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WHO WE ARE

All of our instructors come to PABD with at least a decade of professional experience in various sectors of the design industry—and several run their own successful, award-winning firms. In addition, both our directors have extensive experience in education and academic research. Many of our faculty are based in Hawaii, reflecting the ethnic diversity of the islands, and so they understand the specific needs of local students, as well as have a deep reverence for local culture and values. The faculty all bring the desire to share their expertise and passion with new students, to strengthen the design profession through quality training, and to support the local community through their work.
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Liza Lockard, M.Arch, PhD

NCIDQ I ASID I IIDA I IDEC I LEED I SEED

Dr. Elizabeth 'Liza' Lockard is Co-Founder and Program Director of PABD. Formerly, Dr. Lockard was a tenured Professor at Chaminade University in Honolulu--where she taught Environmental + Interior Design for 11 years--and an Assistant Professor at University of Hawai'i School of Architecture. As a passionate educator with experience in CIDA/NAAB/WASC accreditations, as well as in curriculum development and core competency assessment, she brings vast knowledge and in-depth insights in forging a new direction for professional design education.

Dr. Lockard has a master's degree in Architecture from Yale University and received her PhD in Futures Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She is the author of the book titled, Human Migration to Space: Alternative Technological Approaches for Long-Term Adaptation to Extraterrestrial Environments, which was published by Springer as part of their Outstanding Doctoral Research series. She has written numerous articles, including "The Evolution of Space Architecture and Its Potential to Inspire New Paradigms for Inhabiting Earth," in the anthology, Ecological Design Thinking: Healthful Ecotopian Visions for Architecture and Urbanism, published by Routledge.

In addition to her experience as an educator and scholar, Dr. Lockard has over 25 years of professional work experience. She has completed numerous architectural and interior design projects in Boston, New York, Hawai'i, Costa Rica, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Việt Nam (where she designed the new satellite US Consulate offices in Ho Chi Minh City). She was awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for Art and Architecture to study post-urban development in Hanoi, and a Soroptimist Fellowship for her groundbreaking dissertation research on human habitation in space.

Her other areas of research interest include: virtual reality (for psychological adaptation, isolation and confinement mitigation, and stress reduction) and strategies for environmental sustainability and restoration.

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Aaron Shimizu

AIA I LEED

Aaron Shimizu is Co-Founder and Technical Director of PABD, and brings over a decade of architectural experience to his role. Prior to founding PABD, Mr. Shimizu served as BIM (Building Information Modeling) Manager at one of the largest architectural firms in Hawai'i, where he deployed many cutting-edge technologies--virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D scanning and 3D printing--to modernize the firm's practice.

As a licensed architect in the State of Hawai'i, Mr. Shimizu has worked on over 100 building projects in various sectors: education, healthcare, hospitality, retail, commercial, high-rise residential, military, government, etc. Some of his more notable projects include: the Aulani Resort & Spa, where he worked directly with Walt Disney Imagineering to recreate Disney's vision in Hawai'i; the Sheraton Maui Guest Room Renovation, where he led the drawing production and construction administration effort for the renovation of this 500+ room resort; Mayor Wright Homes, a 400-unit high rise in Honolulu; Town Center of Mililani; Symphony Tower in Honolulu; and JN Velocity Luxury Automotive Dealership, where he worked with various luxury car brands. In addition, Mr. Shimizu has led teams, both in-house and outsourced, in drawing production.

As a leading expert in CAD and BIM technologies, Mr. Shimizu has provided training to design professionals, been invited to speak at several events, and has been interviewed for news articles and live televised broadcasts.

Throughout his professional career, Mr. Shimizu has also been engaged in AEC (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) education, serving as Adjunct Professor for several years at a local university where he taught night classes in CAD and BIM. His certifications include: Revit Certified Professional, AutoCAD Certified Professional, Autodesk Certified Training Instructor, Bluebeam Certified User, Bluebeam Certified Instructor, LEED Green Associate, Real Estate Salesperson (Hawai'i), Licensed Architect (Hawai'i).

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Jason Danielak

AIA | NCARB

Jason Danielak, AIA, NCARB, is the Program Director for Architecture at PABD. He is a Senior Architect and Project Manager at MOR Studio in Scottsdale AZ, bringing over a decade of experience to his role. Licensed in Arizona, Hawai‘i, and Florida, his work spans everything from residential homes to commercial projects to immersive environments.

