Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

About AFSB

Acheson House

Who We Are

Mission statement

The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara offers and supports a diverse array of programs serving both North and South Santa Barbara County. These programs provide educational opportunities for the public and involve participation and support from local architects and building professionals. AFSB seeks to promote quality in architecture, art, and design and to foster an understanding of excellence in the urban environment.

Vision Statement

To fill a gap in Santa Barbara County’s education system for art, architecture, and design and in doing so encourage awareness and appreciation of the built environment in our community.

In Memory of Lori Kari, AIA

Our friend and colleague Lori Kari, AIA passed away on July 16. Lori was Past President and current Board Member of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara and a member of AIASB. Lori was one of the early visionaries to create the AFSB Scholarship Program and the Scholarship Awards Ceremony Reception honoring student recipients. Lori was also a strong supporter of the Kids Draw Architecture Program. She also volunteered in many community groups including serving on the Board of Santa Barbara Beautiful and the Santa Barbara Bowl. Her contributions to the community were immeasurable and she will be sorely missed.

AFSB Board of Directors

Brian Hofer

Brian Hofer, AIA

President

Born and raised in Southern California, Brian developed a strong interest in California architecture, including historical, cultural, and design aspects. He has a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA, and has been a practicing Santa Barbara architect for over 25 years. His small firm is active on residential, commercial, and institutional/healthcare projects. He’s a past President of the Foundation, and is the chairman and coordinator for the Foundation’s Architectural Walking Tours program.

Jeremy White

Jeremy White, Ph.D.,AIA

Vice President & Professor

Jeremy has been in Santa Barbara county since 1998. He is an architect and a game designer, and a lecturer in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the co-editor of City Halls and Civic Materialism: Towards a Global History of Urban Public Space (Routledge 2014), and The Routledge Companion to Critical Approaches to Contemporary Architecture (2019).

Greg Rech, AIA, LEED A.P.

Treasurer

Greg is the current Treasurer and a past president of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara. He began volunteering with AFSB in 2000 during the original planning, research and writing of the weekly Domingo Walking Tour and later became a docent for that tour for many years. Lately he has been volunteering with the AFSB Scholarship committee, a program that has awarded over $1.3 million to local high school graduates studying architecture or other related fields of design. The committee also recognizes the scholarship recipients each year with a reception in their honor. Greg is a licensed architect in Santa Barbara and a partner in the local firm of Architects West. He has been married to his lovely wife Ruth for nearly 30 years, has a son Christopher, daughter-in-law Marianne and a two beautiful granddaughters.

Ann Dwelley

Secretary

Ann returned to Santa Barbara in 2000 from the Boston area. A participant in the Radcliffe Institute program in Landscape History, she worked on varied projects, from researching the introduction of ornamental plants from Japan into commerce by the University of Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, to the appropriate varieties of apple trees to plant for the Alcott properties in Concord Massachusetts. She has run non-profit agencies in London, England, Wichita, Kansas, and the Boston area. In retirement, she is enjoying teaching and singing classical music and leading tours for the AFSB. She was drawn to the AFSB by the project to plan the domingo walking tour, and then taking grandchildren to the Kids Draw program.

Bay Hallowell

Artist

Bay Hallowell became enchanted by AFSB when she attended the Opening Reception for an exhibition of prints by Tony Askew in 2008. A few years later, she exhibited her own monoprints at AFSB. Soon, she was invited to join AFSB Gallery Committee, then the AFSB Board. She became co-chair of the Gallery Committee in 2016. Bay majored in Painting, Drawing, and Art Criticism at Bennington College (VT) and then became an education coordinator/curator at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA. This involved creating, teaching, and coordinating gallery, studio, and outreach programs, authoring publications for museum visitors and teachers, and a special guest appearance on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. After eighteen years at the Carnegie and after earning an M.A. in Education at the U. of Pittsburgh, she spent fourteen years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where she developed teacher resources, became an art museum consultant and taught a required graduate seminar for art educators at the Tyler School of Art (Temple University). After arriving in Santa Barbara, she studied printmaking with Siu and Don Zimmerman, Linda Taylor, and Michael McCabe and began exhibiting her work. Bay is a member of the Santa Barbara Printmakers, Inkspots of Ventura, LA Printmaking Society, and Abstract Art Collective.

Tom Jacobs, AIA

Architect

Born in Eugene Oregon in 1951; attended Phillips Exeter Academy ‘69; Pomona College ’73 with a BA in History and Modern Languages. Attended Washington University Architecture Program in St. Louis for two years; transferred to the University of Oregon in ’76. Graduated from the University of Oregon ’78 with a MARCH. Moved to SB in 1978 and lived in Married Student Housing @ UCSB for two years. Worked with Garcia Architects, Don Sharpe, Andy Neumann @ Seaside Union and Warner & Gray. In 1995 cofounded Ensberg Jacobs Design with Cass Ensberg, FAIA.

