Inhabitat

Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Inhabitat was started by NYC designer and graduate architecture student Jill Fehrenbacher as a forum in which to investigate emerging trends in product, interior and architectural design. Emily Pilloton is the Managing Editor; Sarah Rich and Evelyn Lee and Jorge Chapa are Senior Contributing Editors. Contributing writers include Jill Danyelle, Tylene Leveque, Abigail Doan, Kate Andrews and Ali Kriscenski. The site was designed by Jill Fehrenbacher and is programmed by Joey Brooks and Vestal Design, using Wordpress.

THE INHABITAT TEAM

JILL FEHRENBACHER - Founder, Editor-in-Chief
Jill is the founder of Inhabitat, as well as a freelance designer, green design consultant, and architecture grad student at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning. She created Inhabitat in the Spring of 2005 as a way to catalog her endless search for new ways to improve the world through forward-thinking, high-tech, and environmentally conscious design. Educated at Brown University, where she received a B.A. in Art Semiotics, and Central St. Martins, where she received an M.A. in Design Studies, she currently resides in New York City, which so far has been good for her obsession with rooftop gardens and vegan junk food restaurants.

ALI KRISCENSKI- Managing Editor
Ali was first captivated by sustainable design while snowboarding past green buildings in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. After several years quieting her inner ski bum, she returned to her native Connecticut where she received her BA in Art History from UConn and began a decade-long career as a home improvement contractor working on new construction, remodel efforts and vintage home restoration projects throughout New England. She fused her love of nature and interest in the built environment through graduate studies in Environmental Science at Antioch New England Graduate School and a Master’s Certificate in Sustainable Design from Boston Architectural College. Today, she lives in Germany where she works as a freelance writer.

EMILY PILLOTON - Senior Editor
Emily Pilloton is Inhabitat’s Managing Editor, and Founder of Project H Design, a charitable organization that supports, inspires, and delivers product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness. She is also a freelance design writer, furniture designer, and nomad “based” in San Francisco. Trained in architecture with degrees from UC Berkeley and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has written for GOOD Magazine, Innovative Home, and ID, and has also taught design theory in Chicago. When she isn’t traveling or emailing, Emily enjoys baking cupcakes and playing trivia board games.

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SARAH RICH - Senior Contributing Editor
Sarah is a writer and editor based on the West Coast. She spends most of her creative energy devising ways to strengthen the bridge between sustainable ideas and mainstream culture, and has found design to be the most effective tool for the task. Sarah is also the Managing Editor of Worldchanging and edited the Worldchanging Book. Past and upcoming publication credits include Dwell, I.D., Innovative Home, Look-look, and Readymade, as well as brand identity work for Snohetta and Lovetann. Sarah is a biodiesel driver, farmer’s market devotee and Sunday crossword addict.

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EVELYN LEE - Senior Contributing Editor
Evelyn is the program manager for Public Architecture in San Francisco, CA, where she oversees all aspects of their 1% Program. She donates a lot of her free time to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) where she currently serves as the Associate Representative on the AIA National Board. A graduate of the Southern California Institute of Architect’s (SCIArc) Metropolitan Research and Design program, she is constantly searching for new avenues to expand her architectural knowledge. When she’s away from the computer, Evelyn enjoys running, playing the piano, driving her Prius, and coaching/playing soccer.

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JORGE CHAPA - News & Transportation Editor
After finishing his architecture degree at the University of Monterrey in 2001, he realized that he wanted to focus on sustainable architecture, and knew nothing about it. Foolishly thinking that it would become important in fifteen years time, he packed up his suitcases, left Mexico and headed for Australia, where he studied a Masters in Design Science at the University of Sydney. During his time in Sydney he worked as an ESD consultant and product assessor, looking at everything from the thermal performance of a building, to the environmental impacts of a particular product. Currently working as an architect in Brisbane, he continues in his quest to learn what sustainability is and how to achieve it. He figures that it will take some time, but refuses to make any estimates.

