Y. E. is a North Carolina native, living the first 13 years of his life in the Raleigh-Durham area. Afterwards he lived in the western United States including Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Colorado and Southern California. He has also lived for periods in London, Shanghai and Florence, Italy. Each experience has provide him a great amount of diverse perspectives with different cultures, climates, and ways of living.

From a young age he was fascinated with the relationship between nature-made and man-made things. The interaction of the two developed a fascination with the making of buildings and the cities they inhabit. Naturally, this drew him to architecture, and how the craft of designing and building can enhance our daily lives. Individual buildings play an important role, but it is how they react with other buildings - the spaces between them - that can elevate the experience to an even more enjoyable and memorable level.

Y. E. has over 30 years of professional experience designing commercial, mixed-use, retail, residential, civic and landscape places. He has worked with top clients throughout the United States, Mexico, China, India, and Korea. His designs have won multiple design awards. He is active in ULI - is on a Triangle Council of ULI - and ICSC.

He has taught design studios and served as a design critic at several design schools including Arizona State University, The University of Cincinnati, The University of Washington and UNC- Charlotte. In addition, he is a Studio Artist with works in private and public collections in the United States and Japan.

Y. E. received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Arizona State University and his Master of Architecture from Syracuse University – Florence, Italy Campus, on a University Fellowship.

Lisa was born in California and raised in Alaska. Her parents had a dream to live off the grid long before it became a reality show phenomenon. Her family hand crafted a cabin that is accessible only by boat or sea plane. This experience established a meaningful connection to a more simple and natural world that impacts each day of her life: applying the underlying order and patterns found in nature.

She studied art and design at The Rhode Island School of Design, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Interior Architecture degrees. Her education was rooted in interactive studios that engaged all aspects of design thinking and disciplines. Her professional career began in Seattle and later took her to Los Angeles. She worked with highly successful design firms such as Callison and Gensler.

Her design passion is working with unique materials, finishes and colors in an engaging way with clients. Lisa’s organizational and design talents established great cross- discipline design team relationships on very high profile commercial and multi-family projects.

In addition to PLACES, Lisa is the owner of Simplify Studio, a professional home organization business. She brings order and systems to residential environments. Her clients include families of corporate CEOs, professional athletes, and working parent families. Lisa receives great personal pride improving the everyday lives of her clients.

Lisa enjoys creating sculpture pieces from natural materials and handmade paper.