dozens of journals, magazines, and newspapers around the world.
Dale Duncan AIA LEED AP
Managing Partner
Dale has a reputation for being the kind of project manager that isn’t finished until a project succeeds. Clients and designers alike know Dale as the responsive, go-to person who keeps the project on track. No matter what role he plays on the design team – and he can play many – his passion for good work, sustainability, and his commitment to quality turn concepts into reality.
Dale has been responsible for project management, materials selection, consultant coordination, supervision of construction-document production, and construction administration for major projects in Kansas City and surrounding communities.
Dale was an adjunct lecturer at the University of Kansas, and in 2016, he served as the President of the AIA-Kansas City chapter (over 1,000 members). He is a LEED accredited professional, registered in Kansas, Oklahoma, Washington, Connecticut, and British Columbia, and holds CSI and NCARB memberships. Dale is Chairman of the Board of the Spencer C. Duncan Make it Count Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation.
Staff
Phaedra Svec, AIA, LEED AP BD + C
Director of Regenerative Design
Phaedra is an architect, regenerative systems planner and Director of Regenerative Design with McLennan Design. With over 20 years of experience in the sustainable design movement, she has served as chief sustainability trouble maker on many award-winning, high-performance projects. A master at interrupting traditional process, she creates opportunities to infuse Biomimicry and regenerative design and development processes into an integrated design process. Phaedra’s approach to regenerative design and development is holistic, systems-based, inspired by living systems and deeply personal. She believes that regenerative design is not a new set of standards or best practices to comply with, but rather a way of coming to a project with a mind intent on discovering and improving the on-going vitality of a place and its living systems.
Galen Carlson, Designer
Galen Carlson is a young designer with a passion for innovative, mission-based design and a deep belief in the value of transformative relationships. His work is driven by a desire to push the envelope of design, technologically, ecologically, and relationally. A native Northwesterner, his love of the mountainous Pacific landscape serves as a constant source of inspiration for his work and home life. Galen holds a Master of Architecture degree with a specialization in Urban Design from the University of Oregon, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Washington.
Joshua M Fisher, Director of Creative Media
Spanning a wide range of project types, Joshua leads McLennan Design’s creative media design efforts from the Bainbridge Island, Washington studio. His experience in architecture, design, art, and community activism has been a shaping factor in the evolution of the McLennan Design visual brand since its inception. Joshua uses this experience to tailor bespoke creative media efforts for the firm’s varied regenerative design clients.
Highly collaborative and team-oriented, Joshua brings each project to life with a fresh perspective and a compelling vision of how a regeneratively designed future might look. As a founding member of the McLennan Design team, Joshua has been contributing his unique artistic sensibility for five years as Director of Creative Media to projects spanning North America, Latin America, Asia and Australia. These projects have included a diverse range of master planning, urban design, hospitality, commercial and residential.
Joshua’s approach leverages best available technologies and the visual arts to communicate design aspirations through content creation that elevates projects’ potential and clients’ expectations. In his work, deep-green design integration happens at each stage of the process, from feasibility to concept design to marketing.
At home in the Pacific Northwest, Joshua takes inspiration from art, design, the outdoors, and skateboarding, and shares his love of life with his wife and two little boys.
Joanna Jenkins, AIA, LFA
Regenerative Design Consultant
As a Regenerative Design Consultant for McLennan Design, Joanna brings a wealth of knowledge from her background as an Architect to every consulting project.
As a Licensed Architect in Washington state, and a perennial regenerative design consultant, Joanna has experience on project types ranging from schools and universities to office buildings and corporate campuses. She also has experience, from prior projects, regarding government buildings, data centers, public green spaces and parks.
Joanna is Living Future Accredited, and a LEED AP, a BREEAM AP, and an Esidama Pearl Qualified Professional. With this diverse certification experience, she assists clients in not only fulfilling the project’s green certification goals, but also in identifying unique sustainability strategies for each project.
She specializes in guiding clients through the early design stages of complex projects by planning and facilitating Integrated Design Charettes. Joanna believes strongly in the importance of incorporating sustainability strategies into the PreDesign and Schematic Design stages. By helping each client to identify and write the Owner Project Requirements, Joanna helps each project set the stage for success, minimize change orders and optimize the transition from construction to building operations. She excels in coordinating the work of large project teams and in communicating effectively with Owners.
Joanna’s other responsibilities include writing and implementing green building certification work plans and coordinating the work of multiple disciplines to reach project goals. She also writes green building certification specifications and responds to RFPs regarding regenerative design.
