People

Kuth Ranieri is among an emerging group of innovative designers at the forefront of green building who question and rescript conventional design and building practices. Committed to research and experimentation, Kuth Ranieri is led by Byron Kuth and Elizabeth Ranieri.

Kuth Ranieri has won AIA awards at the regional, state, and national levels including the Architectural League’s Young Architects, Emerging Voices and I.D. magazine’s 39th, 45th, and 47th annual awards. The firm’s work was part of the multimedia show entitled Fabrications exhibited at SFMOMA, New York MoMA, and the Wexner Center. Princeton Architectural Press with the Graham Foundation published their monograph, Kuth Ranieri Architects, released in 2010.

Byron Kuth holds degrees in Architecture and Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and has been licensed to practice architecture in the state of California since 1992. Together with his partner, Elizabeth Ranieri, he established Kuth Ranieri Architects in 1990. He and Mrs. Ranieri launched the Deep Green Design Alliance in 2003, a multidisciplinary think tank for sustainable strategies in architecture and urban design. In conjunction with his practice, he has taught at the California College of the Arts, was a visiting instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and participated in the Friedman Professor Masters Studios at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley.

Mr. Kuth has been active in the field of Sustainable Design, winning a 2004 AIA ExRes award for a sustainable artists’ retreat and a 2005 AIA Best of Bay award in Urban Design for an environmentally responsible proposal for Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, Lebanon. His work was selected as part of the 2004 AIA traveling exhibit on the future of sustainable architecture and as a speaker at Smarter by Design, a panel discussion sponsored by the Commonwealth Club focusing on emerging concepts of Green Architecture. Through his role with the LEF Foundation, Mr. Kuth is active in supporting green design initiatives in the fields of industrial design, textiles, and architecture. In 2007, Mr. Kuth was elevated to Fellow by the American Institute of Architects.

Elizabeth Ranieri is Managing Principal of Kuth Ranieri Architects and co-founded the Bay Area firm with her partner, Byron Kuth. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and earned degrees in fine arts and architecture. With over 27 years experience practicing architecture, she has earned a national reputation for an innovative and expressive architecture that’s rooted in sustainable strategies. Elizabeth has led the firm’s research & development on new materials, water conservation, water treatment and adaptive mitigations to rising seas.

Along with her practice, Elizabeth has taught at California College of the Arts, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, as a Friedman Professor for the Masters of Architecture program at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and currently is an Industry Partner for a Masters of Mechanical Engineering Capstone Project at UC Berkeley’s Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership. She has juried a number of panels including: ID Magazine’s yearly awards issue, San Francisco’s AIA annual awards, AIACC’s residential awards, Houston’s AIA annual awards, San Francisco’s Selection Panel for the Veterans War Memorial Renovation Project and Architect Magazine’s 2012 Annual Awards. Princeton Architectural Press and the Graham Foundation published her monograph, Kuth Ranieri Architects as part of their New Voices in Architecture Series.

Elizabeth was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2010 and currently serves as a Presidential Nominee (2012-2016) on the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Architecture.

Michael joined Kuth Ranieri in 2013 as a senior project architect. He is a registered architect in Massachusetts and California and a LEED Accredited Professional since 2004. His previous work experience includes a diverse array of project types including residential, wildlife and animal care, mixed-use affordable housing, large-scale educational and university, office, retail, and cultural projects. Michael received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Penn State University and Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. He has practiced in Boston and San Francisco since 1997 and has taught architecture courses at the Boston Architectural College and for Oxbridge Academic Programs in Paris.

He brings a broad set of professional skills, including program management of complex, multiphase building prototype and tenant improvement programs, architectural project management, and the formation and implementation of multidiscipline CAD/BIM standards. His academic interests stem from the potentialities of semi-autonomous systems; coordinated transportation infrastructures and microgrid, prefab, zero-energy structures along with the economic incentives or realignments that could make space for them.

When not in the office, he can probably be found hiking, biking, or skiing in the mountains, swimming, kayaking or kiteboarding in the bay, or running along the waterfront.

Ophelia Wilkins joined Kuth Ranieri in 2015. She is a registered architect in the state of California and holds a Masters degree in Architecture from MIT in Cambridge, MA. Ophelia’s background is primarily in the areas of public transportation buildings and sustainable rural affordable housing. Linking these experiences is an interest in designing for public clients and creating transit-, bike- and pedestrian-oriented spaces.

Prior to joining Kuth Ranieri, Ophelia contributed to numerous projects in the Bay Area, including space planning for the downtown San Francisco BART stations, design of the 24th and Mission BART Plaza renovation, and SFO renovations including Boarding Area E and Terminal 3 East. From 2007-2010, Ophelia was a Rose Architectural Fellow based in Durango, Colorado where she developed and designed green affordable housing, setting a new normal of deeply energy efficient homes (50% of the area average) and developing a net-zero energy prototype using culturally-appropriate strategies. She has also contributed to design and construction of strawbale homes and public buildings on the Navajo, Hopi, and Turtle Mountain nations.