Jason’s own journey into architecture was unconventional: after departing from a traditional education in architecture, he had a “first life” in healthcare administration. Later, as he became enamored with laser scanning and as-built documentation, he decided to pursue his architecture license through the NCARB Experience Path, earning his NCARB Certificate along the way. He also obtained a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), which inspired him to marry modern design with traditional elements that honor cultural heritage. Having lived and worked across the U.S.—from Connecticut to Florida, the Desert Southwest, and the islands of Hawai‘i—Jason brings a contextual understanding and cultural sensitivity to all of his design work.

Jason also founded JAD Design Services LLC as a traditional architecture practice and consulting firm, helping larger firms scale up and down with ease. He specializes in production work, 3D modeling, as-built documentation, and is an Autodesk Certified Professional in Revit.

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Miguel Cuadros

Allied ASID

Miguel Cuadros is an accomplished interior architect and project manager with 25 years of international luxury hotel, restaurant, mixed-use and residential design, management and development experience in the hospitality industry. As a Design Director, he orchestrates first-class design solutions, provides strategic leadership, and guides designers in understanding the owner's vision.

His design career started at the award-wining Barry Design Associates that specializes in designing interiors for luxury hotels, restaurants and residences around the world. Thereafter, he was offered leadership positions with many renowned international hospitality design firms such as HBA, Wilson Associates and WATG I Wimberly Interiors in Los Angeles. In 2011, he joined BUZ Design, an international design firm in Hong Kong as their Design Director where he provided creative design solutions to his clients and established a good rapport with elite international luxury hotel brands in the Pan-Asian region. Recently, he was the Owner's Representative and Senior Design Manager of a large international resort developer for three notable projects in Hawaii.

Notable Projects and Recognition:

  • The Atlantis Ko'Olina Resort and Spa, Hawaii
  • The Four Seasons Wailea Resort & Spa, Hawaii - AAA Five Diamond Award and Forbes Five-Star Award
  • The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hong Kong - Forbes Five-Star Award
  • The One & Only Ocean Club, Bahamas - Commitment to Quality Award 2004, and Forbes Five-Star Award
  • The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Arizona - AAA Four Diamond Resort
  • Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia, Arizona - One of the top hotels in the Southwest region by Conde Nast 2019, and Top Spa Worldwide by Spa Magazine
  • Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, Macao - Asia's Leading Fully Integrated Resort 2013

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Reiko Lewis

NCIDQ I CAPS I LEED AP BD+C

Reiko Lewis has nearly two decades of worldwide experience designing for some of the biggest names in the high-end hospitality interior design industry, including HBA and WATG. She has worked with a number of major hotels, chains and resort owners. Reiko's work has been featured in various trade magazines and displayed at hospitality design shows nationwide. In 2010, her firm, Ventus Design, received multiple Hawaii design awards for its first project, "Residence at Paiko Ridge." In 2004, Reiko's designs for the Royal and Presidential Suites at the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, Greece, were nominated for the prestigious Gold Key Award and featured in Architectural Digest. As a certified aging-in-place specialist (CAPS) for senior-living design work, Reiko directs her passion for design to this specialized area, meeting its challenges by applying universal design principles without sacrificing the aesthetics and gi (chi), or "energy," of the space.

Other awards and professional recognition include:

  • 2020 | The NAHB California's Remodelers Homes for Two-Story Award and finalist for Overall Best Design Award
  • 2019 | Building Industry Association Hawaii: Design and Construction Grand Award/Aging-ln-Place Remodeling
  • 2017 | Pacific Edge Magazine ("Hawaii's Business and Lifestyle Magazine"). Featured as one of the Top 10 leaders in the architectural field.
  • 2015 | ASID Hawaii: People's Choice Award for the design of "0's Residence"
  • 2013 | Smart Choice Award, California: for the design concept of "Your Home for Life" (Senior Residence Design)
  • 2004 | Furniture and Carpet design for Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC. Featured at the Hospitality Design Show in Las Vegas and publicized in several trade magazines.

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Matt Gilbertson

AIA | NCARB | LEED AP

Matt Gilbertson, AIA is the President and Director of Design at MGA Architecture in Honolulu, which he founded in 2008 after a decade of leadership at other local firms.