Paul Rupp, AIA NCARB

Architect

Paul Rupp has been an enthusiastic Board Member of the AFSB and its mission for nearly 20 years since arriving from NYC to his wife’s home town. Paul is a senior designer, architect and manager, holds an NCARB certificate with 40 years of architecture firm experience with licenses in California, Nevada, New York and Washington State. He has designed and executed projects nationally and internationally. He has collaboratively designed and executed a wide range of project types and scales often working with some of the leading firms in the country as executive architect, design architect and as associate architect. His projects are often executed in carefully designed phases sometimes requiring over a decade of work. The bulk of his projects have been large scale, finely detailed, high finish projects with sophisticated building systems. As project architect and manger, Paul has provided project leadership to achieve American Institute of Architects Honor and Merit awards for Design and Execution on over $200 million in construction value. He often gives public lectures and tours of his projects including many sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, Architectural Foundations and other institutions and organizations. Paul attended the Cornish College Of The Arts in Seattle and earned his Bachelor Of Architecture Professional Degree from the University of Oregon. He is passionate about the transformational power of great design and the role of professional mentorship to have project team members perform at the highest standard possible. Paul also always maintains an art and design studio and produces fine art in a variety of mediums and design of decorative custom light fixtures, vessels, furnishings and fabrics. He utilizes both natural media and digital technology.

Kathy Koury

Children's Creative Project, Former Executive Director

Kathy is the former Executive Director of the Children's Creative Project, a post she has held since 1977. She was also one of the organization's founding artists. She created I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival in 1987, the annual Festival held at the Santa Barbara Old Mission as a fundraising event benefiting CCP arts education programs. Kathy has also volunteered for BEEP early in its inception and currently volunteers for KDA.

Jake Niksto, AIA

Architect

Jake is a Santa Barbara native who originally developed an interest in design while at Dos Pueblos High School, where he participated three years in the AFSB High School Design Competition. He went on to earn his BA in Architecture from Arizona State University before graduating with his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. During his college studies, he was also a grateful recipient of an Architectural Foundation scholarship. Now, as a licensed architect and partner at Becker Henson Niksto Architects, Jake enjoys the opportunity to “pay it forward” and volunteer with the Architectural Foundation to mentor and teach the benefits of good design to the next generation of local elementary and high school students.

Selinda Tuttle, AIA

Selinda began her involvement with the AFSB in 2012. In 2014 she became a member of the Board of Directors and held the position of Vice President in 2018. Selinda first became interested in architecture and its history and preservation as a child. From there, Selinda went on to take drafting classes and architectural history courses through high school and college while pursuing her degrees in Art History and English. Selinda is married to attorney, Justin Tuttle and together they have four teenage boys, Jacob, Dominic, Benjamin and Mason. Prior to moving to Santa Barbara with her family she worked extensively in Special Education Advocacy and Law for non-profit agencies affiliated with the California State Office of Education.

Susanne Tejada, AIA

Architect

Susanne Tejada grew up in Goleta and graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in 1991. She has a Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly SLO, a Masters of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and has been practicing Architecture in Santa Barbara since 2002. Susanne was an AFSB scholarship recipient and sits on the AFSB Scholarship Committee. She continues to be active in the community and is a member of the State Street Advisory Committee. Susanne shares her artistic talent with other AFSB artist volunteers designing and creating the chalk street drawings for the I Madonnari Street Painting Festival at the Old Mission Santa Barbara.

Cassandra Ensberg

FAIA, Architect

Cassandra Ensberg was born in Wareham, Massachusetts and raised in a military family attending schools in at least seven states north, south, east, and west. She graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Fine Art and a concentration in Interior Design. Since her graduation, she has always made art while working in design, primarily as an interior designer for a variety of prominent architectural firms in Denver and in Santa Barbara since arriving in 1988. In 1996, she became a licensed architect. She and her architect husband Tom Jacobs established their own architectural firm that year and she currently works on residential and small commercial projects. Her work as an artist and designer has made her a strong advocate and coach to her clients to help them to develop and include the expression of their personal unique qualities. She continues to create and includes art in every aspect of her life, and works to support architecture and the arts professionally and through her involvement in the community, sitting on the Historic Landmarks Commission for the City of Santa Barbara and most notably, founding and co-chairing the Kids Draw Architecture program for the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara.

Rebecca Wiscombe

Designer

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Rebecca moved to Santa Barbara where she attended SBCC before transferring to UCSB where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Studio Art and Psychology. A talented artist and illustrator in her own right, she earned a Master’s Degree in Architecture from The Southern California Institute of Architecture located in Los Angeles. Rebecca has extensive knowledge of architectural modeling software including Revit and AutoCAD. Rebecca returned to Santa Barbara in 2017 where she currently works for a local firm. She is an active member of the High School Design Competition planning committee and assists student participants with day-of mentoring during the competition. Rebecca and her husband have two children, two dogs and a pet snake.

Barbara Burkhart

Land Use Planner

Barbara Burkhart currently works for the City of Santa Barbara as Land Use Planner, where she is responsible for reviewing development proposals and applications for compliance with applicable regulations and policies. She collaborates with architects, builders, attorneys, contractors, engineers, environmental and technical consultants, and the general public regarding City development policies and standards. Barbara has a Bachelor’s Degree in Architectural History from UCSB, and is an active committee member of AFSB’s Kids Draw Architecture program.

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