Mark is our project architect with David Vandervort Architects.  Mark exudes a sense of solidity and craft, so it came as no surprise when I learned a while ago that he used to be a finish carpenter. 

Mark grew up here in the Northwest, in Kirkland.  He attended WSU for architectural training.  It was working as a carpenter that he learned how buildings are put together, how all the trades are involved, and about the pressures builders are under – “crucial”, as he puts it, to pulling a design into the real world. 

Working with David Vandervort since 1995, Mark is part of a firm that has designed many beautiful homes and buildings that are a tribute to the Northwest contemporary school and other styles.  To see one of my all-time favorite web sites, please see www.vandervort.com.  Mark cites as personal inspirations the architects Bernard Maybeck, Charles Mackintosh, and Alvar Aalto, who, as he puts it, have a sense of history while being willing to push the envelope.