Mic Patterson, LEED AP (BD+C) is Vice President of Strategic Development
Advanced Technology Studio | Enclos, Los Angeles and New York City. Mic is a designer, researcher, educator, and entrepreneur with a passion for the building skin. He fully understands the profound role the façade contributes to both the aesthetics and performance of a building. He has concentrated his professional and academic career on advanced façade technology and structural glass facades.
Working with leading architects and builders, he has participated in the design and construction of a remarkably diverse body of novel façades and enclosures, with many award-winning landmark projects among them. Mic‘s design process is informed by the demanding fabrication and installation challenges presented by these nearly 700 structural glass façade and enclosure projects spread widely throughout North America and Asia. This experience has encompassed considerations of material and structure bound to a creative problem-solving methodology, and has evolved into a performance-based design philosophy rooted in the study of innovative process and sustainable practice. As an innovator of progressive project delivery strategy, he was among the first to promote design-assist and design-build methodologies as a vehicle for implementing innovation in the building skin. He was also an early promoter of prefabrication and modular building systems, particularly as they relate to building façades and enclosures.
Mic founded ASI Advanced Structures in 1991, the firm that pioneered the introduction of advanced façade technology in the US marketplace through the 1990s and into the new millennium. Enclos, a leading global curtainwall firm, acquired ASI in 2007. Mic subsequently participated in the establishment of the Advanced Technology Studio of Enclos, a façade think-tank with a mission of advancing the state-of-the-art and shaping the future of the building skin. He is currently the Vice President of Strategic Development for Enclos and divides his time between the firms Studios in Los Angeles and New York City.
As a proponent of sustainable building practice, he is an outspoken participant in the debate centering on the use of large areas of clear glass in the building envelope, and continues to do pioneering work in the evaluation of glass as a sustainable façade material. His current research focuses on façade systems durability, and sustainable strategies for the facade retrofit of tall curtain wall buildings.
Mic earned a Masters of Building Science from the University of Southern California School of Architecture, where he is currently a PhD candidate: the by-product of a commitment to lifelong learning. Recognizing weakness in façade education as endemic to architectural curricula, he is committed to bridging his professional work with academic pursuits. He is a founder of both the USC Façade Tectonics Journal and conference series, and the Facades+ conference series. He is on the Advisory Board of the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and the Scientific Review Committee for Glasscon Global. In addition to his ongoing research, he has developed and taught courses in glass and façade design, including a graduate façade program called Skin and Bones. He has written extensively and lectured internationally on diverse aspects of advanced façade technology. He is the author of Structural Glass Facades and Enclosures.