Mark is a licensed architect with over 38 years of experience in the design and construction of a wide variety of project types including: educational, institutional, civic, commercial, student housing, cleanrooms, with much of his career focusing on multi-family and mixed use residential projects. Mark was the chair of the Professional Practice Forum at the East Bay Chapter of the AIA and has been sitting on the Board of Directors for the last 4 years and is concluding his leading of the chapter as their current President focusing on the practice of architecture and how the AIA can further assist the profession and the public.
Board Chair
Devi has been studying, designing, and thinking about architecture for the last twenty-five years. She attended Tulane University and UCLA’s architecture programs, where she received her two masters degrees in architecture. She’s lived in varied environments, from rural Himalayan villages to the suburban American south, and credits this experience with shaping her understanding of design and how people live. She started her own full-service architecture practice Devi Dutta Architecture in 2009 and enjoys working on a range of project types from larger multi-family and commercial projects down to neighborhood coffee shops. Roost Books is publishing her forthcoming book on home improvement.
Secretary
Ashley Rybarczyk was born Las Vegas, NV and raised in the heartland of Wisconsin. After achieving a Bachelor’s of Science in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, she lived and worked briefly in Dallas, Texas before returning to Wisconsin to obtain her Master of Architecture degree from her alma mater. She currently takes residence in Alameda, CA.
Ms. Rybarczyk has worked on Mixed-Use project early in her career along with tenant improvement for High-end Retail with clients. She currently works for KTGY Architecture + Planning as a Project Manager for the Low-Density For-Sale housing studio, focusing on three and four story multifamily residential projects all over the Bay Area.
Ursula Currie is a licensed architect practicing in the Bay Area since 1990.
Although of Irish descent, Ursula earned her architecture degrees from The Glasgow School of Art, and The University of Dundee, Scotland. Her professional career has focused on designing and managing civic, institutional and educational facilities.
Ursula is an Associate at Noll & Tam Architects where she is an active participant in the Ecology Group. She recently returned from a two-year sabbatical volunteering for UNICEF in Malawi and is very excited to explore the cultural opportunities that abound on this side of the bay. As an AIA board member, she is inspired to expand the architecture and design dialogue within diverse communities.
Brian Stryzek is a licensed architect who has worked in the Bay Area since 2000. He is a senior associate with Kennerly Architecture in San Francisco, where his current focus is on 100% affordable and market-rate multi-family mixed-use projects. He is passionate about sustainability, regional urbanism, collaboration with other local organizations, and inspired design.
His love of modernist architecture was influenced by his Chicago-area childhood, and he received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Kentucky. He and his family put down roots in Oakland in 2010, and they enjoy participating in the diversity of what the city has to offer.
He is the co-chair of the Regional and Urban Design Forum (RUD) at the AIA East Bay, which aims to improve the quality of the urban environment of East Bay cities and surrounding areas by promoting excellence in urban design, land use and transportation planning, public policy, and implementation in the built and natural environment.
Ben is a licensed architect and senior associate with Ratcliff Architects in Emeryville. Born and raised in Croatia, Ben worked in Europe and Israel prior moving to the Bay Area in the early 1990s. He is proud to be a longtime Oakland resident and involved in his community.
During his 25-year architectural career, he has worked on a mix of large-scale and technically complex projects, including: academic facilities, healthcare buildings, transportation, and mixed-use developments.
Ben currently serves as co-Chair of the AIA East Bay Committee on the Environment (COTE), following his belief that, as architects, we have a vital role to play in the current transition to a more equitable and environmentally responsible society. He finds this Hawaiian proverb very inspiring: “We are not whole without our place, and a fate of our place is our own.”
Ali is a project manager and currently is fortunate enough to work for Oakland senior residents to assist with their residential rehabilitation projects. Prior to this, he had been working in three different small architecture firms across the Golden State being responsible for design and construction administration of complex commercial projects, including data centers, labs, and manufacturing spaces. He has a master’s degree in Sustainable Building from Technische Universität München.
Rudabeh Pakravan is the principal of Sidell Pakravan Architects and a member of the design faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Both in her practice and as an educator, Rudabeh’s design work explores the power of architecture to influence context, culture, and the individual experience. She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
She co-founded Sidell Pakravan Architects in 2014 along with Kristen Sidell. Exploring unexpected relationships between scale, form, and volume, the practice creates bold and resonant designs for residential, commercial, civic, and institutional projects. Current projects include a 35,000sf office for Google and a new residence in Napa Valley.
Tim is a licensed architect working in the Bay Area since 2008, with a diverse portfolio including residential, commercial, and educational facilities. He is the founder of his firm, NYS designs, where he specializes in residential architecture construction in the East Bay. Tim holds a bachelor degree in architecture from CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, and a Masters in Sociology from Arizona State University. He is passionate about education and giving back to the local community of Architects through the Young Architects Forum committee, where he has been co-chair since 2016.
I am a licensed architect, practicing in the Bay Area for over twenty years. I have earned a Master’s degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley and before that a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Virginia. My firm specializes in residential architecture with a focus on sustainability, regional sensitivity, and livability. I am passionate about spreading the message of good architecture, previously as the Chair and committee member of our Home tours. My goals on the board are to open channels to our local permitting and planning agencies, and to formulate solutions to the regional housing crisis.
Kim-Van Truong, AIA is currently an Associate Principal at ELS Architecture & Urban Design where she primarily focuses on sports and recreation projects. Kim-Van’s involvement with the AIA East Bay began as a volunteer with the annual Home Tours event. Kim-Van has had the honor to serve on the board since 2017
Daniel holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Berkeley in Architecture with a minor in Structural Engineering. He has over fourteen years of work experience in the engineering, planning, architecture, and design industries. Early in his career he was part of Stanford University’s Campus Planning and Design Office where he spent time working on the Stanford Medical Center Long Range Development Plan, the Stanford in Redwood City Long Range Development Plan, and three other capital building projects. More recently, Daniel has been occupied on a variety of water design projects for the East Bay Municipal Utility District. He is an Engineer-In-Training and is pursuing licensure as both an Architect and a Professional Engineer.
For three decades, Matt Taecker has been a leader in urban placemaking, sustainable development, and transit-oriented development. He co-authored the Transportation Research Board’s “Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, Strategies,” and Congress of New Urbanism’s “Codifying New Urbanism” and “Principles for Inner City Development.” Taecker has developed plans for a variety of settings, and has portfolio throughout the United States and internationally. He directed Berkeley’s Downtown Area Plan, a winner of American Planning Associations’s national award for best professional practices. He holds Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning degrees from UC Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from University of Chicago. Taecker is a member of national AIA’s “New Urban Agenda Task Force” to promote resilient equitable sustainable built environments.
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