Where ideas + realities are drawn together.   ^TM

Born in Santiago, Chile, of an American mother and a Chilean father, Claudio Véliz spent his childhood between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. He continued his education in the American Midwest, graduated from the University of Wisconsin – School of Architecture and Urban Planning, then completed his apprenticeship at the offices of Sir Roy Grounds in Melbourne, Australia. There, he worked on the design of the Victorian College of the Arts Master Plan, including the School of Music and School of Dance, before moving to New York in 1980, where he joined the office of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, Architects.

In 1985, he started his architecture office, consulting on – and designing – architectural and interior/industrial design projects throughout the United States, Italy and England. Clients included Federated Stores, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Walt Disney Corporation, NASA, Rockwell International, Lockheed–Martin, and other corporate, commercial, institutional, retail and residential clients.

His design work in Extreme Environment and Crew Quarters includes collaborating on prospective lunar and other designs with NASA and aerospace subcontractors, as well as developing energy-efficient lighting and conservation systems. His firm's passions for Organic Architecture, as originally defined by Frank Lloyd Wright, together with the study of unconventional, astronomical and off-earth design issues, combine to invigorate, deepen and broaden his firm's contemporary architectural and interior design commitments.

Since 2005, his firm is headquartered in Chester, Vermont, where skies are dark and the universe is closer.

The following team members are presented in alphabetical order.

Alan Benoit, our Production Manager, develops the strategy for creating the set of Working Drawings and Specifications for the General Contractor to build the Project. He is our coordinator of technical and jurisdictional information that will impact a project and, working together with the Architect, he manages the smooth flow of information for the Project. In addition, his tireless monitoring and investigation of which Green Architectural Systems are really green and which ones are only claiming to be. Alan's background is an ideal one for these roles. It integrates landscape design, architectural design, mechanical systems, and engineering that allow him to address complex managerial- as well as architectural situations, and bring them into elegant order. He received an Associates Degree of Mechanical Engineering in 1999, and received additional professional certifications including manufacturing engineering, master gardener, and native plant horticulture and design. Alan has over 13 years of design drafting and 9 years of CAD experience with a variety of 2D, 3D, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) programs. Alan sits on several local boards including the Energy Committee, Development Review Board, Parks and Recreation Committee, Green and Sustainability Focus Group, and Conservation Committee. His additional passions include road and mountain biking, stone sculpture, architectural material recycling, and construction.    http://www.sustainabledesignofvt.com/

Lovely ideas and drawings stay on paper or in a computer file unless their construction is assured. Robert Buchan functions as our administrative guardian angel. NCARB Certified, licensed as an Architect in Vermont and Great Britain, he has a natural sense for management of architectural projects, ensuring the t's get crossed and the I's get dotted with the properly sized... dot.

As a CSI Certified Construction Specifier he possesses a broad range of design, management and technical experience on construction, rehabilitation, and forensic investigative projects. Robert has addressed projects from afternoon specials (very small, very fast things) to massive, multi-million dollar complexities that would flatten mere mortals with low stress thresholds.

Attending Buckhurst Hill County High School in England, Robert started with a powerful concentration in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Physics. He went on to secure his RIBA diplomas in Architecture from the AA School of Architecture in London, and the Polytechnic of Central London. Robert secured his ARCUK Registration in 1983.

Sharon Lefebvre is the CV A Office Manager in Vermont, and functions as the administrative backbone of the Firm. She is the information Grand Central Terminal for all our projects. Her knowledge in commercial and retail management; managing our Interior Design arm, is as sensitive as it is efficient. Originally from Rhode Island and educated at Johnson & Wales in Providence, Sharon moved to Andover, Vermont with husband, Denis, in 1994 where she opened Over Andover Books, a used and antiquarian bookstore. (It was there she met a certain gregarious fellow who frequently perused and ransacked her astronomy section, and who was to become her future architectural employer.) Before opening that bookstore, she developed, owned and managed numerous businesses in both retail and manufacturing, a stint as an innkeeper in Vermont, and then a number of years in the bookselling trade from running a college bookstore at the University of Rhode Island to opening her own new books bookstore. In her many travels throughout the country and Great Britain, she fell in love with used bookstores, eventually opening her own. She is an obsessive gardener and, when time permits, she loves photography, painting, kayaking and hiking/snowshoeing with her dog, Zoe. She is currently Director of Teacher Recruitment for the Green Mountain Adult Education Program in Chester, Vermont.

As a design evolves, reliable hands must interpret the original Design Intent in the creation of a solid Working Drawing set for use in construction of the completed Project. Zach is our central force in that stage of the Process.

Hailing from Northern California, Zach has spent most of his life in Vermont. With the Green Mountain State countryside as inspiration, he took an early interest in sketching, building, and mapping. These skills evolved into an interest for the realm of the technical, and in developing skills at communicating fine detail both in engineering and architecture. Zachary pursued these fields as early as high school, attending the River Valley Technical Center studying Engineering/CADD. He continued on to Metropolitan State College in Denver and Lyndon State College, Vermont where he was awarded his degree in Visual Arts/Design.

Zachary is more than our "Drafting Horse", a term referring to a Drafter who is especially adept at speed and accuracy in the production of Working and Engineering Drawings. He also conducts site surveys with the CV A Design Team and utilizes his expertise in mechanical systems and Environmental Physics to incorporate architectural systems to solve smoothly the consistently unusual challenges.

CV A
Spring 2012