Contributing to her perspective on architecture are her interests in long distance trail running, road and mountain biking, yoga, and craft, including building clothes, furniture, and pottery.

Eliza Koshland holds a degree in architecture from the University of Washington and a degree in urban studies from Barnard College. She joined Kuth Ranieri in 2011.

Prior to Kuth Ranieri, Eliza worked as designer for Slade Architecture in New York City, where she lead a range of residential and commercial projects. She has experience in both traditional and digital fabrication methods and learned a love for craft while participating in UW’s furniture studio and design build programs.

At Kuth Ranieri, Eliza has contributed to a variety of projects including, the award-winning Museum of the American Indian, Vertical Wetlands, “Little Secrets” custom mirror, and most recently a residential renovation in Oakland.

Juno Song holds a B.S in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined Kuth Ranieri in early 2015. Prior to Kuth Ranieri, Juno worked as a designer at Field Architecture where he has contributed to many residential and cultural projects.

Juno has a strong desire for exploring and understanding the experience of the built environment, the phenomenology of space. Outside of the office, Juno has a passion for hiking, traveling, having a nice cold beer with friends, and most recently, rock climbing.

Rob Marcalow holds an M.Arch from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a B.A. in Environmental Design from Pitzer College. He joined KR in 2018 in a move from BCV Architects, where he managed high-end airport restaurant projects and worked on numerous residences, restaurants and food halls.

Rob’s deep background in construction informs his focus on detail and constructability in architecture. Most recently he designed, engineered and built a timber frame barn using traditional joinery methods and tools. He has also taught university courses in graphic representation and digital fabrication as an adjunct professor.

In 2019, Rob moved to Massachusetts to help establish Kuth Ranieri’s East Coast Office.

Outside of work, Rob is an avid skier and rock climber, and on weekends he can be found growing a gigantic vegetable garden in his yard.

Leif Estrada joined Kuth Ranieri Architects in the summer of 2016. He earned a Master in Landscape Architecture and a Master in Design Studies, concentrating on Urbanism, Landscape and Ecology from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he was awarded multiple awards including the department’s Thesis Prize, the Howard T Fisher Prize, an Honorary Award from the National Geographic’s Mapping Awards, and named as a finalist for a Fulbright Fellowship. Prior to his graduate studies, he received a Bachelor of Architecture degree with High Distinction, and was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal and Certificate of Merit at the California College of the Arts.

At Kuth Ranieri, he has worked on a variety of projects from residential to educational, and produced videographic work for many of the firm's competition projects.

Leif is interested in the utilization of cartographic representation and visualization in the realms of technology and ecology and how such issues impact larger urbanization processes in the planetary scale; and ultimately how such phenomena affects social and political issues of the built environment. His designs and essays have been published in the US and internationally.

Carlos Esquivel joined Kuth Ranieri Architects in 2017. A recent graduate, he earned his Bachelors of Art in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. His experience there allowed him to study both traditional and digital fabrication methods. In correlation, he practices both traditional design processes and form finding design techniques. At Kuth Ranieri, Carlos has participated in producing an award winning pavilion for the San Francisco Market Street Prototyping Festival, SonoGROTTO. Carlos has a strong desire for exploring architecture and its intersection with culture. His views look to address how both function as interpretive symbols of existing paradigms, and using graphic techniques for expressing those views. In his spare time, Carlos explores creating multi-media and mix-media art for small scale gallery exhibitions or picking up boxing gloves and going a few rounds.

Morgan Glasser joined Kuth Ranieri in 2022 after recently graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Design with and emphasis in Architecture and a minor in Business. He enjoys staying active outdoors in nature mountain biking, surfing, and hiking. Morgan has also been a beekeeper for several years, his passion for design comes from studying and learning about bees as one of natures master designers.

It is pretty straightforward: assistance is her passion. Silvia Stocco studied Public Relations at Cásper Líbero College and Journalism at Puccamp, in São Paulo, Brazil, where she was born and raised. Silvia joined Kuth Ranieri in 2020. For over 25 years, Silvia has dedicated her career to keep professionals organized, prioritized and less stressed with the key elements necessary for the “many hats” her position requires: proactive demeanor, core competence and common sense. Silvia finds enjoyment in helping people and organizations become successful. In addition to being a studio assistant, Silvia creates graphic art, throws pottery and is an avid gourmet cook with quite a collection of cookbooks which she reads cover-to-cover like romance novels.