DAN BRUNN, FAIA
founding principal

Dan Brunn’s design work, spanning a broad range of typologies and scales, innovates and explores the unexpected, revealing the power of architecture to transform lives and introduce positive change to our urban fabric. Over the course of his career, Dan has developed a repertoire of engaging spaces grounded in a visceral sense of optimism and an intimate understanding of material, light, volume, and site.

DESIGN ETHOS: EMPATHETIC DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Starting with client needs, Dan employs a spare but daring formal and spatial aesthetic, focusing on psychological comfort and personal wellbeing. He believes in the role of design to improve mental health, embracing the natural world and employing spaces of retreat and sanctuary along with those of wonder and curiosity. Philosophically his approach takes an optimistic outlook on the ability of design to improve individuals’ situations and contexts and more broadly uplift society.

Bold forms and eco-friendly techniques and materials are integral in setting apart Dan’s design language. Restrained in formal logic and foregoing frivolous expression, his rigorous approach combines familiar and unconventional inspirations to shape design that is both energizing and calming. Drawing on his intuitive understanding of spatial psychology and spirituality, his architecture embraces what he terms “Empathetic

Design,” activating the senses and embracing the need for comfort, safety, inspiration, and reflection. Looking

beyond the individual project, Dan incorporates climate-friendly, responsibly sourced solutions and creates public and private spaces that invigorate the urban realm.

CONTEXT-INSPIRED TECTONICS, CRAFT, AND TECHNOLOGY

Drawing upon his formative years in Tel Aviv, and inspired by its Bauhaus-influenced architectural heritage, his future-looking designs incorporate local building practices and cutting-edge building technologies, resulting in an imaginative yet restrained form of minimalism. As his practice has matured, he has honed his passion for craft, spatial composition, and materiality, resulting in increasingly innovative, impactful work.

Dan’s architectural strategies carefully manipulate volume, space, surface, and light, skillfully balancing opposing concepts: repose and surprise, texture and purity, compression and expansion, and light and dark. His designs pay careful attention to local ecology and climate, drawing their surroundings inside, weaving them into the narrative of his spaces. By holistically curating his selection of materials, exploring their interrelationships, and distilling details to their absolute essence, his workis grounded in both today’s context and centuries of architectural tradition.

DESIGN RECOGNITION AND GLOBAL IMPACT

Having founded his own firm more than 17 years ago, and now in his third decade of professional practice, Dan has garnered dozens of awards both locally and internationally, been featured by over 100 publications, and delivered dozens of lectures and keynote talks.

In 2015, Architectural Digest named Dan to its prestigious “10 Firms to Watch, Rising Stars” list. In 2018 Interior Design Magazine selected him to their “40@Forty,” and in 2020, he was selected for its “Best of Year Architect Honoree Award.” His work has also been celebrated in a range of lifestyle and business features in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Adding to his profound reach, Dan has been sought to discuss his architecture and sustainable design efforts on national television programs like NBC’s Open House, and radio programs like Design and Architecture.

Through his unique blend of minimalism, sustainability, and site-sensitivity, Dan Brunn continues to push the boundaries of modern architecture, creating spaces that enrich the human experience and harmonize with the natural world.