Stephen GibsonAIA, LFA
Senior Regenerative Design Architect
With 28 years of industry experience, Stephen is passionate about regenerative design and crafting buildings that help humanity – and all species – thrive. He develops creative solutions for project goals with integrity, honesty, and transparency. Stephen has a holistic understanding of architecture, which allows him to design high-quality buildings with the lowest environmental impact. Before joining Perkins&Will, Stephen led Starbucks’ sustainability efforts, including getting the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room LEED Platinum certified.
Stephen combines his passion for architecture and sustainability with a deep dedication to relational investment. Skilled in developing clear details and specifications, he is also an adept communicator, coordinating clients and consultants to ensure project goals are achieved with quality and understanding. Stephen has expertise in sustainable design strategies, LEED administration and documentation, and Living Building Challenge petal certification. He strives for all buildings to be restorative, produce net positive water and energy, contain low embodied carbon, and be free of red list chemicals, ensuring a healthy built environment for all.
Johanna Collins, Architect
Johanna is a registered architect with a unique international perspective, she brings knowledge from her upbringing in Germany and provides a holistic outlook on design and project coordination. Her experience includes the design of a wide range of projects from large scale public institutions to smaller tenant improvements for private clients which gives her a strong understanding of spatial relationships.
As a Regenerative Design Architect, she is committed to designing solutions that are as high performing and economically feasible as they are creative and beautiful. As part of the team, her focus is on generating integral designs with a high degree of consistency from the whole to the pieces. She operates on the understanding that experiential design is about more than just a building – it is the intersection of light, materials and landscape that create memorable spaces. Through her building science approach, she marries the data-driven ‘how’ with the human element ‘why.’
She is a curious individual, an explorer, traveler, and gatherer of new experiences, which allow her to grow in her personal and professional life.
Nature is her sanctuary. Growing up in the Bavarian Alps has established her deep connection to nature and the appreciation for it. After spending almost twenty years in the Sonoran Desert, she, her husband, and their dog Dusty now call Bainbridge Island home.
Ayushi Modi, Architect
Aayushi is an architect with strong knowledge and interest in Building Science and Building Performance Analysis. She has gained formal education in MS Architecture – High Performance Building from Georgia Tech. She is experienced in enhancing performance for educational buildings, commercial buildings, government facility buildings, and single-family residences. She believes integrating sustainable concepts, and space design should start at the conceptual stage to have a better impact.
As a licensed architect in India, she has experience of working with and managing multiple stakeholders in projects. And her interest in inspiring the next generation towards sustainable architecture has always kept her engaged in mentoring and teaching in her career. She also led a team that won the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge 2022, where Perkins&Will acted as an Industrial Partner.
Aayushi believes that retrofitting the existing buildings, along with new construction, can be beneficial in reducing embodied carbon impact associated with the industry. Her interests lie in retrofitting old buildings into high performing buildings, reducing energy usage in building construction, and improving daylight quality for architectural designs. She wants to deepen her knowledge about various construction materials to reduce embodied carbon and perform better.
Reza Takallouie, Architect
Reza was a building performance analyst at Ardaena, a highly regarded AEC start-up firm in the Middle East, where he was involved in several projects.In pursuit of a comprehensive understanding of sustainability and resiliency, he pursued a Master’s degree in Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University.While pursuing his Master’s degree, Reza participated in two research projects, both of which greatly contributed to his experience and insight into the real data, simulations, equity, and public policy aspects of sustainability and resiliency. The first project was a joint effort with Harvard University, aimed at preparing a comprehensive report for the National Academy of Science (NAS) on a rapid path for US building decarbonization. The second project involved a facade optimization project for UPMC, in collaboration with the University of Toronto. Reza developed a virtual reality workflow integrated with energy simulation engines which was later showcased at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum to VIP guests, including the US Secretary of Energy.
Kishore Kandasamy, Architect
Kishore Kandasamy is an up-and-coming young professional with a passion for sustainable design and programming. A recent M.Arch graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Kishore has experience developing computational scripts and plug-ins used for high-performance building analysis. While at Georgia Tech, he explored architectural theory from a variety of perspectives, ranging from technologically focused design to purely poetic expressions, and developed a special focus in memorial and museum design. Kishore is currently developing an easy-to-use Grasshopper plug-in for embodied carbon calculations, hoping to build a suite of tools that can be easily accessible to architecture students wanting to explore sustainable design practices. He seeks to synthesize his passion for regenerative design, systems-based theory, and programming expertise in his work, and hopes to build strong connections within the building industry. When not working, Kishore enjoys cooking at home and playing volleyball with friends and colleagues.
