SAW // SPIEGEL AIHARA WORKSHOP

Profile

SAW is a transdisciplinary design firm, operating at the nexus of architecture, landscape, and urban design.

This mix allows us to work across scales (from the tactile object to the city) and timelines (from the immediate to the ecological) at the onset of a project. We work to identify the blind spots between disciplines and take advantage of the hidden opportunities therein. We believe in the transformative power of good design, in the inextricable relationship between building and context, and in the vital role the built environment plays in the development of community. We view design as a collaborative, research based process, and work closely with clients to better understand their needs and advance their goals.

Biography

Dan Spiegel, AIA - Founding Partner, Principal
Dan received a Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and B.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University. Prior to founding SAW, Dan worked for a number of leading architecture offices in New York, Beijing, and Boston. He currently teaches architecture at UC Berkeley and has been an invited design critic at several schools of architecture, including Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design, and California College of the Arts. Dan is a licensed architect in the state of California.

Megumi Aihara, ASLA, PLA - Founding Partner, Principal
Megumi has nearly ten years of professional experience creating landscapes, big and small. As a Senior Project Manager at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Megumi had a lead role in the design and construction of complex institutional projects, including the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, TX and the Boston Children's Museum. As a Landscape Architect with Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture, Megumi managed the design and construction of a variety of projects including residential landscapes both intimate and sprawling, commercial work for hotels and wineries, and institutional work, such as the Windhover Contemplative Center at Stanford University – a harmonious union of landscape and architecture providing a spiritual refuge for the university community.

Megumi received a Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a B.A. in Visual Arts from Brown University. While at Harvard, Megumi and her team's design for the Pte Oyate Academy – a boarding school for children of the Oceti Sakowin tribe in South Dakota – won a national design award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Megumi is a licensed Landscape Architect in the states of California and Hawaii.