Our Professional Partners
Katie McCamant, President
Katie brings the depth and diversity of her 35 years of experience as a developer, architect and cohousing resident to benefit her clients. Coauthor of Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, the book that introduced cohousing to North America, and more recently, Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities, Katie co-founded McCamant & Durrett Architects/The CoHousing Company with Charles Durrett. More recently, she started CoHousing Solutions as a development consulting firm to share best practices and systems for successful collaborative development. She works with urban, suburban and rural communities all across North America, helping them define and implement their development strategy and build the professional team they need. She lived for 12 years at Doyle Street Cohousing in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now lives at Nevada City Cohousing in the Sierra Foothills.
Shelly Parks, Marketing & Sales Consultant
CoVision Consulting was founded by Shelly Parks. In 2017, Shelly left her nationally recognized career leading Sales and Marketing teams for start-up Continuing Care Retirement Communities to found CoVision Consulting. Shelly now shares her marketing experience and skills, along with her passion for cohousing, with cohousing groups. Her driving force is the belief that we live better together in community and she wakes up every morning thinking of ways to bring more people into cohousing.
Shelly is a an affiliate of Cohousing Solutions and she and her husband are members of Skagit Commons, a cohousing community under construction in Anacortes, WA.
UD+P
For UD+P, a great real estate opportunity is one that benefits communities, tenants, neighbors, local businesses and the environment. Their hands-on approach to financing, designing, constructing and managing properties is based on a long-term vision for their business and a commitment to operating in a way that supports the character and vitality of our cities and their residents.
Brad Gunkel, Principal
For 30 years, Brad has lived in, managed, designed, and built communities at the forefront of social and ecological exploration and awareness. His goal as an architect, regardless of project type, is always to create spaces that inspire and empower. This vision remains at the heart of the firm today.
Brad has many favorite projects but his time working with Paolo Soleri, the Italian pioneer of sustainable community design, at Arcosanti in the mid to late 90’s will always hold a special place in his heart. The combination of big ideas, roughly hewn hand-crafted modern architecture, the unorthodox delineation of space, and the blurred line between interior and exterior environments found at Arcosanti excites his soul. Beyond the office, Brad enjoys going on adventures with his wife, Marie, hiking, backpacking, astronomy, poetry, and oil painting.
Amber Lee Baker, Project Manager
Amber is a natural communicator and facilitator with almost 20 years of experience. As Project Manager / Project Architect for Gunkel Architecture, Amber guides clients through the process of creating homes and spaces for themselves and others. While growing up, she was often involved in helping her civil engineer dad take on a variety of home improvement projects. She has a great appreciation for design, and her love of the multitude of design styles makes it easy for her to support other people in expressing their visions. Amber enjoys playing the accordion, singing, and writing music. She has recorded albums, and at one point took a three-year break from architecture to be a touring musician.
Claire Luo, Project Architect
Claire uses her talents in solving problems and technical proficiency to help improve the lives of other people as well as the environment. She has worked for over 15 years in the Bay Area leading in the development of multi-family housing communities, with a focus on construction documents and construction administration. Clare can be found outside of work spending time with her kids, cooking, and enjoying music. When pictures of what she considers good architecture design and decoration catch her eye, she collects them – she particularly loves the historic details and character of the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.
Hasti Ahmadi, Designer
Hasti believes in William Wurster’s assertion that architecture is a social art first and foremost. As a Designer for Gunkel Architecture, she enjoys every stage of her work – from design to construction documents and site visits – because she is conscious of the complexity of each project and how they serve to change our society. For example, the Santiago Baha’i House of Worship in Chile reflects innovations in materials, technology, and structure while maintaining traditional building elements of the Baha’i faith. Hasti is an adventurous person who enjoys discovering new hobbies and places to explore, and helping people whenever she can.
Karin Kaufman, Landscape Architect
Karin Kaufman has over 20 years of sustainable landscape design experience. Her eye for elegance and enduring beauty has enabled her to create unique connections between natural and built environments ranging from Lake Tahoe estates to valley vineyards, organic farms, and coastal retreats. She uses sustainably sourced and durable materials to create personal environments tailored to each client’s unique lifestyle and setting. Motivated by her principle of using landscape to foster wellbeing, Karin weaves climate-appropriate plantings with art and architecture to promote deep respect for the natural environment and encourage seamless indoor-outdoor living.