Events
Passive House for Multifamily: Achievable Solutions, Effective Results
Ideas
Net Positive: Chatham’s Eden Hall Campus
A look into the integrated design and innovative results at Chatham University Eden Hall Campus, a 2017 AIA COTE Top Ten Project.
Project
Build Carbon Neutral 2.0
VisionIn the years since the buildcarbonneutral.org (BCN) calculator went live in 2007 it has served a vital purpose: in addition to educating people about the impact that construction’s embodied carbon can have on climate change, it is an easy-to-use tool for early assessment of that impact. The ...
Ideas
Wellness at Work
Small changes can have big impacts when it comes to promoting health and well-being in the workplace.
Page
Process
We start every project by understanding the mission, vision and values of our clients, and considering how built form can reflect and amplify these core goals. This is the foundation for ideation, and the ultimate measurement of design success.
Featured
Turning Challenges into Learning Opportunities
Brendan Connolly and new Mithun principal JoAnn Hindmarsh Wilcox explore key opportunities present in disruption: designing for health, equity and agile learning with an eye to the future.
Ideas
The Evolution of Performance Metrics in Practice
An examination of the development and implementation of predevelopment baseline metrics.
Ideas
Kapuso at the Upper Yard: Housing as Equity and Climate Strategy
At one of San Francisco’s busiest transit hubs, 131 all-electric homes create a transit-supportive, low-carbon community that advances equity, sustainability and everyday belonging for residents and neighbors alike.
Ideas
Advancing Student Wellbeing Through Data-Informed Design
Post-occupancy evaluations provide key insights to cultivate student health, belonging and learning outcomes in K-12 school projects.
Featured
Two Additional Eden Hall Campus Buildings Achieve LEED Platinum Status
All four new buildings on Chatham University’s 388-acre satellite campus—including academic, dining, residential and commons facilities—are now LEED Platinum certified.
Project
Pollination Innovation
VisionDue to loss of habitat and wide-scale use of pesticides, pollinators are declining at alarming rates. These bees, butterflies and hummingbirds play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystems on which our world relies. While there is general guidance for which plant species contribute to pollin...
Ideas
Design for Health
Mithun’s Design for Health initiative applies evidence-based strategies and research to the creation of beautiful, inspiring and healthy places.
News
Mithun’s All-Electric Housing Projects Featured in Urban Land
The firm’s experience with all-electric affordable housing projects supports the case for a fossil-free future.
Project
Campus Net Zero
VisionWhat would it take to transform an existing urban campus with buildings five to seven stories tall to become an on-site net zero energy campus? As building heights increase, net zero becomes more and more difficult to achieve. The challenge is greater when starting with existing building perfo...
News
2025 Mithun Promotions
We are pleased to announce staff promotions in our Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles offices.
News
Construction Begins on the Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (CDHY) Campus Expansion
The Skanska | Mithun design-build team joined with the school community to celebrate groundbreaking on a campus expansion tailored to support CDHY’s bilingual educational program while maintaining Deaf culture for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
News
Mass Timber Schools in Construction
K-12 learning environments across the Puget Sound are incorporating mass timber to enhance student health and wellbeing, building performance and project delivery. Here are three compelling examples.
Featured
Mithun Receives 2023 AIA Architecture Firm Award
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently recognized Mithun with the 2023 AIA Architecture Firm Award. This national accolade celebrates exemplary design and practice, and is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm.
Ideas
Remembering Michael Sorkin
Craig Hodgetts shares a tribute to the talent and humanism of the late Michael Sorkin, a “voice of architecture with a purpose”
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About Us
We are united by a belief in the power of design We leverage technology and integrated disciplines to advance design that serves individuals, communities and our planet. Research and development programs enable our teams and collaborators to transcend boundaries, reaching ever higher levels of desig...
News
The Student Housing Boom: Design and Development Outlook
Urban Land magazine explores the impact of changing forces on U.S. student housing markets, and the trends in design and development that are delivering results.
Ideas
How Can We Design with Communities While Apart?
The current pandemic has inspired new ways to cultivate resilient community relationships and engagement, even as conventional practices are challenged.
