Passionate People Sustainable Design

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A partner and founder of Van Meter Williams Pollack, Rick Williams is a leader in urban design and transit-oriented development. Rick excels at using his architectural development background--understanding building types and the architectural realm--to inform urban design projects. The scale of his work ranges from residential and mixed-use neighborhoods and urban infill multifamily affordable and workforce housing in inner-ring Bay Area communities to new town plans. His diverse experience also includes designing commercial and institutional projects. Rick has worked extensively with public agencies, cities, and nonprofit organizations, and is adept at negotiating the regulatory framework and writing codes for mixed-use and transit-oriented development. Rick handles project management and construction administration for the firm’s building projects, and has enhanced the firm’s reputation for implementing projects that are successfully completed because they work on all levels of design, financing, and development. Rick earned a Masters degree in architecture and city planning from the University of California-Berkeley, and a Bachelors degree in architecture from California Polytechnic State University. He is licensed as an architect in CA, CO, MN, MS, NV, and TX. Rick has lectured extensively on issues of contemporary urban planning, and his urban design projects have been published in books and leading design and planning journals.
Resume: Rick Williams

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As a partner and founder of Van Meter Williams Pollack, Fred for over two decades has worked at the forefront of mixed-use pedestrian and transit-oriented planning and urban design. His focus as a leader in green and sustainable architecture has been designing urban infill on a scale that ranges from individual buildings to blocks, and includes mixed-use communities, adaptive re-use of buildings, and multifamily affordable housing. Fred has led many of the firm’s larger and award-winning projects through the entire design and development process. Fred also manages the firm’s business practice. A LEED-Accredited Professional, Fred has worked closely with municipal and nonprofit organizations to implement sustainable building practices. He is a technical advisor for Global Green USA, and serves on several technical advisory committees for developing green and sustainable architecture, including the Multi Family Green Building Guidelines Committee for the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the steering committees for the Green Affordable Housing Coalition and the Zero Net Energy Housing Project in California. Fred is a licensed architect in California and Hawaii. A graduate of the University of Colorado School of Environmental Design, he has traveled extensively worldwide, and for two years studied and worked as an architect in Denmark on a variety of highly published projects.
Resume: Fred Pollack

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As a partner at Van Meter Williams Pollack, Karen provides firmwide leadership and direction for projects ranging in scale from the neighborhood to the individual building. Her unique blend of architecture and urban design skills allows her to act as a bridge between the two disciplines, providing implementable design solutions, feasibility studies and prototypical building design for many of the firm’s projects.
Resume: Karen Murray

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Licensed in California. Ben joined VMWP in 2002 and became a Partner of the firm in 2021. He holds master degrees in both Architecture and in City Planning from UC Berkeley. Prior to attending graduate school, Ben was an accomplished classical pianist, earning an undergraduate degree in Music. Ben has been involved with all phases of the design and construction process, and his interest as a designer is focused on not just creating good buildings but creating good spaces around the buildings. Being both bicultural and bilingual (Chilean-American), Ben brings multiple perspectives to each architectural project. As a design professional, Ben’s interests in the social landscape as well as the more technical and idiosyncratic aspects of wood construction have influenced his work.
Resume: Benjamin Chuaqui

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Licenced in CO. As one of the Associate Principals at VMWP, Mr. Kloefkorn brings a mixture of experience in California, Colorado and Australia including furniture, interior design, commercial/retail, mixed-use, residential, multi-family residential, adaptive reuse and construction. He joined VMWP in 1998 and relocated to Colorado in 1999 to assist in establishing the new Denver office. He has been involved in projects ranging from Belmar CO, to Valencia Gardens Hope VI, to Railyard Lofts (reuse), to affordable senior housing projects Cottonwood Court and Warner Creek and the Jewish Home SF and 2175 Market St, SF, Rebuild Potrero (Hope SF), Block X, Rotary Plaza, and 55 Laguna. Mr. Kloefkorn specializes in sustainable urban architecture. As the resource on sustainability at VMWP, he seeks to push the envelope on every project. As an active chapter leader of the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC, he founded and chaired the Residential Green Building advocacy Committee. Mr. Kloefkorn is active, professionally and in the community, to promote better human environments while decreasing the human impact on the natural environment. He is an advocate for affordable housing and for moving our profession from green to sustainable to regenerative design. In his spare time, Michael enjoys snowboarding, hiking, backpacking and flyfishing.
Resume: Michael Kloefkorn