ABIGAIL DOAN- Art & Style Editor
Abigail Doan is a fiber, mixed media, and environmental installation artist based in NYC and Siena, Italy. She has worked and traveled as a documentary film researcher, an art director for digital media and 3D design projects, and as an outreach coordinator for environmental education initiatives. Educated at Princeton University and Purchase College, she has exhibited her artwork in numerous shows internationally and is also a featured artist on Greenmuseum.org, the online environmental art museum. When not writing about art, craft, gardening, and fiber, she is restoring a 14th century farmhouse in rural Tuscany. She and her husband use local reclaimed materials while abiding by strict historic and regional preservation codes. She is also currently designing and crocheting air loft “canopy” gardens and is creating a fiber and vegetation based jewelry collection.

PIPER KUJAC- Contributing Writer
Piper is a LEED accredited designer in San Francisco with architectural experience ranging from project manager at C. David Robinson Architects to design consultant at Origo, Inc., developing the Best House Ever business model. Trained in Architecture at the environmentally-conscious University of Oregon, she admits to an obsession with materials and resources and thrives on finding new means and methods of sustainable design. She is co-chair of the NCC Emerging Green Builders committee of the USGBC and teaches a class in Sustainable Project Development at the UC Berkeley Extension. She enjoys knitting, running marathons, and the occasional design competition, winning first prize in the Green Dollhouse Competition. She also loves trekking through virgin rainforests in Oregon, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil, where she recently fell in love with Ipe trees.

TYLENE LEVESQUE- Contributing Writer
Originally from Texas, Tylene received her BA in Architectural Studies and History of Art from Brown University and her MA in the History of Decorative Arts & Design from Parsons School of Design. In 2006, she relocated from New York City to Shanghai, China to establish ArtToursChina, which provides guided art tours and art consulting services to those looking for insight into an always evolving and sometimes baffling contemporary Chinese art scene. When Tylene is not out on one of her walking tours, weaving in and out of moped traffic and avoiding other occupational hazards, she spends her time learning Mandarin, documenting daily life in China’s largest city, and doing her part to make China a greener place to live, one reusable chopstick at a time.

KATE ANDREWS- Contributing Writer
Kate Andrews is a graphic designer, and design researcher living near London, UK. Educated at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, she holds a First Class Honours in Graphic Design and a Merit Award from The International Society of Typographic Designers. Kate has worked for The Sunday Times Magazine in London, Synectics Innovation Consultancy, has exhibited at Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida and ever continues to write for Roger-Live. As a creative researcher, Kate is passionate about the ways that design and creativity can affect daily life, reflect human needs, and inevitably impact the world.

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ARIANA MOUYIARIS - Contributing Writer
Ariana Mouyiaris is a freelance writer and design researcher based in London. She holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and is studying for an MA in Curating Contemporary Design, with Kingston University and the Design Museum in the UK. Ariana hopes that an increasing awareness of sustainability will create a debate that goes beyond the effect of individual consumer habits to impact global change on a policy, as well as a personal, level. In the meantime, she’s always looking for an excuse to keep her camera snapping and wondering if a bonfire might not be a better bet for conquering her ever-growing recycling heap.

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CATE TROTTER- Contributing Writer
A trendspotter and green marketing strategist, sustainability has been a major part of Cate’s career for the past eight years. Her Design and Eco-Design course at Goldsmiths College, University of London involved designing and building an eco coffin, planning a sustainable meal with George Bush, and imagining what would happen if Greenpeace and Tesco joined forces. Since then, she’s assisted Nokia’s CSR team with their research and strategy, worked on sustainability documents for Unilever and helped a celebrity designer develop an eco-product for Tesco. She can currently be found exploring London town, documenting trends for consultancies around the world and developing a green trend tour of London.

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ANTONIA HALSE - Contributing Writer/Photographer

Antonia is a London based writer, photographer & researcher interested in cross-disciplinary sustainable design practice. With a background in casting for film & tv she can usually be found engaged in lengthy conversations with strangers. Other interests include buying raincoats from car boot sales, and working on collaborative projects such as Urban Typhoon, Initiative & Institution & Shoot Nations. Covering Milan during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile will be Antonia’s first assignment for Inhabitat. Her work has previously been published in several issues of Blueprint Magazine.