SPEAKER PROFILES:
Elizabeth Danze
Interim Dean, UT-Austin School of Architecture
Principal, Danze Blood Architects
Elizabeth Danze began her tenure as interim dean for the School of Architecture on July 1, 2016. She previously served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, and most recently as Associate Dean for Graduate Programs. She is a professor at the school, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Danze is a principal with Danze Blood Architects, and her work integrates practice and theory across disciplines by examining the convergence of sociology and psychology with the tangibles of space and construction. She is co-editor of Architecture and Feminism and co-editor and author of CENTER 9: Regarding the Proper and Psychoanalysis and Architecture-The Annual of Psychoanalysis, Volume 33, and CENTER 17: Space and Psyche. She is also the architect advisor to the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Committee on Psychoanalysis and the Academy.
Kimberly Miller Goldberg + Tara Miller Heavner
Owners, Barre3 Austin Studios
Kimberly Miller Goldberg and Tara Miller Heavner are two sisters who own the beloved exercise studio Barre3 in Austin. With a genuine love for family, fitness and adventure, both have been devoting endless hours to their practice over the years, and are constantly challenged, motivated and driven to succeed. Goldberg formerly owned an outdoor boot camp while Heavner worked in finance at a boutique broker/dealer. Owning Barre3 becomes a channel for them to find balance in all aspects of life, to satisfy all of their ambitions, while contributing something meaningful to inspire people and making a difference.
Adam Metcalf
Pharm.D.
Owner, Alive + Well Wellness Center & Hill Country Apothecary
Adam Metcalf grew up as a second-generation pharmacist in his father’s independent pharmacy. While there he learned the crucial role that an independent pharmacist can play in community health care. His education and appreciation for pharmacy continued, when as an undergraduate, he traveled to a medical mission in Guatemala. Here, his previous studies coalesced with pharmacy—united by the goal of simply helping others. This patient-focused work inspired Metcalf to dedicate himself to serving his own community by opening Hill Country Apothecary, a compounding pharmacy in Lakeway, followed by a Wellness Center Alive + Well in Bee Cave (scheduled to be open in 2017-2018).
Matt Fajkus
Principal Architect, Matt Fajkus Architecture
Tenured Associate Professor, UT-Austin School of Architecture
Matt Fajkus holds a Mater in Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he completed his thesis work with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo. He founded his own practice Matt Fajkus Architecture in 2010, and is now also a Tenured Associate Professor at the University of Texas Austin School of Architecture. Since the inception of the firm, Fajkus and his team have been working towards expanding the relevance of the architecture discipline among the general public and within popular culture to affect more positive change through design.
Sarah Johnson
Sr. Design Architect, Matt Fajkus Architecture
Sarah Johnson received degrees in both Architecture and Civil Engineering. She believes that architecture is most powerful when it directly and simply responds to the needs of the client and the site. Her role in both design and execution on the well-published “Main Stay House” and the upcoming “Porous by Nature” project are examples of a holistic and sustainable approach in residential design.
Ian Ellis
Design Associate, Matt Fajkus Architecture
Ian Ellis is equally fascinated by the psychological implications of architecture as well as the importance of environment, systems, experience, and psychologically involved design. Eliis was the project manager and a key design member for the award-winning Hill Country Apothecary, and he continues to work with its owner Adam Metcalf on his second development, Alive + Well, an innovative health and wellness retreat serving the Texas Hill Country community. Additionally, Ellis volunteers and serves as an Advisory Board member for Magic Always Happens, a multi-disciplinary non-profit organization focused on research, testing, and implementation of innovative design regarding mental health at an international scale.