Richard has been working in the field of Green Architecture, Urban Design & Digital Media for 20+ years. An early designer in the Sustainable Architecture & Urban Design movement, he created a new major at UCLA in 1993 that incorporated the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, Civil & Geological Engineering, Geography, & the school of Planning & Management. The New Major, Environmental Urban Design was created to help define a framework in which the environment, buildings and urban spaces, could be analyzed & designed with the goal of preserving and promoting the environment & the human element in a sustainable symbiotic way. Richard’s work has included Civil Engineering Design, Landscape Architecture, Geological Engineering, Architecture, & Green Urbanism. He has worked on public projects ranging from the UCLA Botanical Garden, the Chelsea waterside park & west side highway & the redesign of the Chelsea Car Wash along the High Line in Manhattan, home designs in New York City, the high desert of California, New Mexico, Sweden, Madrid, & Connecticut, & Green community designs in the greater Los Angeles area. Richard has a BA in Environmental Urban Design from UCLA, a Master’s of Architecture from both the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and the New Jersey School of Architecture.

Don Menke was director of the model shop at Michael Graves Architects for 22 years, where his work included architectural models as well as furniture prototypes and over 1000 product designs. In 1998 Graves won the commission to renovate the Washington Monument with the help of an illuminated maquette Menke fabricated of the proposed design. The Washington Post called Menke’s models “Michael Graves secret ingredient” for winning competitions. He continues to do custom architectural projects and furniture building projects. One of Menke’s early projects appeared as the cover of Metropolitan Home magazine. His work has been shown around the world, including the White House and the Vatican. Don has also been an adjunct professor and director of the architectural model shop at the New Jersey Institute of Technology for the last 15 years. It is the largest architecture school on the East Coast.

Panagiota Kaplani is a Senior Architect & Interior Designer at RLA. Giota cooperated with “Giammakos architects & associates” for private housing and public buildings such as “Xenia hotel” in Volos, and construction of the gymnastic academy in Athens. In 2007 finishes her “Master in collective housing” at E.T.S.A.M, Madrid and in 2008 she cooperates with “Lahoz-Lopez Arquitectos” in Madrid, for the construction study of the National Hospital in Toledo and the architectural design of a single unifamiliar house in Boadilla del Monte . Up till now, she was a senior architect in the architectural department of Macon group in Thessaloniki, working for projects such as construction of single and complex housing, as well as office buildings and interior design. Current Projects include numerous Boutique Motels in Greece, Cyprus, & America.