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Elitsa works closely with clients, consultants, engineers and city staff to ensure that projects meet the needs of the owner, the future residents, the city and the neighbors. She oversees projects from initial conception to completed construction. Elitsa is the project architect of Vivalon Healthy Aging Campus & Senior Housing in San Rafael, and Casa Roseland in Santa Rosa. She is also working on a mixed-use project in Redwood City. Elitsa was the project manager of 1101 Connecticut in San Francisco, the first phase of Rebuild Potrero. She has also completed several affordable housing renovation projects and is currently working on the Willows renovation. Elitsa is a Certified Passive House Designer and Certified Access Specialist (CASp).
Resume: Elitsa Shepherd

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Pam has recently completed affordable multi-family housing projects for formerly homeless veterans in Mountain View and in Colma, California. She has worked on senior affordable housing in Marin and is currently working on family affordable housing projects throughout the Bay. Pam has focused on sustainability and building science over the last 25 years. Integrating greywater, advanced framing, passive solar, strawbale building and many other sustainable building practices in her designs. Pam has called San Francisco home for almost 30 years and enjoys spending time with family and the great outdoors. While not at work, she enjoys time with her family, spending as much time outdoors hiking, running, biking, or sitting in the sun.
Resume: Pam Goode

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Licensed in CA. Lilly has always loved design and the functional beauty that comes with architecture. She finds the lasting impact of space on the individual to be fascinating and strives to design a positive and meaningful experience. After interning at VMWP in 2014, she finished her Bachelor’s of Architecture at California Polytechnic SLO and immediately returned to San Francisco and VMWP to resume doing what she loves in her favorite city. Outside of Architecture, Lilly’s other passions include creative storytelling, costume design and fabrication, and baking.
Resume: Lilly Wellington

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Ruchira is passionate about minimalist designs and sustainable community development. Prior to joining VMWP, Ruchira worked closely with developers and city planning departments in New York City and Stamford to design market rate and affordable housing. She also worked as an Urban Designer and Land Planner in Philadelphia, where she worked on transforming suburban malls into new urban centers with mixed-use development. Apart from Urban Design and Architecture, she loves graphic design, creating tangible and visual art via 3D modeling printing.
Resume: Ruchira Gaur

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Elaine is passionate about crafting human centered places and good community design, and has extensive experience both with physical design and engaging communities in the design process. She joined VMWP in 2018 to merge her residential architecture design skills with her interest in housing policy, planning and community design.  Before joining VMWP, Elaine ran a residential architecture and community design practice and co-founded housing and transportation advocacy group. She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia and B.A in Human Biology from Stanford University. She lives with her family in a historic structure that was the first post office of Palo Alto.
Resume: Elaine Uang

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Before coming to the States, Pei-Chi had five-year practical experience as a licensed architect in Taiwan where he worked on a wide range of architectural design projects including transportation facilities, campus buildings, commercial, mixed-use and housing. Then he came to UC Berkeley to study in urban design, pursuing solid design training from different angle and broader context. As an architect and urban designer, he integrates his interdisciplinary expertise into diverse design approaches and comprehensive solutions, bringing in unique idea for individual project.
Resume: Pei-Chi Chen

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Camille’s expertise includes site planning, building design, and consultant and city coordination. She has 5 years experience working on ground up and renovation retail projects, predominantly in the design and entitlement phases. Camille loves architecture and urban design for the opportunities to create vibrant places serving local communities. She is especially passionate about social and environmental sustainability and integrating nature into urban environments. Prior to joining VMWP, Camille worked at an architecture firm in Southern California repositioning under-utilized retail centers. Outside of the office, Camille fosters her interest in ecology through gardening, aquascaping, and fish keeping.
Resume: Camille Lo

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Stephen began his professional experience in the Bay Area with and has over 5 years practicing as a registered architect. During his time in the Bay Area, he developed an expertise in multi-family housing, primarily with high-rise and large scale projects sized over 200,000 sqft. Lessons learned from developing a variety of projects fed his passion for user-oriented design at the community scale, supporting some of the grassroots stakeholders in San Francisco. This work consists of pro bono services for United Playaz and West Bay Filipino Center in SoMa and advising on a STEAM program for Rosa Parks Elementary School. As an instructor at the Academy of Art University, he aspires to build in his students an awareness of community needs, emotional connections to underserved users of design and to develop their own architectural styles rooted in positivity, thoughtfulness and sensitivity.
Resume: Stephen Ellis

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Giselle moved to the Bay Area for college but remained after graduation when she discovered the unique mix of people and cultures, and subsequently the housing challenges that such a dense area presented. Her experience working on luxury, affordable and supportive housing has led to a well-rounded knowledge of alternative approaches to common design conditions. She works tirelessly to streamline processes and apply creative problem solving skills so as to manage projects effectively. Giselle is adept at data modeling with a clear understanding of multi-family design and code integration. She also utilizes her work experience to serve as a mentor and source of careful considerations on topics such as documentation and standard of care. Apart from architecture, Giselle enjoys time with her family and friends, pilates, crafting, reading and doing smaller projects at home.  
Resume: Giselle Alcazar

