MEET SOME OF OUR AWESOME PEOPLE
They're talented, they're smart, they're devoted to their work and each other. And when you learn a little more you can see why they're so special.
Why She Loves Her Job: Alice loves to learn and assimilate everything into bigger ideas. She loves that every day brings new things to learn.
Her Secret Superpower: Alice can think through a complicated design problem and come up with something in no time flat.
You Might Not Know: Alice is a painter (oils and watercolors), a world traveler (visited 16 countries), a serious hiker (miles and miles during the pandemic), and she co-authored 2 published papers on the use of drones in building energy audits and analysis.
ALICE GORODETSKY
Architect
Why He Loves His Job: Tyler really loves pulling different people together to accomplish something, large or small.
His Secret Superpower: Tyler's good nature is so contagious we call it the "Tyler Variant."
You Might Not Know: Tyler has been a professional golfer and he is a championship-level, World Series of Poker, card player. Tyler met his wife in 7th grade, where he told her he would marry her some day. Tyler follows through.
TYLER MCDONALD
Director
NOUREEN CHOHAN
Designer
Why She Loves Her Job: Noureen loves working on the things that matter to people, whether its finishes and furniture or meeting an important deadline.
Her Secret Superpower: Noureen can diffuse a nuclear reactor without breaking a sweat.
You Might Not Know: Also a painter, she admits to have driven a horse and buggy growing up in Pakistan. She also sings beautifully, in Urdu no less. Noureen also - can you believe this? - instigated food fights Animal House style as a young lady.
Why He Loves His Job: Roger really loves mentoring young talent and teaching them how to be exceptional professionals in every way.
His Secret Superpower: Roger is far more tenacious than even the most stubborn building official.
You Might Not Know: A die-hard, super devoted Colts fan (first Baltimore, now Indianapolis), Roger and his wife have been known to drive all the way to Indiana just to watch in person while their team loses in the final agonizing moments of the game. This is dedication.
ROGER WHITE
Architect
GENIA COWART
Designer
Why She Loves Her Job: Genia gets to work through all the details while making beautiful things.
Her Secret Superpower: She can juggle chainsaws (figuratively).
You Might Not Know: A devoted cat lover, she tolerates the dog people. But don't push it, ok?
Why He Loves His Job: Stu was born to be the consummate architect.
His Secret Superpower: Stu doesn't accept no for an answer, from anyone or anything.
You Might Not Know: A native of upstate New York, Stu is a rabid sports enthusiast who manages to find time to play basketball three times a week.
STUART ALDERMAN
Principal
Why She Loves Her Job: Marcela is a thoroughbred designer and she is as passionate about designing beautiful things as she was when she graduated from college.
Her Secret Superpower: If they gave out Nobel Prizes for putting together nuanced and sophisticated finishes and colors for projects, her closet would be full of them.
You Might Not Know: Gladys loves living in the moment. She loves going to raves, jumping in her car and taking an unplanned trip, organizing big parties for friends and cooking elaborate meals. Her father was a US Diplomat who met her mother in Chile, and somehow this party girl who lives on the edge decided to go to architecture school at Texas A&M.
MARCELA DIAZ
Designer
Why He Loves His Job: Patrick really likes people, and he gets to work with all kinds.
His Secret Superpower: He is such a positive young man, he can reject a set of shop drawings and make the contractor happy about it.
You Might Not Know: Patrick's father was an architect so he knew what he was getting into. He grew up in a small town in Illinois and married his high school sweetheart. Most nights they get out axes, crowbars, sledge hammers and have evenings together destroying the house they just bought, working from the inside -out.
PATRICK LONDRIGAN
Director
Why He Loves His Job: Ian loves everything about design and construction.
His Secret Superpower: Ian is from Brooklyn. 'Nough said.
You Might Not Know: Ian is a devoted dog lover and caregiver. To be even more well-rounded architect, Ian is attending night college for construction management at the University of Oklahoma.
IAN DUGUID
Architect
Why She Loves Her Job: Gladys is passionate about making sure all the components of the project are excellent, be it a site plan, a construction detail or an aesthetic judgement.
Her Secret Superpower: Gladys has more energy than mere mortals.
You Might Not Know: Gladys loves living in the moment. She loves going to raves, jumping in her car and taking an unplanned trip, organizing big parties for friends and cooking elaborate meals. Her father was a US Diplomat who met her mother in Chile, and somehow this party girl who lives on the edge decided to go to architecture school at Texas A&M.
GLADYS COURAND
Director of Design
Why She Loves Her Job: Katrina loves what the firm does and understands how important it is to support all the professionals.
Her Secret Superpower: Katrina never loses her cool (and THAT is no small power).
