People

Joel M. Karr is an architect, traveler, man of the world, explorer, and generally curious soul. His journeys have included periods of living in Japan and Paris, along with shorter stints doing research in the Negev Desert of Israel and extensive world travel. As an architect, his work can be found on three continents, spanning a period of 27 years.

With an extensive array of project types, his experience is both broad and deep, including everything from small interior renovation projects to industrial design products, to campus master planning for 1,000,000 square foot office parks. Generally, his work does not fit any typical description of a "style". His personal passion is to "think inside the heads" of his clients, whether designing a beautiful light fixture or an office building.

Joel has background designing buildings with some of the world's noteworthy architects including Kohn Pedersen Fox of New York, and Helmut Jahn of Chicago, as well as working in Tokyo for one of the largest Construction/Architecture/Development conglomerates in Japan for five years. He is a Certified Green Building Professional, as well as active in social issues including various Sustainable Building forums and Building and Planning issues in the City of San Francisco.

Educated at Oberlin College and UCLA, he holds a Masters' in Architecture and certification with NCARB for practice in all 50 states. He has continuing interests including historic preservation issues (He was active with Los Angeles Conservancy) and music (he is an accomplished flutist, having made his solo orchestral debut at 13). He lives in San Francisco with his partner, Ken, and their Chocolate Lab/Chow mix "daughter" Kaya.

David Straton migrated north from Los Angeles in summer of 2008 to join Group 41. His westward journey started in 2002 when he began graduate studies at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). While in Los Angeles his architectural experience continued to develop with projects in residential additions and remodels as well as multi family housing. After 3 years, he moved on to help a start up office, Urban Networks and then joined Abramson Teiger Architects. While at ATA he worked on residential, mixed use and commercial projects.

He attended University at Buffalo where he received a B.P.S in Architecture, followed by a graduate semester in Barcelona Spain. After some time in Buffalo, NY and Providence, RI he started a journey to find his place in Architecture. This pivotal journey eventually landed him in Los Angeles, exposing him to a multitude of architectural experiences. David's journey continues, and he now looks forward to his continuing discoveries about architecture and life itself.

Bryan Murdock's education began early with an upbringing in a builder-oriented family and later matured with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. His experience at Cal Poly included a one year study abroad program in Florence, Italy where he not only soaked up art, design and the humanities but also pored over plates of pasta and refined his tomato sauce making skills. Post-graduation, Bryan worked with Studios Architecture, San Francisco on large scale shell and core projects for both corporate and developer clients. He gained further experience with a partnership in a well-established residential firm in Marin County, developing custom homes and remodels for a variety of clients. In 2007, Bryan earned his architecture license, and continues to love designing and building beautiful spaces.

In addition to his career, Bryan enjoys life with his wife Susannah and their adorable daughter, Zoey. He spends his free time surfing, sailing competitively, and making his family his famous homemade spaghetti bolognese.