Thomas Schaer received his Master of Architecture from the University of Washington and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Babson College. As co-founder and principal of SHED, Thomas has been instrumental in establishing an architectural practice that combines design and fabrication. His extensive knowledge of steel fabrication and building construction has been applied across a wide range of historic preservation, residential and fabrication projects. In addition, Thomas remains involved at the University of Washington College of the Built Environment as an outside critic and studio instructor.
Prentis Hale received his Master of Architecture from the University of Washington, has an undergraduate degree in History from Yale University, and has performed traveling research in Stockholm on a Valle Scholarship.
Prior to establishing SHED, Prentis worked as a lead carpenter for a Seattle design/build firm learning to build. From 1998 to present, Prentis has worn the various hats of business principal, designer, builder and fabricator through the conceptualization and realization of a broad range of commercial, residential and fabrication projects. In addition to his professional activities, Prentis teaches design studio on an annual basis at the University of Washington College of the Built Environment, participates in local architectural collaboratives and arts communities, and undertakes numerous independent architectural research projects.
Greg Shiffler received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Washington, and an undergraduate degree in architecture from The Ohio State University. He joined SHED in 2005 and helped the firm transition from Design/Build to a more traditional architecture practice. He was licensed to practice architecture in 2009, and became a partner in 2018.
Before coming to SHED he was involved in multiple University of Washington design/build projects as both participant and teacher, and worked at several architecture firms. Greg is the proud father of twin girls and a labradoodle named Stella.
Karri Peery earned her Bachelor’s in Art History from the University of Washington. During her studies, she focused in part on sustainable architecture, receiving a Certification in Sustainable Design and a Minor in Architecture in conjunction with her degree. Karri’s commitment to sustainability has been proven over the years as she has worked in various industries, including organic commercial baking and recycled glass and ceramic production. Prior to joining SHED, she worked as a 3rd party verifier for various sustainable building programs, such as Built Green and PHIUS. With a wealth of experience in operations management and process improvement, she brings a keen eye to both the everyday operations and forward planning at SHED. When she is not managing schedules and budgets, she can be found hiking in the North Cascades or traveling the world in search of the perfect curry.
Amy Golden is the co-owner of Paxson Fay, a Seattle-based marketing and communications firm specializing in architecture and design. After graduating from Fordham University, Amy spent 5 years working in advertising in New York and Los Angeles before returning to her hometown of Seattle where she received an Master’s in Business Administration and Certificate in Marketing from Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics in 2015. Amy launched Paxson Fay with co-owner, Tessa Andrews, in 2015 and now has over 10 clients across the country.
Kara Greenetz is one of the few Northwest natives among the SHED team. She grew up pulling geoducks—indigenous clams that grow to the size of a man’s arm—from Olympia’s South Sound before heading to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for her undergraduate degree in architecture. She earned a Master’s degree after three years at UCLA, culminating her graduate studies with a research project called Backyard Bi[h]ome, a hyper-modern dwelling that garnered national attention from architectural press. She returned to the Northwest after graduating in the spring of 2015, bringing a research-based approach to design that’s unique among our staff.
Rebecca March was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario. Rebecca pursued a background in interior design before receiving a Master’s in Architecture from Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, she contributed to a social housing program built by women, for women in Masoro, Rwanda, assisted in teaching global architectural history and theory, and studied in London and Berlin. Before relocating to the Pacific Northwest, she researched correlations between sexual education and poverty in order to secure grant funding for a mobile education hub.
Rebecca’s research explores the often overlooked beauty of ordinary objects, specifically as it pertains to the American single family home. Her Master’s thesis, Domestic Glitches in the “City of Good Neighbors” explores the overlap occurring between the existing physical construct of the house and opposing realities that happen on the interior. Her research of abnormal homes, in collaboration with Sean Morgan, was exhibited for the Syracuse Architecture Creative Works grant and published in Pidgin Magazine.
Clayton Herbst received his Bachelors in Environmental Design at the University of Colorado Boulder. He then returned to his hometown of Chicago to work and earn his Masters of Architecture from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There he taught as a studio teaching assistant, won multiple competitions for his own studio work, and spent countless hours building furniture and binding volumes of research. In 2016, Clayton moved to Seattle in hopes of finding the purest intersection of the urban and the wilderness. His focus is on beautiful, site responsive, human architecture.