Featured
How to Transform a Spec Office of Yesterday into the Destination Workplace of Tomorrow
News
Design for Positive Change: 2024 Community Impact
At Mithun, our design has purpose — to create positive change in people’s lives. We’re excited to share some highlights of the community impact of our team’s diverse efforts in 2024, from projects to research and development, corporate giving, volunteering in the community and more.
Ideas
The EcoDistricts Protocol
How we live in cities is the biggest challenge of our lifetime.
Project
Inhabit Modular Apartments
Design and feasibility study for modular apartment prototype
Project
Lopez Common Ground
A workforce housing community designed for economic, environmental and social sustainability
News
Chatham Campus Receives AIA CAE Education Facility Design Award
AIA Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) honors Chatham University Eden Hall Campus with the 2018 Education Facility Design Award of Excellence.
Featured
Mithun R+D
A look at the evolution of research and development at Mithun, from the firm’s early days to current initiatives and what’s next.
News
Washington School for the Deaf Honored with WoodWorks Award
The mass timber design for the K-12 campus expansion at Washington School for the Deaf earns a national 2025 Wood in Architecture Award.
Employee
May So
May is a mission-driven architect with more than 20 years of experience leading urban mixed-use projects that connect people with each other and their environments to create sustainable, socially equitable cities. She is a skilled leader of multidisciplinary teams delivering complex, large-scale and...
Project
Building Better Schools
VisionEmerging mass timber technology is changing the construction industry with multiple advantages such as reducing embodied carbon and compressing construction schedules. There is also a growing body of research proving biophilic indoor environments can improve learning outcomes and enhance stude...
News
Habits of High-Performance Firms
Mithun is featured in a new report from the AIA Committee on the Environment about the best practices of leading design firms.
Project
Westlake Park Children's Play Area
Children’s play area in Westlake Park to support families in downtown Seattle
Ideas
2020 Vision for Mithun R+D
In these rapidly changing times, it is more important than ever to engage in critical research that challenges practice norms, proposes new paths and integrates diverse knowledge sets. Learn about our latest efforts and the five firm-wide focus areas for Mithun R+D.
Employee
Seamus Kelly
Séamus is an architect with a passion for crafting inclusive and high-performing educational environments from early childhood learning through higher education. He specializes in integrated project delivery, including progressive design-build and GC/CM models, and is skilled at managing collaborat...
Ideas
Equity Is Central to Climate Action
Deb Guenther and Jared Green, editor of The Dirt, discuss the synergy between equity and climate action, with lessons learned from decades of research, projects and practice.
Ideas
Climate Approaches: Heat Resilience
Extreme heat, whether in the form of rising long-term average temperatures or punctuated by heat waves, is a global health threat. Learn how Mithun’s designers are addressing climate and health impacts of rising heat through innovative design strategies, R+D and real-world project applications.
News
Perot Corporate Campus Featured in Development Magazine
Seamless integration of architecture and landscape optimizes collaboration and employee health at the Perot Family Offices.
Featured
A Year of Embodied Carbon
Mithun framed 2021 as the Year of Embodied Carbon to reaffirm our commitment to low-carbon buildings and communities, spark accelerated innovation internally and contribute decisively towards global efforts to limit atmospheric warming. This ideas post shares both successes and setbacks with the hop...
News
Chatham University Eden Hall Campus is LEED Platinum Certified
The first phase of development at Chatham University’s Eden Hall Campus has achieved LEED Platinum certification from the USGBC.
Ideas
Mass Timber Schools: Wellness in Wood
Humans have an innate need to connect with the natural world. At the same time, emerging mass timber technology has the capacity to help reduce and achieve net-negative embodied carbon. Finding a way to optimize mass timber technology that affords a cost-competitive biophilic approach to build bette...
Employee
Casey Huang
With a passion for affordable and workforce housing, and mission-based projects Casey brings clients a combination of design talent and technical knowledge that results in inspiring and cost effective design solutions. Her strong contextual approach makes each project responsive to its surroundings ...
Ideas
Design for Health Equity: From Healthy Places to Inclusive Communities
Leading cities and organizations are looking upstream to build back better and address barriers to healthy housing, clean energy and air, reliable transportation and essential services. Erin Christensen Ishizaki shares highlights from recent planning and strategic efforts in Portland, OR, Denver and...
Events
Equitable Electrification: As We Move into Our Fossil-fuel-free Future, How Can We Ensure Everyone Benefits?
