Danielle Wyss Dolan, AIA, NCARB
Principal, Founder
Danielle co-founded SHIFT in 2014 and has more than 28 years of experience in architecture and design. SHIFT launched just weeks prior to beginning her Fellowship at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and after having designed and managed more than 50 projects in corporate, high-end residential, restaurant, resort, speculative development and urban development projects. Since 2014 SHIFT has designed over 150 million dollars worth of residential and commercial construction.
Prior to Shift, Danielle spent seven years with the award-winning Fergus Garber Young Architects in Palo Alto, California as the lead architect and project manager for the private residences of executives at Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Tenaya Capital, TA Associates, RIM, IGT, and other top firms. Previous to FGY (now FGA), Danielle built the architecture department inside of the Wingfield Nevada Group in preparation for the design of a an entirely new city proposed north of Las Vegas. Danielle has also worked as an architect at Jarvis Architects in Berkeley, CA, MacLeod Designs in Aspen, CO, Freiheit & Ho Architects in Bellevue, WA, and Waldemar Eklof Architect in Reno, NV.
With a strong emphasis on sustainability, Danielle has in her portfolio a Net Zero “Passive House” which is among the most energy- and resource-efficient new residences in the United States. She has lectured on sustainable design at Singularity University housed in the NASA Research Park at Moffat Field and at the SFAIA NEXT Conference.
Danielle is also formerly a co-founder of three technology startups. As CEO of Boqa Inc., she designed, built and launched the nation’s first truly democratized opinion-polling platform on the web. As President of Formwork, she designed a website, tablet, and smartphone application for intuitive and simple document collaboration for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry. As a co-founder of YVOLV she helped develop what would have been the first sustainable building materials marketplace on the web.
Danielle is an NCARB certified licensed architect in every state as well as a member of the American Institute of Architects. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2001 and her Master of Science in Business Administration from Stanford University in 2015.
Here is some press about Danielle in the Financial Times, the Stanford Graduate School of Business News, & as the cover story of PUNCH Monthly Magazine’s July 2019 issue.
Mina Nishio Mower
Mina is a licensed architect in the State of California. She received her Master in Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and her Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies from UCLA. She currently collaborates with SHIFT on their high-end single family residential projects, involved in all stages of the process including design, permitting, detailing, interior architecture, and construction administration.
Mina also founded her own practice, Nishio Design.
Kelly Kopelson, Associate AIA
After more than ten years in residential and commercial architecture and interior design Kelly helped to co-found SHIFT. She is devoted to service, artistry, and sustainability and is still a frequent contributor to Shift’s architectural design and interior design projects as one of our primary team leads and creative talents.
Prior to SHIFT, Kelly spent eight years at the award-winning Melander Architects in San Francisco. During her time there she provided exemplary design and attentive service to Melander Architect's blue chip clientele. In 2005 Kelly earned her Masters degree in Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin, where she was an endowment recipient and an AIA award recipient. Upon graduation, she was hired by the university's Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Kevin Alter to work at his own firm, Alterstudio Architects. Prior to graduate school, Kelly completed her undergraduate education at Stanford University in 1998 with a Bachelors degree in Communication.
Kelly is also co-owner of K & House Architects, Inc.
Peter Benoit, AIA
Peter Benoit has more than 17 years of experience in architecture and design. Peter is a lead architect for SHIFT’s adaptive reuse commercial projects. Prior to founding his own firm, Peter worked at Melander Architects, Inc. in San Francisco, Helfand Myerberg Guggenheimer Architects in New York City, Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects in Boston, and as a carpenter with John Pierce & Co. in Massachusetts.
Peter received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia. He received his Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, earning the Paul M. Braun Fellowship and AIA/AAF Scholarship, and participated in the University's first Interdisciplinary Transit Oriented Design Studio in Tianjin, China.
Peter was part-time faculty for seven years at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He taught design studio, thesis advising, perspective drawing and freehand drawing in both the undergraduate and graduate departments. He has been a guest critic at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California School of Architecture.
Peter also founded his own practice, Peter Benoit Architect, Inc
Tim Cousino
Tim has over a decade of experience both nationally and internationally, working on a wide range of project types and scales. Tim holds the aspiration or belief that each project should be a wholistic experience. From the first impression, or moment one approaches the site until they find themselves in the deepest parts of the interior, it should all work together - Ideally, in a way that reshapes a person’s interface with the world around them in some positive way. He’s an an architect and designer, but has found that if that is the ultimate goal, his job is to check his ego at the door and work with the team (the client and other experts) in a cohesive way.
Tim also founded his own practice, Augment Architecture.