Date Posted: 02.14.2025
Mithun partners Anne Torney and Brendan Connolly have been elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows. AIA Fellowship honors architects who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession and made a significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level. Among the AIA’s members, less than three percent hold the prestigious FAIA designation.
Members of the Mithun Board of Directors and core executive team, Anne and Brendan have played key roles in fostering the firm’s uniquely collaborative interdisciplinary model of practice that was honored with the 2023 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Leading teams and co-designing with communities, they bring strategic insight, creative energy and a generosity of spirit to every effort. We’re thrilled to recognize their decades of achievement and honor their contributions to the practice of architecture and society at large.
ANNE TORNEY FAIA, LEED AP
Anne is an architect who has made affordable multi-family housing and transit-oriented urban infill the focus of her work for more than 30 years. She has advanced the design of high-performance, affordable housing—demonstrating its potential as multi-benefit urban infrastructure to advance equity and combat climate change. Her exemplary portfolio of work includes Casa Adelante at 2060 Folsom, recognized with a national AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award, several 2030 Challenge Compliant projects like Kapuso at the Upper Yard, as well as Liberty Bank Building, a ULI Americas Awards of Excellence Finalist.
Anne brings a deep commitment to community voices and ecological performance to all her projects, which range from supportive studios for formerly homeless seniors to the revitalization of isolated public housing sites into walkable, mixed-use and mixed-income communities. Her sensitivity to client and user objectives animates her leadership of complex projects with multiple stakeholders. Through her volunteer work for organizations such as the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, Anne is an active advocate for mixed-income, transit-oriented development. She lectures nationally on climate responsive and equitable housing design, and manages Mithun’s San Francisco office.
BRENDAN CONNOLLY FAIA, LEED AP BD+C
Brendan has focused his 30-year career as a design leader crafting immersive and sustainable buildings and campus environments. Working on projects across the nation, his design leadership helps unify institutions and amplify learning outcomes and environmental stewardship through place-based, high-performance building solutions. His portfolio of work encompasses K-12 schools, higher education campuses, environmental education, and cultural and tribal facilities.
A champion of integrated, multi-disciplinary design thinking, he has led more than 15 traditional and progressive design-build projects over the last decade. Working in close collaboration with technical teams, he has pushed conventional sustainability boundaries to achieve “first of” performance outcomes from Passive House to Zero Energy and the Living Building Challenge. Notable projects include the AIA COTE Top Ten Award-winning Sustainability Treehouse at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Mt. Hope, West Virginia, the Net Zero Energy certified The Bush School New Upper School and the new Princeton University Meadows Graduate Student Housing, one of the largest Passive House certified projects in the nation.
Brendan has devoted decades of service to community and educational organizations including multiple roles with the University of Washington College of Built Environments as well as serving as AIA Seattle chapter president.
The 2025 Fellows will be honored at an investiture ceremony at the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design (AIA25) in Boston in June.
