Albert Sawano has applied experience from over three decades working on major building projects to converge upon a design approach that sets aside traditional polarities such as functional vs. aesthetic, or architectural vs. structural, in favor of design that is holistically-approached, integrative, and synchronistic.  In 2022, he also founded the factory production startup Inhabio, to offer a more affordable alternative to traditional construction methods.

Prior to founding Synchronis, Albert’s work experience includes serving as a Principal and Co-Leader of Architecture + Design at Harley Ellis Devereaux, Senior Associate, Project Manager and Studio Leader at Gensler and Senior Associate and Project Manager at Johnson Fain.  He has held a Principal Architect or senior leadership role on such milestone Los Angeles projects as USC Village, Circa Towers, The Vermont Towers, Metropolis Phase 2 Towers, Constellation Place/MGM Tower, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, and in the San Francisco Bay Area, the West Berkeley Library, the nation’s first Zero Net Energy public library.  Of these, 13 have been high-rise residential mixed-use or office towers of up to 56 stories.

Albert is the signatory Architect of Record on over $2 Billion in projects recently constructed or currently in construction.

Education

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture

University of California, Berkeley, Bachelor of Arts, Architecture

Awards

West Berkeley Library, AIA Committee on the Environment National Top Ten

The Vermont, Los Angeles Business Council

USC Annenberg School, ENR Calfornia Best Project Queensway Bay Parking Structure, AIA|LA Citation

Teaching

Occasional Guest Critic, USC Master of Building Science Program, School of Architecture

Spring 2015 Guest Instructor

Published Work

Books: Tasty Soup; Design Energy Simulation for Architects; Johnson Fain Partners: Selected Works; Tectonics of Place, The Architecture of Johnson Fain; Johnson Fain, A Modern Classicism; Figure/Ground: A Design Conversation with Scott Johnson and Bill Fain; Articles: Los Angeles Daily News, “Think Big About Transportation;” Pratt Journal of Architecture, “The Energy of Abstraction.”

Speaking

2020 “Big Design, Little Ego,” USC Master of Building Science Program lecture

2016 AIA|LA Congress for Dignity, “The Vertical City Concept Applied to Housing the Homeless.”

Speaker and Advisory Committee Member, NotLY at USC

Greg Blackburn has focused his career upon architecture in the campus setting, working with colleges and universities throughout California, North America and in England. He leads Synchronis in Northern California. Greg has led the planning and design of more than 60 architectural projects on 35 academic campuses, including 7 campuses of the University of California. His projects have included 30 life science/bio-medical buildings and 18 engineering/advanced technology buildings. Artfully fusing a building’s technical demands with the generous accommodation of human interaction, Greg has created new models for flexible teaching and research space. Greg’s innovative buildings, mostly for publicly funded institutions, not only spark innovation and progress inside academia, but are also widely recognized as benchmark projects, both for architects and facilities owners.

Prior to joining Synchronis, Greg’s experience includes serving as Higher Education Studio Leader at Harley Ellis Devereaux and Principal at Anshen & Allen. His project experience includes project leadership for the Samueli College of Health Sciences + Gross Nursing Hall at University of California, Irvine, the Viterbi School of Engineering Computer Science Building at the University of Southern California, the Career Technology Building at San Jose City College, the 3000 bed Student Housing West at University of California, Santa Cruz, The Phase I Chemistry Building Addition + Research Laboratory Renewal at University of California, Davis, and the Latitude Dining Commons & Market at University of California, Davis

Education

University of California, Berkeley, Bachelor of Arts, Architecture

Ed Dean is a combination of building scientist, design coach and experienced project architect, who has specialized in low-energy building design throughout his professional career. In recognition of his leading work in this area, the American Institute of Architects elevated him to the AIA College of Fellows in 2012. As part of his first-hand experience, he led the design team for the first zero-net-energy library in the U.S. in Berkeley, California. His further research into verified zero-net-energy buildings for the utility-commissioned books, “Zero Net Energy Case Study Buildings, Vol. 1-3” and “Zero Net Energy Case Study Homes, Vol. 1-2”, has contributed to his broad expertise in this field of zero-net-energy and zero-carbon building design and construction. He has designed zero-carbon grid-connected and off-the-grid houses in addition to zero-net-energy non-residential buildings.
Prior to joining Synchronis, Ed’s experience includes serving as director of Harley Ellis Devereaux’s San Francisco Bay Area (Berkeley) office and project leadership roles at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, NBBJ Design Group, and Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis. He is also carrying on work as Sustainable Building Consultant for his own firm, Berkeley-based Bernheim + Dean.

Education

University of California, Berkeley, Master of Architecture
University of Calfornia, Berkeley, PhD, Engineering Science-Nuclear
University of Notre Dame, Bachelor of Science, Engineering Science (Applied Physics)

Ying Neu brings over eight years of architectural experience in healthcare, corporate, and educational projects. Her projects are of all scales including master planning, new facilities, and renovation projects. She is very passionate about working with her clients to provide design solutions that exceed expectations.

Prior to joining Synchronis, Ying served as Project Architect at Perkins & Will and Designer at Harley Ellis Devereaux. Her project experience includes the 394 apartment unit Amli Old Pasadena mixed-use project, the 85,000 square foot renovation and addition of Children’s Hospital of Savannah, the 93,000 square foot Menorah Medical Bed Tower Expansion Project, the interior renovation of Mission Hospital in Asheville North Carolina, and space programming for a new Design & Leadership Center at Flintridge Preparatory School.

Education

Bachelor of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University