Dr. Trevor Butler, Engineer
Trevor is an Architectural Engineer (Mechanical & Civil), with over 28 years of experience in the AEC industry – leading the strategic the design of projects with a strong focus on sustainable and regenerative design. His ability to work from an interdisciplinary position between the architecture and traditional engineering is one of his key skills to develop holistic design solutions. He takes a whole systems approach to design and development to ensure that fully integrated solutions are considered and achieved.
Trevor takes a client centred approach with a full understanding of their vision – to allow the exploration synergies and that can contribute to closed loop outcomes. His creative and detailed approach to design and analysis enables the performance of innovative engineering solutions to be proven as a significant step towards carbon neutral, net-zero energy and regenerative solutions.
Trevor has a deep interest in innovation, and he has pursued research and development in products, systems and performance related to sustainable practice. Under the umbrella of Lufthaus™ he led an air quality monitoring program during the COVID pandemic which showed the effect of healthy ventilation for a range of buildings. He recently completed his Ph.D in the thermal performance of earth tube systems – which was supported through Natural Resources Canada.
Trevor worked in the UK for 14 years leading the construction ecology unit with Fulcrum before serving as Head of Sustainability with Building Design Partnership. Since 2008, based in Canada – consulting with several clients including Perkins&Will on range of projects including Makkah Al-Shamiyah extension, Blatchford Masterplan. Has enjoyed numerous collaborations with Jason McLennan on regenerative design and research publications. Trevor is lead engineer on the McMurray Metis Cultural Centre – a $75M carbon neutral building in the heart of Fort McMurray, AB.
John Nelson, M.S., M.E., LEED AP, PMP
Design Analytics
Trevor is an Architectural Engineer (Mechanical & Civil), with over 28 years of experience in the AEC industry – leading the strategic the design of projects with a strong focus on sustainable and regenerative design. His ability to work from an interdisciplinary position between the architecture and traditional engineering is one of his key skills to develop holistic design solutions. He takes a whole systems approach to design and development to ensure that fully integrated solutions are considered and achieved.
Trevor takes a client centred approach with a full understanding of their vision – to allow the exploration synergies and that can contribute to closed loop outcomes. His creative and detailed approach to design and analysis enables the performance of innovative engineering solutions to be proven as a significant step towards carbon neutral, net-zero energy and regenerative solutions.
Trevor has a deep interest in innovation, and he has pursued research and development in products, systems and performance related to sustainable practice. Under the umbrella of Lufthaus™ he led an air quality monitoring program during the COVID pandemic which showed the effect of healthy ventilation for a range of buildings. He recently completed his Ph.D in the thermal performance of earth tube systems – which was supported through Natural Resources Canada.
Trevor worked in the UK for 14 years leading the construction ecology unit with Fulcrum before serving as Head of Sustainability with Building Design Partnership. Since 2008, based in Canada – consulting with several clients including Perkins&Will on range of projects including Makkah Al-Shamiyah extension, Blatchford Masterplan. Has enjoyed numerous collaborations with Jason McLennan on regenerative design and research publications. Trevor is lead engineer on the McMurray Metis Cultural Centre – a $75M carbon neutral building in the heart of Fort McMurray, AB.
Susan Neal
Susan Neal’s bio coming soon!
Susan Roth, Marketing Manager and Graphic Design
Susan Roth is a graphic designer and marketing manager who is thrilled to be on the McLennan Design team! She started her career in advertising design for a newspaper and moved into television post-production working on Bill Nye The Science Guy TV series. She’s worked with small non-profits and multi-national businesses, doing interface design to product packaging; for clients that range from Green Energy engineers to Hawaiian Sea Salt spice labels! Along the way, she also developed a niche for icon design and have produced hundreds of icons for Microsoft Corporation and other businesses. She loves meeting new people and using her visual art skills to help clients interpret their vision. A Michigan native, she attended college in Chicago and studied Fine Art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In her free time she enjoys oil painting and camping trips in her Westfalia camper van with her family, and the best dog in the world, Annie.
Annie, Office Dog
Annie is a rescue dog originally from Yakima, WA. Her favorite things to do when she’s not being an office therapy dog, (and putting Dusty in his place,) is to roll on the beach, chew sticks and shells, go stand-up paddle boarding, watch birds from her backyard, and catch an occasional bunny.
Dusty, Office Dog
Dusty is a very passionate explorer and loves to make his friends smile. He brings with him two plus years of pure love and passion for the outdoors. After spending his first few years in the Sonoran Desert he is now a PNW Dog. Loves forest hikes and finding sticks on the beach.
Mabel, Office Dog
Mabel is five but can still act like a puppy. She loves to chase balls, frisbees, and bunnies, and is ever diligent in squirrel surveillance. She likes long walks and fast meals. She is everyone’s best friend and will lean into you if you pay her the slightest bit of attention.
Interested in joining our team? See our Careers page.