A Big Step in the Big Apple!

We are excited to share New York’s Jessica Zofchak has been promoted to Associate Director!

Since her start at Atelier Ten in 2009 as an Environmental Designer, Jessica has been an integral member of Atelier Ten’s New York office. Jessica has consulted on highly ambitious projects, focusing on environmental design, sustainable masterplanning, and façade optimization. She used her focus and experience in daylight optimization to further advance Atelier Ten’s in-house daylight and façade optimization tools which help inform daylighting, visual comfort, thermal comfort, and energy performance of building façades for projects. Through her current role as leader of the masterplan practice, Jessica has advised several institutions on visionary frameworks that strive to create a development identity grounded in environmental performance and equity while reducing resource consumption and impacts on climate change. Some of her work includes the LEED Platinum and Net-Zero ready Benjamin P. Grogan and Jerry L. Dove Federal Building, the LEED Gold Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, and the Kendall Square Masterplan at MIT. To celebrate her promotion, we asked Jessica a few questions…

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on at Atelier Ten?

Some of my favorite projects would be the MIT planning projects including Net Zero Campus work, Kendall Square mixed-use development, and Volpe development currently in the design phase, where our team has contributed masterplan visioning, helped set ambitious carbon reductions, tested district-scale infrastructure opportunities, and emphasized environmental design.

What’s your favorite part about working at Atelier Ten?

Being able to connect and engage with colleagues who are genuinely motivated with similar ambitions to positively impact the built environment, our communities, and beyond!

What are you most excited for in your new role as Associate Director?

Being able to take a step back and have the flexibility to think more strategically about project goals and ambitions while also being able to contribute to the direction of Atelier Ten through the lens of people and culture, helping to define who we want to be as we grow as an organization.

What sustainability priorities have you seen in the built environment industry lately? Have you seen any major shifts in priorities since you started at Atelier Ten?

The way we approach environmental design has shifted. Our approach to design, driven by our client’s environmental goals, is more human-centric through optimizing performance for human comfort, healthy building strategies, and post-occupancy analysis. Owners want to understand how design decisions impact real operations and how the building will potentially interact and perform with its occupants.

Any exciting news outside of work?

I recently finished the installation of my 21 kW PV array with battery storage, to tie into our (mostly) electrified house with ground source heat pumps and a highly insulated envelope beyond standard residential construction… which will ultimately get us to a net-zero energy home. Oh, and my youngest son is almost (already!) turning 1!

We are thrilled to welcome Jessica into her new role and look forward to seeing her create a more sustainable world as Associate Director.