Johan Wijesinghe
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Professional Experiences
ETH Zürich – Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) (Link)
Guest Faculty & Researcher, Studio Retsin (2024 –2025)
Embedded in Studio Retsin, a research studio questioning how to design “architecture in large quantities” through automation, generative AI and sustainable materials.
- Automation & Mass Production. Studio Retsin’s inquiry into automation and large‑scale building was featured in the symposium “Generations—Perspectives in Computational Design,” where Gilles Retsin presented a talk titled Automation: Architecture in Large Quantitiese-flux.com. This work aligns with the lab’s focus on mass‑production techniques and modular timber systems, informed by AI‑driven design and robotics.
- AI‑Enabled Design Workflows. Mentor students in applying generative design, parametric modeling and AI tools to produce scalable building systems.
- Entrepreneurial Practice & Sustainability. Guide students in developing business models around automated construction and digital fabrication, emphasizing carbon‑negative materials and circular economy principles. Support research on how AI can accelerate climate‑positive building at scale.
LEVER Architecture (Portland & Los Angeles)
Architect & Researcher (2020 – Present)
- Part of LEVER’s Research & Innovation team, advancing mass timber design and digital project delivery. Balanced hands-on design with performance-based research, collaborating closely with engineers, code officials, and supply chain partners to push the boundaries of wood technology.
- Served as BIM Manager and led LEVER’s transition to cloud-based coordination workflows. Oversaw BIM documentation and interdisciplinary coordination across multiple projects, including Kirkland Urban, Albina One, Albina Library, The William, and Russell Affordable Housing. Developed BIM manuals and custom parametric family libraries to standardize and automate documentation across project types. Assisted in delivering Albina One, a 94-unit restorative housing development, from design through construction.
- Selected Projects & Contributions
- Kirkland Urban East (Rews). Served as BIM manager and designer for a 6‑story, 180 000 sf mass‑timber office building in Kirkland, WA. Coordinated performance‑based design of a timber diagrid lateral system (a wood exoskeleton) with engineers and building officials; oversaw prefabrication models and supply‑chain logistics. Managed and coordinated digital models for the office, retail and underground parking program described in the city’s permit summary.
- Oregon State University Fire Testing Lab. Contributed to design‑development for the OSU Fire Testing Lab, a facility integrated with the A.A. Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory. The lab provides state‑of‑the‑art apparatuses for full‑scale fire testing of timber assembliesleverarchitecture.com. Coordinated R&D schedules and collaborated with researchers on specimen detailing and fire‑test instrumentation.
- Oregon Acoustic Research Lab (OARL). Led schematic design and acoustical research for OARL, a mass‑timber laboratory at the Port of Portland that will house the West Coast’s first accredited floor‑ceiling testing chambers. The corten‑steel facade takes cues from acoustic spectrograms, while rough‑sawn juniper interiors showcase local woodleverarchitecture.com.
- NHERI TallWood Project (Seismic Research). Worked with universities and Timberlab on the NSF‑funded NHERI TallWood Project. The 2022 ten‑story test—the tallest wood structure ever shaken—generated data to inform resilient design guides. Produced data summaries for codification studies and contributed to dissemination efforts around resilient tall‑wood design. Documented testing phases for eventual publication and code proposals and use in Kirkland Urban East.
- Forest‑to‑Frame Web Tool. Co‑developed a digital platform with Ecotrust and Sustainable Northwest that helps architects, contractors and clients evaluate regional forest practices, source sustainable wood, and access educational resourcesonce-future.com. Contributed to user‑interface design and curated learning modules; this project grew from a USDA Wood Innovation Grant and has potential to influence procurement across the industryleverarchitecture.com.
- Mythbusting Mass Timber White Paper. Co‑authored a white paper with Atelier Ten that dispels myths about mass timber’s carbon neutrality, explaining why material sourcing and transportation matterleverarchitecture.com. The publication helps teams make realistic carbon assessments.
- Net‑Zero Fellowship Research. As part of the Energy Trust of Oregon’s Net Zero Fellowship, assisted Senior Associate Jeff Stern in developing the report Seeing the Forest Through the Trees—A Guide to Low Carbon Buildings. Presented findings in 2025 on strategies for zero‑carbon buildings, comparing Passive House assemblies and embodied‑carbon metricsleverarchitecture.com.