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With a lifelong passion for the built environment, and over 16 years of professional experience, Corina is a seasoned Architect, able to perform at all stages of the project. She is both a mentor and a dedicated team player. Her more recent work focuses on project management, quality assurance, and accessibility. Corina spent the better part of a decade, from 2011 to 2018, with VMWP. During that time she developed her technical and design skills by working on multifamily projects at various stages of design and construction.  In May of 2018, Corina joined an owner developer representation firm, where she led commercial property condition assessments, construction document reviews, and construction progress oversight for market rate and affordable multifamily projects. During this time she gained a managerial acumen that eventually helped her transition to her own practice, just in time for a pandemic trial.  For several year, Corina has been practicing in the states of CA and OH, focusing on small residential and commercial work, and assisting new developers with early feasibility studies. Early 2024, she moved back to San Francisco and rejoined VMWP with regained focus on the affordable housing market. Corina is a mother of two, an advocate for affordable housing and child care, she enjoys obscure readings, comedy, and the performing arts.
Resume: Corina Dumitrescu

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John’s professional experience in urban design and architecture spans 16 years and ranges from designing multifamily residential buildings in the Bay Area to planning senior community campuses in Oregon. John has the unique ability to design and illustrate concepts in a variety of ways from hand sketching and rendering to digital techniques and SketchUp. He has completed ARE testing and all IDP credits towards architectural licensure. He has lived in Chicago, Portland, and the Bay Area, three of his favorite American urban places. Today he resides in Roseville and enjoys time with his wife and two young boys, running, visiting breweries, and golfing.
Resume: John Doyle

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Sophia is a native of the Bay area and developed an interest in architecture while traveling with her family at a young age. She decided to pursue architecture after volunteering for a summer at a skills training center for the blind and visually impaired. Sophia believes in design that is both beautiful and universal. Prior to receiving her Bachelor of Architecture degree from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo and joining VMWP, she worked on single residential and commercial projects around the Bay Area. During her free time, she enjoys traveling, riding her motorcycle around the city, rock climbing, and backpacking.
Resume: Sophia Zhang

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Gretchen began her career in the built environment bicycling through the forests and wetlands of New York City as a planner for the NYC Parks Department. By supporting the creation of greenways and bike paths throughout the many neighborhoods and ecologies of the five boroughs of New York City, she developed a strong sense of critical advocacy. This work also opened up her awareness of ecology in relationship to architecture, which led her to study architecture in California. In the Bay Area, since completing her master’s, she has worked on adaptive re-use and rehab projects that support vibrant neighborhoods and facilitate improved connections for people with their physical environment. Crafting the simplicity and beauty of these connections is where Gretchen finds inspiration in her architectural design.
Resume: Gretchen Till

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David has pursued his passion for environmental design and planning since the late 90’s across a range of countries, climates, and development contexts, from big cities to small mountain towns and rural areas in the US, South America, China, and the Caribbean. When not at work, David is likely to be found playing with his family, working on their house, gardening, or some combination.
Resume: David Gregory

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Yan was born and raised in Zhuhai, a coastal city with a diverse culture in China. She is passionate about architectural designs that focus on sustainability and create an interactive experience. During her undergraduate study in California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, she had the opportunity to participate in a three-month study abroad program in Tokyo, Japan, where she experienced and studied traditional and contemporary aspects of dwelling and urbanism. Outside of work, Yan loves traveling and exploring different local cultures and unique architectural expressions.
Resume: Yaner Chen

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As an architect and urban designer, Preeti is deeply passionate about the evolution of cities and the synergy between people and place. Having spent her life shuttling from one major Indian city to another, she is interested in understanding and curating the sociological impact of urban environments. She is especially interested in community-oriented development and urban infill. Prior to joining VMWP, Preeti worked for almost three years in India on residential, institutional, healthcare and master planning projects. Through sensitive and strategic design, she hopes to create meaningful places that bolster communities and boost local economies.
Resume: Preeti Srinivasan

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Vrushali is an Architectural and Urban Designer, who brings her eclectic background and design sensibilities to VMWP. Combining that with a varied design software expertise and code knowledge, she manages projects and teams working on master planning, feasibility studies, and area plan updates. She also mentors teams to create seamless transitions of early conceptual designs to entitlements and design development work in the firm using Revit/BIM tools. Being a multidisciplinary professional, and a strong advocate for equitable solutions, she believes that some of the best places are made from many minds, many voices and many hands. Apart from Architecture and Urban Design work, Vrushali is a digital painting enthusiast, a diagrammist, an Urban Sketcher, and loves dabbling into visual storytelling.
Resume: Vrushali Sathaye

