As Director of KTGY’s R+D Studio, Marissa is committed to furthering the vision of KTGY: to move the discourse of architecture forward by continuously searching for better. In her role, Marissa leads the creation and execution of research and development projects at KTGY, exploring new and emerging ideas related to building design and technology. KTGY’s dedicated R+D Studio develops conceptual design solutions to address a broad range of housing topics and issues: housing affordability, societal trends, multigenerational living, community placemaking, creative mixed-use, modular construction, and adaptive reuse.
With more than 17 years of design experience to the thought leadership of KTGY, Marissa joined KTGY after she obtained her BArch from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Her varied architecture experience includes work on residential, retail, and mixed-use developments both at KTGY and for several years with a competitive regional design firm. Marissa represents KTGY’s R+D Studio with presentations and education on new technologies and with by-lined articles and news media commentary on housing trends and futuristic ideas.
KTGY’s R+D Studio has been awarded numerous design awards including the 2019 NMHC Innovation Challenge for Park House, a reuse concept that transforms an under-used parking structure into a modern residential community. In 2022, KTGY’s R+D Studio was honored by Multi-Housing News with the Gold award in the Unbuilt category of their MHN Excellence Awards for The Branches, a concept for reducing operational carbon within multi-family design.