Brad Jacobson: Green Architect

Brad Jacobson: Green Architect
Masters in Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, 1998

What I do:

In recent years I have worked at EHDD Architecture in San Francisco as Project Manager on the Stanford Green Dorm and Project Architect on the Global Ecology Research Center, an interdisciplinary research department operated by the Carnegie Institution on Stanford's campus that won a 2007 AIA Top Ten Green Building Award.

Why I do it:

Because I am passionate about sustainable design and the environment generally.

How I got here:

After obtaining my Masters degree, I worked for a while in Philadelphia, then returned west to begin designing affordable housing in San Francisco. After a few years and one very successful family housing project in the city, I traveled for a while and lived and worked for a season on an ecovillage that some fellow Stanford grads are building in Missouri. There I helped construct a strawbale community center and regained my focus on environmental issues. Since then I have had the opportunity to work on some great projects with very inspiring clients, engineers and architects. There is no better classroom than the construction site.

What my Urban Studies major has done for me:

When I got to graduate school in architecture, it was a big adjustment for me. Over time, though, the broad education offered by Urban Studies proved more useful than training narrowly focused on design.