- USDA Wood Innovation Grants (2021‑2024). Helped secure and implement grants for (1) the Portland Museum of Art’s Blueprint Project and (2) the Killingsworth Creative Office, which funds performance‑based testing of resilient rocking‑wall systemsleverarchitecture.com. Managed grant reporting and research deliverables. (3) Forest‑to‑Frame Web Tool.
- World Forestry Center Expansion. Oversaw BIM and design coordination for the World Forestry Center’s campus expansion. The new Experience Center uses Mass Plywood Panels, glulam beams and salvage timber to create a wood‑wrapped cultural hubleverarchitecture.com. The project reconnects the campus to park trails and removes brutalist concrete to create a lush plaza.
- 843 N Spring Street, Los Angeles. Managed digital models for the construction phase of this 145 000 sf hybrid CLT‑and‑steel office building that grafts a new structure atop a 1980s retail warehouse. The design integrates gardens in the common office space.
- Other Research & Collaborations. Participated in studies with developers and architects(Hackman, SOM) on sound stage study, Google REWS and other industry partners on Sunnyvale and Bay‑Area campus concepts. Explored point‑supported testing of CLT floor systems and contributed to a Bedrock design study that evolved into a “Mass Timber Playbook” for internal use. Led 2030 Challenge reporting
Department of Health Services -
Housing For Health
(Los Angeles)
Consultant (2020)
Brought data science and prefab expertise to an ambitious public‑health housing program.
- Analysed construction timelines and developed financial risk models to evaluate prefabricated housing strategies for supportive housing.
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Advised on procurement and supply‑chain strategies for modular construction, translating lessons from projects like Star Apartments, which used prefabricated modules lifted into place to meet budget and schedule constrains.
- Collaborated with Housing for Health staff and developers to create roadmaps for scaling modular supportive housing across the county, focusing on cost control and occupant well‑being.
Gilles Retsin Architecture (London)
Architectural Designer & Computational Designer (2018 – 2020)
Hybrid role blending architectural design, robotics and digital fabrication to reimagine cultural institutions.
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Helsinki National Museum Annex Competition. Worked on a competition proposal that reinterpreted traditional Finnish boathouses using robotically manufactured, modular CLT building blocks. The design features prefabricated cross‑laminated timber elements assembled into an A‑frame structure, balancing on a few columns and enabling rapid on‑site assembly while reducing environmental impactarchitizer.com. The concept leverages automation and a modular kit‑of‑parts to create a sustainable and flexible museum extensionarchitizer.com.
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Royal Academy of Arts – “Real Virtuality” Installation. Served as computational designer for an exhibition investigating augmented reality, discrete assembly and timber automation (2019). Led parametric modeling and digital‑fabrication workflows, coordinating with students and museum staff to deliver a large‑scale installation.
- Digital Futures Workshops (Shanghai). Assisted Gilles Retsin in teaching digital fabrication workshops at the Digital Futures event; instructed participants on modular timber systems, robotic fabrication and mixed‑reality interfaces, reinforcing skills in AI‑assisted design and data‑driven construction.
EscherGuneWardena Architecture
(Los Angeles) (2011 – Present, Part-Time)Architectural Designer & Advisor
Design & Project Development:
- Contributed toroject managment, BIM Managemnt, design, project coordination, and construction planning across residential and cultural projects.
- Worked on diverse projects that blend architecture, art, and community impact.
- Gained hands-on experience in adaptive reuse, material research, and digital design tools
Selected Projects & Contributions
- Flora Animalia (2020–2021). Helped transform a former fish market/clothing factory into an edible‑garden and workshop for designer Rozae Nichols. Stripped away partitions and restored original brick to create an open studio and raised garden that hosts community events and Ikebana workshopscoolhunting.com. This adaptive reuse blended sustainability with a calm, contemplative vibecoolhunting.com.
- Pilot House Restoration (2016–2020). Assisted in documentation and restoration of A. Quincy Jones and Whitney Smith’s 1948 Pilot House—restoring plywood, timber and glass elements and reintegrating built‑in furniture. Our work reversed decades of alterations, inserting modern infrastructure invisibly while respecting the original Crestwood Hills cooperative.
- Eames House Conservation (2011–2014). Contributed to the Phase I conservation plan for the Eames House (Case Study House #8). When LACMA borrowed the living‑room contents for an exhibition, we used the opportunity to assess building fabric and lay groundwork for the Eames Foundation’s 250‑year preservation project
- Sharon Lockhart Exhibitions (2001–2017). Collaborated with artist Sharon Lockhart on site‑specific exhibition designs. For Pine Flat, we reconfigured each museum to integrate film screenings and portrait galleries. At the Vienna Secession we inserted a 6 m × 19 m container housing the film Lunch Break into the main hall; portraits and photographs encircled the container to create varied viewing experiences.
- Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Interventions (2010–2018). Developed over twenty exhibition designs and spatial interventions for Washington University’s art museum. Projects included redesigning the Bernoudy Gallery, Visitor Services Area, Atrium Bookshop, Café, Teaching Gallery and Video Gallery, and reinstalling the permanent.
- Los Angeles ADU Standard Plan Program (2021). Helped design pre‑approved ADU plans (Plan A and Plan B) for the city. The units orient around a veranda linking interior and garden; textured cement plaster and a plinth accommodate site slopes, and the roof pitches toward a rain garden.
- Guggenheim Helsinki Proposal (2014). Developed competition entry for a wood‑framed museum with a walkable green roof that connects park, city and sea. The design uses continuous circulation around galleries, atria with tree planters, and prefabricated waffle‑grid timber panels
- St. Michael’s Friary & Housing, Riverside (2015–Present). Assisted in master‑planning and design for an interfaith campus that combines an Episcopal ministry, Native American Talking Circle and urban farm. The friary integrates aquaponics, “Three Sisters” plantings, citrus groves and symbolic sacrament.
- Blum & Poe Galleries II (2014). Contributed to the transformation of lobby space of industrial buildings into major art galleries. Gallery II used freestanding volumes within the shell.
- Hermès Petit h Installation (2014). Co‑designed a 100‑foot‑long “cabinet of curiosities” at Hermès’ South Coast Plaza store. Metallic, quartz‑like boxes emerged from walls and floor, punctuated by ikebana‑inspired arrangements of California plants
- Band of Outsiders Showroom (2012). Designed a 7 000 sf loft for the fashion label, organized around a 150‑foot central spine with steel/MDF shelving in various configurations for workspaces and display. The system allowed quick construction and was replicated in New York.
- Woven Showroom (2018–2019). Developed a 10 000 sf rug showroom that evokes historic trading halls. Light, concrete, wood and burnished steel create a subdued backdrop; vertical planes and sliding birch‑ply panels guide visitors through the 120‑ft‑long.
- Tyre House Restoration (2006–2012). Collaborated on restoring A. Quincy Jones & Frederick Emmons’ 1950s Tyre House. I worked on the kitchen and bathroom design which replaced damaged structural components, researching and matched original materials, restored built‑in furniture and upgraded glazing and mechanical systems.
- House of Seven Screens (2012–2019). Contributed to the kitchen design of the single‑story residence in Glendale where large steel lattice “screens” (inspired by Middle‑Eastern mashrabiya) become structural shear walls, allowing glazed perimeter walls and deep veranda.
- Clocks and Clouds (Monograph & Exhibition, 2017–2018). Assisted with curating and editing the monograph Clocks and Clouds: The Architecture of Escher GuneWardena and its UC Santa Barbara exhibition. The show surveyed twenty years of projects, grouping works into themes like “Space for Living” and “Relating to Art” while drawing on philosopher Karl Popper’s distinction between exact systems (clocks) and indeterminate phenomena (clouds).
- Linc LA Cleantech Manufacturing Center Proposal (2011). Helped design a 20‑acre campus where sustainable manufacturing plugs into a two‑story educational ring building; R&D labs and flexible classrooms share resources and link to community college and university programs
Consolidated Mechanical (MEP Contractor)
Management & Documentation Support (Part-Time, 2012– Present) — Los Angeles, CA
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Supported complex design-build MEP projects, including hospital retrofits, clean room upgrades, IT infrastructure enhancements, and data center installations (e.g., LA Fire Department).OSHPOD projects for several healcare facilites in Los Angeles County.
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Managed project documentation, scheduling, and client/vendor coordination, strengthening organizational workflows.
- Stepped into financial operations and bookkeeping to maintain my family business continuity during leadership breaks.
