LOISOS + UBBELOHDE | Architecture . Energy

All members of the firm hold advanced professional degrees in architecture and are LEED Accredited Professionals. As a firm we combine significant experience in high end international commercial and institutional design, Northern California residential design and management of large Bay Area office building and campus design projects with expertise in low-energy and lighting research, software development, advanced computer simulations, and educating both students and professionals.

GEORGE LOISOS is a licensed architect and LEED Accredited Professional who has practiced in Europe and the United States since 1980. He holds architectural degrees from Tulane University, the University of Oregon, and Plymouth Polytechnic in England. His design work has ranged from large to small and public to private, including a teaching observatory in the Oregon mountains, resort facilities in northern Greece, and renovation of early industrial buildings and new community college facilities in Minneapolis. As the architectural program consultant for the Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco from 1994-2000, Mr. Loisos created and administered research and public programs on daylighting, energy conservation and sustainable practices in design. Mr. Loisos has led major research programs in building energy use at the University of California, San Diego, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and for the California Institute for Energy Efficiency. Mr. Loisos lectures extensively on environmental design issues at universities and professional conferences and also presents specialized workshops on related topics for architectural and engineering firms.

M. SUSAN UBBELOHDE is a tenured faculty member of the architecture department at the University of California, Berkeley, and a LEED Accredited Professional, with more than 25 years of experience in building energy use, daylighting design and climate responsive design and performance. She teaches graduate design studios and seminars in sustainable and high-performance design and technology. Ms. Ubbelohde has directed projects for the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Minnesota, the National Science Foundation, the University of California Energy Institute, and the California Institute for Energy Efficiency. Ms. Ubbelohde is a frequent lecturer at professional conferences, and has published numerous articles on daylighting, solar access and energy efficiency, and design procedures for passive environmental technologies.

Loisos + Ubbelohde Team

THOMAS BURNHAM is a licensed architect and LEED Accredited Professional with over thirty years of experience in the building industry. He has a degree in Engineering/Art from Antioch College and a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University. His experience has included a large variety of building types including residential, commercial and industrial. Mr. Burnham worked at Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum, Inc. for 20 years as a project manager and has been involved in significant projects totaling over 15 million square feet. As project manager, his responsibilities have included managing the architectural design effort from concept through construction for projects which include office buildings and office campuses, high rise office buildings, research laboratories, and hotels. Mr. Burnham has also been involved in the design and construction of private residences and low income housing. Mr. Burnham has a keen interest in green building research and sustainable design practices.

SANTOSH V. PHILLIP is an architect, software specialist, and LEED Accredited Professional, with professional degrees from the Center of Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India, and the University of Minnesota. Mr. Philip has designed climate-responsive residences, college campuses and commercial and manufacturing facilities in western India. His energy research activities include developing a daylighting software package, updating energy software used to qualify buildings under California Energy Code Title 24, and a graphic interface with energy simulation software packages. He also is the author of proprietary software programs that allow detailed energy simulations of complex buildings. Mr. Philip has received the Gold Medal from the Gujarat Institute of Architects.

DAVID SCHEER 3 is a designer and energy analyst with degrees from the University of Michigan and University of California, Berkeley. He has extensive experience in sustainable design and construction in Alaska and California, GIS and digital design applications, and public service through planning commissions, master-planning and wetlands research and construction administration. Mr. Scheer has also taught digital design and energy analysis at the University of California, Berkeley, and developed energy analysis as part of the design process for Van deRyn Architects in Sausalito, California. He is also a licensed pilot.

CHRISTIAN HUMANN is a designer and software specialist with an advanced architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a recognized expert in daylight modeling through computational and physical models, using Radiance, a research grade light simulation software used to accurately model complex buildings. Mr. Humann’s research includes the comparative analysis of daylighting software for the Center of Environmental Design and Research at UC Berkeley. Mr. Humann received the 15th Annual Interiors Award from Interiors Magazine for custom lighting he designed and built for an award-winning office renovation. Other architectural projects have included residential, office and commercial retrofits and work with Paolo Soleri at Arcosanti, Arizona.

BRENDON LEVITT is a licensed architect with architectural degrees from Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. Before joining Loisos + Ubbelohde, he worked with Pritzker Prize Laureate Fumihiko Maki, where his projects included the United Nations Headquarters in New York, MIT Media Lab and Center for the Arts at Washington University, St. Louis. Mr. Levitt writes and lectures on sustainable design and the synthesis of contemporary culture, human comfort, and new technology. He has received awards for architectural design and scholarship, including Eisner and Peerless Prizes from UC Berkeley, a Luce Scholarship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Branner Fellowship. Mr. Levitt also has conducted extensive field research on integrated design methods through collaborations with Jean Nouvel, John and Patricia Patkau, Richard Rogers, Michael Hopkins, Ken Yeang, BV Doshi and Stefan Behnisch. Mr. Levitt teaches design studios and lectures on construction technology at the California College of the Arts.

SUSANNA DOUGLAS is a designer with a joint degree in civil engineering and architecture from Princeton University and an advanced architectural degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. Her experience before joining Loisos + Ubbelohde includes architectural work on residences and community buildings which explore her interests in multi-sensory experience, alternative materials, and passive solar design. Ms. Douglas has been an instructor for introductory design courses at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a lecturer at California College of the Arts, teaching Structures, Integrated Building Design, and Sound/Space, a class on the science and art of acoustics. She has been awarded a Branner Fellowship and the Raymond L. Watson Prize for Community Design. Her prior work for Levy Art & Architecture was represented in the AIA San Francisco Home Tours in 2007.

TOBEN WINDAHL has left L+U to pursue adventures in Shanghai.

MICHAEL MARTINEZ is a designer with a degree in environmental design from Texas A&M University and an advanced architectural degree from the University of California, Berkeley. As a LEED Accredited Professional, Mr. Martinez worked with various architecture firms in Washington DC and with Mark Horton Architecture in San Francisco on a wide range of sustainable multi-family housing, hospitality, civic, institutional and office building projects. Mr. Martinez has taught classes at the University of California, Berkeley, in building science and sustainability, and has worked as a student researcher with the Center for the Built Environment at Berkeley developing systems to model and predict thermal comfort in office buildings. Mr. Martinez is trained in daylight modeling using Radiance, a research grade light simulation software to accurately model complex buildings.

ABE SHAMESON is a designer with an advanced architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Loisos + Ubbelohde he worked primarily on high end single family residences in locations such as San Francisco, Atherton, and the Carmel Highlands. As a sole practitioner he designed a second dwelling unit in Berkeley and a climate responsive house in the desert outside of El Paso. He also holds a patent on a three dimensional puzzle.

MICHELLE BAIRD is a communications and office manager with an M.A. in South Asian history from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in history and English from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Her experience before joining Loisos + Ubbelohde included teaching secondary history and English at the Head-Royce School in Oakland, and working as a production editor at Parallax Press in Berkeley. Ms. Baird enjoys bringing the firm's environmental vision of sustainability and energy efficiency into the daily functioning of the office.

SUKI is a licensed dog in the city of Berkeley, California, with a special interest in thermal comfort, solar radiation, and reflected light. Suki oversees reception services in addition to managing the office paper recycling and food composting programs.