Small Firms Great Projects Launch Party + Panel
Thursday, October 16, 2025
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (PDT)
Category: Signature Events
Discover the best of Bay Area architecture and design at Small Firms, Great Projects 2025! This annual program celebrates the innovation, creativity, and craftsmanship of small architecture, landscape, interior, and lighting design firms—proving that small practices can make a big impact.
Join us for an inspiring evening at the Center for Architecture + Design, featuring a high-energy pecha kucha–style presentation, Design Matters: Perspectives on Collaboration, Context, and Craft. Hear directly from editorial authors and design leaders as they share bold ideas, lessons learned, and the power of collaboration in shaping the built environment.
Enjoy snacks, drinks, and networking with fellow architects, designers, and industry professionals while celebrating the work of this year’s featured firms. Don’t miss this chance to connect, be inspired, and toast to the future of design.
Bob Scott
Managing Director, Mork-Ulnes Architects
Bob is the Managing Director of the San Francisco office of Mork-Ulnes Architects, where he is also a Project Lead. He holds an M.Arch from the Yale School of Architecture and a B.S. in Architecture from Ohio State University.
Bob joined MUA in 2020 for the opportunity to work alongside Casper Mork-Ulnes in designing architecture that is specific to a place's distinct culture, climate, and geography. In addition to his work at MUA, Bob has worked as a designer at Deborah Berke Partners in New York and at Joeb Moore & Partners in Connecticut, and has taught design studios at the University of California Berkeley and Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. In 2026, Bob will be co-teaching a design-build studio with Casper and Alexander Schofield at the California College of the Arts, entitled "Elemental Assemblies: Studies in Norwegian Woodcraft", that will explore the phenomenal qualities and morphogenic potential of raw timber in the context of a Norwegian forest.
Heidi Leibes
Principal, Leibes Architects
Heidi is the founder of Liebes Architects, a San Francisco–based firm known for thoughtful, collaborative design across residential, commercial, and hospitality projects. Since launching the practice in 2009, she has helped clients bring their visions to life with clarity, creativity, and care. A licensed architect in California, Heidi holds a Master of Architecture from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University. She is a longtime advocate for sustainable design, and a firm believer that the best projects are built on trust, good humor, and a shared sense of purpose.
John Lum
Founding Principal, John Lum Architecture
John Lum is the founding principal of John Lum Architecture, an 18-person contemporary practice he established in 1994 in the Mission District. Despite all the changes and upheaval of the last three decades, he believes that San Francisco can continue to be a place where all can thrive amidst desperately-needed new construction and historical continuity. He is active in AIASF’s Housing Knowledge Community, serves on the AIACA Housing Steering Committee, and was previously a board member of AIA San Mateo County.
Hulett Jones
Principal, jones | haydu
Hulett combines his passion for art, music and mathematics in his architectural career, bringing an acute design sensibility and deep technical expertise to his work. Prior to founding jones | haydu, Hulett worked as lead project architect and senior designer on major community, academic, commercial, renovation, and historic restoration projects for an internationally acclaimed firm. The bulk of all of these projects have been program rich environments with highly specific uses.
Hulett's father was an artist and industrial designer, his mother an educator, and his grandfather an engineer. From the earliest age, he remembers learning to draw from his father, sitting under his grandfather's drafting table, and learning from his mother's Socratic dialogue method of teaching. This Socratic method drives his design process through questioning and discovery. Hulett holds a Bachelor of Architecture from The University of Texas at Austin. He has served as an adjunct professor, teaching at California Polytechnic State University (SLO), the California College of the Arts, and at the Academy of Art University. Hulett is a registered architect in California, Texas, and Florida.
Maura Fernández Abernethy
Principal, Studio Vara
Maura leads the practice with a keen eye for detail at every scale. Her approach seamlessly blends a natural instinct for client needs with an elegant aesthetic sensibility, resulting in thoughtfully crafted spaces and experiences.
Robert Nebolon, AIA
Founder, Robert Nebolon Architects LLC
Robert Nebolon, AIA founded Robert Nebolon Architects LLC in 1993. His firm has designed many homes in high-fire hazard areas throughout the Bay Area and in Los Angeles. Growing up in rural area in the Los Angeles area, Robert Has had personal experience with wildfire in residential area.
Robert Nebolon Architects LLC has received design awards and their work has been featured in national and international print and on-line publications.
Publications include: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Sunset Magazine, Dwell Magazine, Architectural Record, l’Arca Contemporary Architecture (IT.), and 18h39 Design (FR.).
Robert holds an M.Arch from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a B.A. in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM: Doors Open & Reception
6:30 PM - 7:10 PM: Pecha Kucha Panel (7 minutes for each presenter!)
7:10 PM- 7:30 PM: Q&A
7:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Reception
Silver Sponsor
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Gain outstanding visibility with Bay Area small architecture and design firms at Small Firms, Great Projects 2025. Sponsors connect directly with decision-makers and rising practices by exhibiting and showcasing products and services to an engaged audience. Strengthen relationships, build brand recognition, and support San Francisco’s design community.