Education
University College London (UCL) - Bartlett
MSc Computational Design
2018 - 2019
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Advisors: Sean Hanna, Khalid El-Ashry
Disertation on Domain Transfering in Pretrained networks and in Generative Advisarial Networks in AI
- Graduated with distinction
Southern California Institute of Architecture
Bachelors of Architecture (2012 - 2017))- Advisors: Casey Rehm,
- Graduated with distinction
- Sci-Arc exelence Scoloarship from 2012-2017
Universität für die Angewandte Kunst (Vienna , Austria)
Studio: Kazuyo SejimaVisiting Scholar – (Spring 2016)
Academic Experiences:
Energy Trust of Oregon — Net Zero Fellowship
Researcher & Data Modeler (2024 – 2025)
Supported LEVER’s Jeff Stern in a Net Zero Fellowship exploring low‑carbon building strategies. Modeled and compared assemblies to identify pathways toward net‑zero carbon development, while analyzing life‑cycle impacts and market feasibility.
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Contributed to carbon‑reduction research presented in the report and public events examined optimal approaches for different building types, feasibility of zero‑carbon construction, and comparisons of Passive House versus mass‑timber.
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Developed case study analyses for affordable townhomes, rental apartments, and a Black Business Hub, incorporating whole‑building carbon metrics.
- Collaborated with industry partners to translate research findings into actionable strategies for developers and policymakers.
University of Oregon Seminar — “Forest to Frame”
Teaching Assistant & Research Mentor (Eugene, OR, 2023) Co‑taught with Timothy Cooke (LEVER) in a seminar exploring sustainable timber supply chains and climate impacts.
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Assisted in organizing the Timber Roundtables series hosted by UO, LEVER and PSU; sessions covered forestry practices, intentional timber sourcing (“Forest for the Trees” and “Forest to Frame”), and carbon flowsleverarchitecture.com.
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Guided student research on timber harvest practices and supply‑chain transparency; used UO’s Acoustic Lab as a case study for long‑span mass‑timber construction.
- Mentored schematic design exercises that integrated structural optimization with carbon accounting.
Digital Futures Workshop
— Tongji University (Shanghai)
Teaching Assistant (2019)
Supported Gilles Retsin in a workshop on architectural intelligence, digital fabrication and augmented reality.
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Led instruction in HoloLens‑based mixed‑reality workflows, modular timber systems and robotic assembly.
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Helped participants develop AI‑informed design strategies; the 2019 DigitalFUTURES conference theme, “Architectural Intelligence,” explored how artificial intelligence informs design and robotics fabricates buildingsdigitalfutures.world.
- Facilitated real‑time fabrication experiments and integrated digital‑twin modeling for rapid prototyping.
Pop‑Arch: Community Outreach
(Los Angeles, 2015 – 2017)
Founder & Mentor
Organized design‑build workshops for local high‑school students with SCI‑Arc.
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Taught spatial thinking, model‑making and visual storytelling; introduced students to digital tools such as Rhino and Grasshopper.
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Fostered diversity and inclusion in architecture by engaging underrepresented youth through hands‑on fabrication projects.
Pavilion Designer & Fabricator
Contributed to the design and construction of the temporary hub for The Industry’s site‑specific opera, staged in 24 moving cars across Los Angeles.
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The opera’s 24 journeys were live‑streamed to a temporary structure at SCI‑Arc, allowing audiences to experience simultaneous chaptersapps.operaamerica.org.
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Worked with interdisciplinary teams to design modular set elements and manage logistics for the immersive performance.
Researcher (2018 – 2019)
Conducted under Dr. Sean Hanna on generative adversarial networks (GANs) for architectural spatial analysis and generation.
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Explored layer‑wise domain adaptation and addressed generalization limits via the “projection problem,” inspired by Elman’s work at UCSD.
- Evaluated the performance of domain‑adaptation techniques using auxiliary datasets to train GANs on architectural plan morphologies.
Publications & Exhibitions
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“Binary Shelter: Notes on the Unhoused” (Underscore Journal Vol. 3, 2016). Visual essay examining temporary housing and spatial precarity in Los Angeles.
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Bartlett Journal Vol. 10 – “Algorithms Are Here to Stay” (2018–2019). Curated and edited essays on architecture, automation and ethics in computational design.
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Venice Architecture Biennale, “Reporting from the Front” (2016). Collaborated on a speculative project for Inujima, Japan, as part of Kazuyo Sejima’s visiting studio; exhibited at Japan House in London and the Royal Academy of Art.
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Manufactured Wood Products and the Future of Timber Construction – Woodbury University (2025).
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Forest to Frame – ETH Zürich (2024).
- AI and Architectural Details – various venues.
Languages & Interests
Languages: English (fluent), German (basic), Sinhala (basic)
Interests: AI, forestry, product development, hiking, clothing design, cooking, gardening, swimming.
Skills & Expertise
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Research
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