The Team

Ronald J. Sakal, Executive Director
Sallie A. Hood, Director of Design

In their professional practice of architecture and urban design, CBC Executive Director, Ronald Sakal, and Director of Design, Sallie Hood, have developed their ideas about sustainable design since the early 1980s by working in metropolitan Chicago, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico, and California. They’ve dealt with situations as simple as a street too wide to cross safely — and as tricky as finding a way to cluster pedestrian-friendly car dealerships on a California property constrained by a 10-lane freeway, a drainage channel, and a huge refinery. Their Santa Fe project, “Solana Neighborhood Center 2038: A Model for Growth Without Sprawl,” won the 1999 Ahwahnee Award of Honor for Regional Planning in the 14 western states, and professional awards from the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects. The Chicago Historical Society in 1988 commissioned them to create three murals depicting a promising urban design future for downtown Chicago; these award-winning visions have been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. They’ve been regular invited presenters at the International Making Cities Livable Conferences and the Traditional Building Exhibition and Conferences. They’ve also made invited presentations at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the Sierra Business Council´s third Planning for Prosperity advanced seminar for local decision-makers, Chicago´s Business and Professional People for the Public Interest´s Roundtable Discussion Series, 1000 Friends of New Mexico´s Lecture Series, and the biannual conference of the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Harold Henderson, Director of Communications

Harold Henderson grew up in central Illinois and graduated from Carleton College with a degree in sociology. He has worked full-time as a professional writer since 1980, first for Illinois Times in Springfield, and from 1985 to 2007 for the Chicago Reader. In these capacities he published hundreds of in-depth feature stories about Midwestern people, places, history, environment, politics, books, architecture, urban affairs, urban planning, and urban design — including accounts of Jens Jensen, Jane Addams, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dana-Thomas House, the prehistoric city of Cahokia Mounds, Prairie Avenue Bookshop, and Mary Pattillo’s critical study of Chicago urban policy Black on the Block. In 1989 and 2004 he covered Sakal and Hood’s work. Since 1987 he has been the regular book reviewer for Planning magazine, published 11 times a year by the American Planning Association in Chicago. He has written three books: Seizing the Day (1983), Catalyst for Controversy: Paul Carus of Open Court (1993), and Let’s Kill Dick and Jane (2006).

Paula Bodnar
Visiting Associate Professional Specialist
Department of Art, Art History, and Design

Paula Bodnar’s experience in the field of design spans 17 years and includes: architectural signage design for various Chicago properties; corporate communications design for Helene Curtis (now Unilever); corporate retail branding and marketing design at Crate and Barrel where, during her 9 year tenure, she became a design manager and was instrumental in building and managing all areas of the in-house department (growing a department of 4 to 20+). Paula is currently a freelance graphic designer/art director and teaches graphic design at the University of Notre Dame, her alma mater, from which she graduated with a BA in Design in 1990.

Yahya C. “Gino” Kurama
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences

Yahya C. “Gino” Kurama holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Lehigh University. His research interests include concrete structures, steel/concrete hybrid and composite structures, earthquake engineering and structural dynamics, and structural fire engineering.

Los Angeles Studio Program

Advisor and Coordinator

Donald R. Spivack joined the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA ) in 1982 and has been Deputy Chief of Operations and Policy since October 2006. He has been responsible for overseeing significant development, redevelopment, and revitalization activities in and around the Downtown Core, Hollywood, the East Side, and portions of the San Fernando Valley. Currently he oversees the agency’s strategic planning, policy development, and professional services units. Prior to coming to the agency, he was Chief of Community Planning of the Montgomery County, Maryland Planning Department for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Director of Physical Planning of the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority, and Assistant Professor of Architecture and Planning at Ohio University.

Advisor and Visiting Faculty

Edward T. Huang joined CRA/LA in 1985, and is currently a Senior Planner for the Downtown Region working on revitalization and sustainable development for Downtown LA. He is certified as a professional planner by the American Institute of Certified Planners and certified as a green building professional by Build It Green. He is active in community service, and currently is a member of the Sustainability Committee of the California Redevelopment Association, General Plan Advisory Committee of the City of Arcadia, and Arcadia Beautiful Commission. He also serves as advisor to several planning and building agencies in China. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Portland State University, and he has taught at PSU and the University of Petroleum & Minerals in Saudi Arabia, as well as a number of universities in Southern California. Currently he holds adjunct or visiting professor positions in Shenyang Jianzhu University, Zhengzhou University, Sias International University, Guangxi University and China Agricultural University, China.

Advisor and Visiting Faculty

Borzou Rahimi is Construction Supervisor at CRA/LA with a focus on the commercial buildings in the Downtown and Eastside regions. He directs the managing, planning, scheduling, evaluating, financing, and implementing of rehabilitation and construction there. Before coming to the agency, he was construction manager with Quantum Consulting and urban designer with the Culver City Redevelopment Agency. He holds a doctorate of architecture from the University of Rome.

Interns

Elijah Pearce is a fifth-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame, also pursuing a minor in Catholic Social Thought. Before coming to work as an intern for the Center for Building Communities, Elijah interned for the architecture firms Cowart Coleman in Savannah, Georgia, and PMSM Architects in Santa Barbara. Through a grant from the Center for Social Concerns, he also completed an independent research project analyzing the energy usage of low-income housing in his hometown of Savannah. At Notre Dame Elijah co-heads Green Arkies ND, Notre Dame’s green architecture club, and he leads a student design team working with the nonprofit organization Building Tomorrow in Uganda.

Chris DeChiaro is a fifth-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame, pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture with a concentration in Furniture Design. Chris has interned at Cooper, Robertson & Partners and Ferguson & Shamamian Architects in New York City, and worked on the construction of a new school with Bovis Lend Lease in Elizabeth, New Jersey. At Notre Dame, Chris co-heads Green Arkies ND, works with Habitat for Humanity, and is a teaching assistant for beginning furniture classes.

Related Offices at Notre Dame

Notre Dame’s Office of Sustainability was established in January 2008 with the task of supporting “continual improvement in building design and operations, landscaping, procurement, energy and water conservation, waste disposal, recycling and service provision,” and to “integrate sustainability principles across all operational areas of the university.” Learn more.