MGA Architecture is highly regarded for providing architectural services across the full spectrum of retail, hospitality, residential, healthcare and commercial clientele. Matt’s diverse, award-winning Oahu portfolio ranges from the signature Honolulu Design Center, Waikiki Business Plaza and Waikiki Shopping Plaza renovations, the Central Pacific Bank Flagship Branch reimagining, the iconic Matsumoto Shave Ice (North Shore) renovation, the new Pu‘unene Shopping Center on Maui, the Kū‘ono Marketplace in Kāhala, the $100 M Daniel K. Akaka State Veterans Home in Kapolei, and an abundance of retail boutiques, restaurants, and shopping malls throughout the islands.

MGA has been recognized annually as a “Top-10” Oahu architecture firm. MGA and Gilbertson have frequently been recognized by PBN, Pacific Edge, and other organizations and publications including multiple Fastest 50 Awards, Best New Business, Business Executive of the Year, and Outstanding Industry Veteran.

Throughout his career, Matt has made a commitment to seeking ways to expand the conversation on the intersection of architecture, art, design, and culture in Hawaii. Through his writing and speaking engagements, he has advocated for quality design, grounded in local traditions while aspiring to the future. From 2015-2020 he created and hosted “Design Talk Hawaii,” an hour-long weekly radio broadcast and podcast where he conversed with local creatives and explored the many ways that our lives and communities are served through art, culture, and creativity.

Matt received his Master of Architecture degree at the University of Minnesota, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, Waikiki Improvement Association, and is Charter Committee Chairperson for TEDx Waikiki.

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Christopher Blake

AIA I BSA

Chris Blake has over 35 years of experience as an architect and educator, having received his B.Arch from Boston Architectural Center, and his M.Arch from Harvard University. He has since worked for several prestigious architecture firms in New England, including Koetter Kim & Associates, Stubbins Associates, and Chan Krieger Strawbridge.

Some of the notable projects he was worked on include:

  • Oleana Restaurant - Cambridge, MA
  • European Community Ambassador's Residence - Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Auckland City Central Transportation Center - Auckland, New Zealand
  • Bose Corporation Campus Master Plan & Headquarters - Framingham, MA
  • Saint Paul's Choir School - Cambridge, MA
  • Taipei Center Master Plan - Taiwan

His work has been featured in: Maine Home+Design magazine, Boston Business Journal, Landscape Architecture magazine, HGTV, Martha Stewart Living, Assemblage 3, (MIT Press), and GSD News. He has also been the recipient of two BSA Interior Awards.

Besides his extensive professional practice, Chris has been consistently involved in teaching and mentoring aspiring design students. As a committed educator, he has held positions as Adjunct Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology since 2009; as Instructor and Thesis Advisor at Boston Architectural College from 1982-2011; and as Guest Lecturer/Critic at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Northeastern University, Roger Williams University, and University of Utah.

He is currently president/principal of two firms that focus on bespoke design and building: Machado Blake Design, an award-winning firm that specializes in residential design; and Hybridhaus, a design 'test-kitchen' specializing in prefabricated structures and housing.

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Marga Jann, M.Arch, M.St.

AIA I RIBA I IBA I DPUC I Cantab

Marga Jann has been a professor and practitioner of architecture in numerous countries across the globe while a Visiting Fellow/Research Associate at the University of Cambridge and Senior Fulbright Scholar. Her international academic experience is highly interdisciplinary and includes teaching stints at University of Hawai'i, Stanford, and Chaminade University. She has also taught in Paris (where she directed the Department of Environmental Design & Interior Architecture at Parsons School of Design), South Korea, The Bahamas, Cyprus, Budapest, Uganda, Britain, Sri Lanka, and Bolivia, among others. Her design work covers an equally broad geographical arena and her decades of experience in the design field and construction industry bring to PABD a wealth of expertise and creative thinking.

Professor Jann's work includes numerous schools, hotels, cafés, private residences, interiors, social housing projects, French competition winners, office buildings, and charitable projects in the developing world, often done in the context of academe where they serve as models for social entrepreneurship addressing social inequity and sustainability. These "live" projects have typically engaged universities as interdisciplinary service-based community design centers, offering students early hands-on experience towards the acquisition of missing practice-ready skills.

Professor Jann holds a B.A. with Honors from Swarthmore College, a M.Arch from Columbia University, and a M.St. (Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment) from University of Cambridge. She spent two years at ENSBA UP6 Paris where she became a member of the Ordre des Architectes by ministerial decision. Her work has been published in numerous international art and architecture magazines and books (Domus, JAE, Architectural Digest, Connaissance des Arts, Architecture Intérieure-CREE, l'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, NY Times, Ornamentalism). She is currently working on a sequel to her book, The Architect: Four Countries, Four Faces.

