Tom Knittel is HDR’s design director for sustainability and a design principal in our Los Angeles studio. He actively leads the design direction of projects and our global efforts on low-carbon solutions. His current mass timber projects on the U.S. West Coast and Asia use our carbon-balancing methodology, targeting net-zero emitted carbon on day one for structure, core and shell.  

He's a frequent lecturer on design innovation, and the potential for long-term carbon sequestration of buildings at-scale, to reduce the climate impact of urbanization. Tom earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a recipient of over 25 design awards. He was the pro-bono design leader for an all-volunteer team for the U.S. Green Building Council's Children’s Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The LEED Platinum and WELL Gold goals achieved triple net-zero in 2021.

His recent mass timber projects include the Orange County Sanitation District HQ, mass timber design and bridging documents for the WSU Plant Biosciences Research Lab in Pullman Washington. For the new business center for BMS outside of Seattle, where mass timber was not feasible due to schedule, lowering embodied carbon is achieved through design efficiency, and low-carbon steel and concrete choices.