You Might Not Know: Wife of one and mother of two, Katrina and the family spend many weekends and vacations camping (out in the woods, where she can yell and nobody hears).
KATRINA MAYHEW
Firm Administrator
Why He Loves His Job: Tagbo has a passion for understanding how architecture and design is drawn from and shapes the culture from where it came.
His Secret Superpower: His proper etiquette and Nigerian-British accent disguise his razor-sharp wit.
You Might Not Know: We don't know either. He's keeping his head down low since he's the newest Bee.
TAGBO ILOANUSI
Architect
Why She Loves Her Job: Vanessa knows how important it is to the firm that the first contact anyone has with SKB is pleasant, professional, helpful and hopefully the brightest part of that person's day.
Her Secret Superpower: Vanessa can talk a delivery man into taking anything anywhere on earth in less than an hour.
You Might Not Know: Vanessa was born to be in a design firm and making beautiful things on the side. She makes candles and styles hair in her free time.
VANESSA CHAPMAN
Office & Library Management
Why He Loves His Job: There is nothing about being an architect and running a firm that Mark doesn't love. Go figure.
His Secret Superpower: Mark has a keen sense of how the world is changing, and he has been able to reinvent the firm and himself many times over in the past 40 years to keep up.
You Might Not Know: Mark is an accomplished guitarist, composer, songwriter, playwright and even fronts a rock band, performing songs from his albums and rock operas.
MARK BAUGHMAN
President
SKB PEOPLE, VALUES & CULTURE
True to the founders' principles, SKB remains devoted to helping all who work at the firm realize their professional and personal dreams
THRIVING ON DIVERSITY
Since its inception, SKB has been successful at recruiting and developing talented professionals from all walks of life. The rich and diverse collective culture of all the people who have worked at SKB over the years has formed the culture of the firm - it is a professional practice made up of people, led by professionals who are passionate about providing insightful, thoughtful and beautiful solutions to the design problems, and it makes absolutely no difference who brought the ideas.
The firm is organized horizontally, which allows for all team members to participate in every phase of the project and every voice is heard. The design studio works very much like a school studio, where the senior designers mentor the junior staff to help them achieve their professional goals at a pace that suits their abilities and desires. At the same time, the diverse experiences and backgrounds of the staff help enrich the design experience for everyone in the studio.
All staff are encouraged to participate in different leadership and professional societies and SKB sponsors these activities. In response, staff have led the firm’s initiatives for organizations like Leadership Washington, Architects in the Schools, Don Bosco High School Corporate Work Study, DC Building Industry Association parks renovations programs, Children of Mine Center, Jubilee Housing, Sarah’s Circle Seniors Community, and numerous charter schools volunteer programs.
COMMUNITY SERVICE & ITS INFLUENCE ON SKB
This community involvement component of the firm quickly became a major influence as to how the firm looks at its clients, the context of its projects and all the people affected by SKB’s design work.
When Mark Baughman joined the firm in 1987, he set out to engage with the local community to be a better corporate citizen. His first contact was the Sarah’s Circle Seniors Community, which provides housing for very low income seniors in Adams Morgan, and over the next 25 years Mark provided his leadership and expertise as an architect and businessman to help Sarah’s Circle become financially solvent while providing housing and services in a 1917 apartment building in need of major renovations. As Sarah’s Circle became a model for volunteer community services, Mark’s personal and professional involvement with the residents led to his becoming a valued board member for more than 15 years and Chair for 6 of those years.
In the late 1980’s Mark was asked to help start the DC Building Industry Association’s new Community Improvement Day program. After the first few years of renovating shelters and parks, Mark was asked to co-chair the DCBIA Community Services Committee, where he continued to be the point person for all DCBIA community outreach initiatives and requests for over 20 years. This included managing the volunteer renovation of 18 large DC parks. During that time Mark worked extensively with neighborhood associations, parent groups and individuals all through the minority and low income sections of the District of Columbia.
Mark became increasingly attuned to the different ways people might see the City and the workplace. As the Director of Design for the firm, Mark formed a design approach that recognized that while the workplace may be for residents of Chevy Chase and Reston, it is also for residents of Anacostia and Congress Heights. Providing a workplace that provided dignity for everyone who worked at or came to the office became a signature quality of SKB’s work.
This sensitivity to the many lenses through which people see the places the firm designs enabled SKB to design exceptional buildings and interiors around the world. Building on the philosophy of “Critical Regionalism,” SKB was able to transcend the impulse to design American buildings abroad and to look at local building traditions and cultures to make each design unique to its time and place, whether it be in Madagascar, Yemen, Bangladesh or Azerbaijan.