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Michelle Reyes

MID

Michelle Reyes is an accomplished design architect with more than a two decades of professional experience across various sectors, including residential, retail, hospitality, and corporate design. Proficient in using advanced computer-aided drafting tools to produce comprehensive construction documentation, Ms. Reyes’ passion lies in crafting innovative conceptual designs and spatial planning, while ensuring meticulous detail in design development.

Born in the Philippines, Ms. Reyes’ career began in Manila as a structural draftsperson at TransAsia and gained experience as an interior designer at Steven Leach + Associates. In Seoul, South Korea, whilst working as a CADD designer at Thomas J. Davis Inc, she was trained for the US Army Corp of Engineers, using the AIA standard documentation.

Later she became the in-house Project Designer for Colliers Jardine in Hong Kong. Before the British handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese government, she landed a post as a Project Coordinator at RSP Architects Engineers in Singapore. At DPK&A Architects LLP in Philadelphia PA, USA, she worked as an intern architect, and eventually moved to Zürich, Switzerland, where she was a Project Architect for several luxury retail brands at CAPS Architects.

After completing her master’s degree in interior design in Florence, Italy, she was hired by RBS Group in Zürich, as a Senior Consultant for workplace feasibility studies and design. She expanded her experience at Drees & Sommer in the role of workplace consultant.

Currently, Ms. Reyes is working as a freelance design consultant at CAD Job Design Studio in Zürich.

PEER PERSPECTIVES

Learn from industry experts about the profound influence our instructors have on shaping future architects and interior designers.

"Dr. Lockard's professional, creative and academic abilities far exceed others that I have met and worked with, and she has been one of the most dedicated and passionate professors I have had the pleasure of working with...Her devotion to teaching students is something rarely exhibited."

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Andy Kaufman, PhD

Professor & Landscape Architect
University of Hawaii

"Liza is innovative and a visionary, continually exploring new avenues through academics, as well as professional and community partnerships...ln today's global economy, this is an aptitude that all professionals admire and expect."

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Joan Riggs

Program Director
Environmental + Interior Design Program
Chaminade University

"Liza's connections within the local design community, paired with her ability to engage and include the community in meaningful ways, are a huge boon to her students and help set them on the path to a rich career."

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Keri Powlison

3Form

"Dr. Lockard's highest class standard is legendary among her students."​

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Yukio Ozaki

Professor Emeritus

"Liza has the necessary experience, vision, and local professional support to...facilitate the development of competent and well-trained students to fill the needs of Hawaii's professional design communities."

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Dwight Mitsunaga

Architect & Principal
Pacific Architects

"Students have always held Liza in the greatest regard, setting high expectations for a demanding profession...Her students have always expressed to me on many occasions their thanks for her demanding expectations, and [their] surprise at the quality of their work under her guidance...The CIDA accrediting team praised the professional quality of her students' work."

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Walter Takeda

Professor Emeritus

"Aaron was awesome in every aspect, exceeding my hopes and expectations! 5 stars for quality, 5 stars for customer service, and 5 stars for value for the money."

"We feel like we hit the jackpot with Aaron…He took all our concerns and questions to heart, and patiently reassured us that we weren’t totally in over our heads. We highly recommend Aaron Shimizu."

"Few people have the opportunity to work with the BIM Manager who is also a coach and mentor—but I did when I worked with Aaron. He is an excellent mentor…You earn my highest recommendation."

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Richa Biswakarma

Assistant Project Manager at Magnasoft​

"I can highly recommend Aaron Shimizu to anyone who has a high expectation for the best and who wants quality work with integrity, a strong work ethic, and quality construction outcomes."

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Dr. Don Sands

Hawaii Dental Hui

"College graduates have been historically underprepared for professional practice–the PABD program is finally doing something about it!"

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Jason Danielak, AIA

Principal, JAD Design Services

"The program at PABD is the way of the future for design education."

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Matt Gilbertson, AIA

Principal, MGA Architecture

LEARNING STYLES TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS

Explore a curriculum designed to be engaging. Our interactive courses bridge theory with real-world application, ensuring you’re industry-ready.
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Foundations for Excellence

Comprehensive curriculum tailored for real-world design proficiency.

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Courses That Engage

Diverse courses designed to elevate your creative skillset and technical knowledge.

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Credentials That Matter

Certificates to validate your expertise and boost your career.

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