Kyle Griesmeyer made his way up to Seattle from the southeast where he graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from the University of South Florida in 2014. While at USF he studied in Ljubljana, Slovenia at the Faculty of Architecture and later participated in the Land Arts of the American West program out of Lubbock, TX. Before coming to SHED Kyle worked with Olson Kundig Architects on a variety of projects. He hopes to one day have a dog.
Kris Kuster grew up on a farm in eastern North Dakota, where he learned to cultivate a very healthy imagination. He graduated from North Dakota State University in 2011 with both a BSED and BS in Art with Emphases in Sculpture & Ceramics, before completing his M.Arch in 2012. Since graduating he has been on a steady trajectory westward, working on small to medium scale projects in both Denver, CO and Portland, OR before joining the SHED team. Perpetually curious, he enjoys immersing himself in extracurricular activities, the most recent of which has been sample-based music creation.
Georgine Botha received her Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell with a concentration in building sciences and technology and a minor in art history. She is a third culture kid from the Netherlands and South Africa with roots in Bahrain. While at Cornell, she co-led the publication Association and was actively involved with the fabrication labs in her roles as a digital and material’s assistant. Prior to joining Shed, she interned at offices in New York and Dubai. She is fascinated by social, contextual, and material narratives, as well as the perception of space through image capturing devices.
Julia spent her early life between the midwest and Puget Sound. She studied architecture at the University of Oregon and landscape architecture in Kyoto. Her favorite works breach the divide between interior and exterior space, seeking awareness over insulation. In addition to architectural practice, Julia directs a non-profit organization, Space.City, with the aim of promoting independent discourse about urbanism and design. She loves fresh air and making things with her hands.
Robert Arlt is a new arrival to the Pacific Northwest and is a licensed architect and Certified Passive House Consultant. Originally from Minnesota, he earned a Master of Architecture from North Dakota State University in 2011 after a circuitous route that included years of carpentry work and a semester abroad in Florence, Italy studying art and architecture. Graduate studies in Germany solidified a passion for Bauhaus and early modern design as well as building science. Before coming to SHED, Robert had his own award-winning practice and was a lecturer at South Dakota State University where he served as Principal Investigator of a grant to research, teach, design, build, and monitor Passive Houses. In his free time he enjoys reading, hiking, backpacking, and building things with wood.
Kyle Keirsey comes to Seattle by way of the South—born in El Paso, Texas, he grew up around a family of architects. At the beginning of his formative teenage years, Kyle made his way to Georgia and then to Alabama to begin his own venture into the family trade of architecture. While at Auburn, Kyle had the opportunity to participate in the Rural Studio, where he helped build and design structures for the underserved communities of West Alabama.
After receiving dual degrees in both Architecture and Interior Architecture, Kyle made his way up to Seattle. Prior to joining SHED, Kyle worked at a variety of firms on projects that spanned from corporate headquarters to bespoke residential, restaurants, and retail. Kyle is an active member of the Space.City board, helping expand Seattle’s exposure to the larger global design community. In his spare time, Kyle likes to draw and paint abstract compositions, inspired by the likes of Hieronymus Bosch and Keith Haring, featuring otherworldly landscapes.
Ingrid has not strayed too far from her roots, she was born and raised in Washington and has found a home in Seattle. She was raised in a family that appreciated architecture with a dad and sister having both practiced in the field.
For seven years Ingrid studied architecture at the University of Washington College of Built Environment (B.A,’19) and the Yale School of Architecture (M.Arch, ’23) in New Haven, CT where she obtained her Master’s degree. In school Ingrid found an appreciation for urbanism, architectural history, adaptive reuse, and storytelling through design. Her interests in school included phenomenology, photography, adaptive reuse, and research centered around the urban/built environment psychological impacts including cognitive mapping and effects of urban change as inspired by the work of Kevin Lynch and Mindy Thompson Fullilove.
In her spare time Ingrid enjoys exploring the ever-evolving Seattle landscape, playing racquet sports (tennis + pickleball), learning how to sew, and volunteering with Space.City.