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Jamilla was born and raised in San Francisco. Her passion for architecture and urban planning stems from growing up in the Bayview which shaped her view of the social injustices of the built environment. Her passion is designing affordable housing and socially just spaces for everyone. When she is not studying for her ARE exams, she volunteers for renter’s rights activists non-profit organizations, loves to bake while watching her local favorite teams (Warriors, SF Giants, and 49ERS) and enjoys biking and taking long walks all over the city.
Resume: Jamilla Afandi

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Ruofei grew up in Harbin, a city in the Northeast China, which is famous for its yearly Ice and Snow Festival and European style streets and architectures. At a young age, he was interested in drawing and painting. He set his mind to becoming an architect since high school. He received the Bachelor of Architecture degree in Tsinghua University, Beijing. Then he came to the US for further study and got his Master of Architecture degree in Cornell University. Before joining VMWP, he worked at BCV Architects on retail and winery projects. Then he designed and built his own modern house in Palo Alto. Now he lives there with his wife and two cats. In his spare time, he likes to travel, visit museums and watch movies.
Resume: Ruofei Gao

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Talayeh started her professional experience as an intern in 2006 and since then she has worked internationally in variety of projects types, building systems and occupancies. During this time she has accumulated a hands on knowledge of design & delivery of single & multi-family residential buildings, cultural institutions, high-rise offi ces & public spaces. Her built projects include several high-end family houses (2012-2016), a 10,000 s.m infill urban park (2020), and a series of above ground subway facilities (under construction) which were developed in close collaboration with urban designers. She is particularly interested in design as an instrument for encouraging social equity, to this goal all aspects of design, from finance to sustainability are regarded as decisive forces.
Resume: Talayeh Hamidya

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Natacha grew up in Kigali, Rwanda known as a country of thousand hills. She lived in Sacramento for seven years, where she did her community college and worked as a proctor, help desk, and Intervention Specialist. Natacha also worked as a French and Math tutor before transferring to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where she graduated. She was fortunate to participate in a six-month internship at Van Meter Williams Pollack during her time at Cal Poly. Natacha enjoyed learning and contributing to some of the projects in the firm, and she has joined the firm after earning her Bachelor of Architecture. Her interest lies in designs that prioritize humans’ needs. Natacha likes dancing to different dance styles mainly Afrobeat and her traditional dance since they both involve drums. She also loves hiking, drawing, and spending time in nature.
Resume: Natacha Ikuzwe

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Eric believes that affordable housing has the ability to transform lives of people from all different backgrounds, providing opportunity for many underserved communities. Eric is dedicated to creating more affordable housing closer to people’s daily destinations, reducing vehicle emissions, and promoting density.
Resume: Eric Sandoval

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Jason was born and raised in the Bay Area. His passion for providing and designing affordable housing comes from his personal experience and struggle to find housing amidst the housing crisis. Because of rising rents, insufficient opportunities, he understands the disruption that constant moving can have on a person, the roots that are never able to be established in the community. His desire to be creative and to work toward collective solutions enhances his passion in designing the built environment. He sees the value in listening and understanding various views and stories people experience throughout their life, which molds our shared communities. In his free time, Jason enjoys training in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu while also developing his skills on the saxophone. Listening to music and spending quality time with loved ones is also a plus.
Resume: Jason Gonzalez

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Seán is an Irish architect, with a combined passion for architecture and travel. Having completed his studies in Dublin, he has lived and worked in London, Melbourne and now settled in San Francisco with his wife and two kids. These combined passions have broadened Seán’s world view and frame of reference from both a personal and professional perspective. With this varied and well–rounded experience Seán brings a commitment to high-quality design and the environment with a keen focus on community development and affordable housing. He has strong design skills and the ability to lead production teams from early design phases through construction documents and on-site supervision. Outside of the office Seán enjoys spending time with his family enjoying the outdoors and in quieter moments, reading, drawing, and exercising when possible
Resume: Seán Nolan

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Matthew brings over 15 years of experience in accounting for small to medium businesses to VMWP. His previous position was the Controller for a VoIP (voice over internet) start-up. Before that, Matthew was a Staff Accountant for one of the Big Five CPA Firms in California where he worked with small to medium businesses.

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Hayley believes in the power of architecture; that responsible design of a built environment can offer social, economic, and ecological balance to communities. In joining VMWP, she melds her passions for marketing and sustainable design. Hayley has had the pleasure to work in the multi-family residential architectural field in the Bay Area for over a decade, primarily supporting firms with marketing and business management. Before that, she worked with artists, photographers, and children’s art schools. Out of the office, Hayley can be found with her family, volunteering for Oakland Unified schools, environmental causes, and the local food bank.

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