TAKE IT FURTHER

We are dreamers and innovators, which means our job is to ask, “What if?” We believe in thinking big and taking chances in our work – which means pushing boundaries beyond the accepted status quo.

MAKE IT WORK

Big ideas are important, but we also realize design is just the beginning of the job. At the end of the day, every line we draw matters long after our work is done – so we prioritize practicality and end user experience.

BRAD MASCAL, LEED AP BD+C, SHP

Designer | Brad@HarkaHQ.com

Originally from Kansas City, Brad joins Harka after spending the last seven years at firms in San Francisco and Tucson, AZ. Brad is motivated by environmental stewardship as implemented in architectural design and lifestyle choices. 

While working in San Francisco, Brad specialized in design practices that emphasized well being and quality in adaptive reuse spaces. In Tucson, Brad assisted with historic restoration & preservation and residential & commercial design projects with a focus on sustainable building methods. Having designed and built his own tiny, eco dwelling, located on a dense urban lot in Portland, Brad believes in implementing his design values in his personal life as well. Brad has worked closely with Natural Building Works, and volunteered with Watershed Management Group, in Tucson to expand his knowledge of natural building materials, native and adaptive landscape design, and rainwater harvesting.

Brad is LEED accredited and holds a Masters in Architecture from Kansas State University. He participates in all phases of a project from design to construction administration. Brad is spatially inclined and creates designs that are sensitive to the surrounding environment.

Brad finds solace and inspiration in nature. If he is not busy designing or building something, he likely has a lightweight backpack strapped on his back and a trail under his Altra-clad feet. Brad completed the entirety of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2016, a journey that ultimately led him to reside in Portland and in close proximity to its unique and diverse environs.

MELISSA RUSSELL, SHP

Designer | Melissa@HarkaHQ.com

Originally from rural Texas, Melissa joined Harka at the start of 2022 after spending the last five years working on her degree in Oklahoma. Melissa’s interest in sustainable design comes from an appreciation of the natural world and a desire for climate justice.

Melissa graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Architecture from Oklahoma State University along with a graduate certificate in Integrated Design of the Building Envelope. During her time at university, she focused on material health and performance, eventually studying the impacts of material lifespan on embodied and operational carbon of buildings for her graduate study. This research led to an interest in life-cycle analysis and technological performance-based design.

She also spent time abroad in Southeast Asia studying the unique architectural phenomenology of ultra-urban environments, where she gained a further understanding of the interactions and relationships between architecture, its surrounding communities, and the environment. Melissa is passionate about creating healthy spaces that promote symbiotic relationships between people, nature, and their communities.

Outside of architecture, Melissa spends her time exploring the natural landscape in Oregon with her cat. She is also a digital artist and watercolorist who enjoys music and thrifting.

SARA MAHONEY
LEED AP BD+C

Designer | Sara@HarkaHQ.com

Sara’s interest in the built environment grew from a young age as she worked with her family’s home building company. She pursued a career in architecture and urban design out of a desire to discover innovative, affordable ways to integrate sustainable strategies into traditional building practice. She is interested in the ways that our built environments structure our daily habits, provide a framework for our relationship to the natural world, and inform how we interact with others and engage with our communities. Sara is passionate about developing ethical, holistic design solutions that are socially and environmentally responsible over their entire life-cycles, while being accessible to everyone across the socioeconomic spectrum, including those traditionally underserved by the design community.

Sara graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon and during her studies traveled to Italy to study traditional town form and Finland to study modern Finnish architecture. She has a minor in geography and enjoys spending her free time exploring the Pacific Northwest. Sara worked for a green building nonprofit learning and implementing sustainable building techniques, particularly at an affordable level. After graduating, she worked at mid-scale firms gaining experience working on a wide variety of international and domestic projects. She has been with Harka since May of 2016.

Sara also loves disco, karaoke, and dogs.

TROY BORRON

Designer | Troy@HarkaHQ.com

For Troy, an early interest in art and construction created a natural path to architecture. A few years working as a carpenter led him to architecture school at Montana State University. He continued to blend the art of construction with architecture through school and at various points in his career including doing design-build projects.

After graduating MSU with a Bachelor of Architecture, Troy worked in an office in San Francisco for a couple of years before moving to New Mexico for nearly three decades. He was a part of several offices working on various project types including single-family homes, restaurants, micro-breweries, offices and publicly funded projects such as libraries and community centers and he is a registered architect in New Mexico.

Troy’s interest in how we experience the world informs his design approach. Seeking an understanding of existence and meaning in the world and the experience for humans, he continues to pursue design and construction practices that have a sustainable impact on, and are integral with, our built and natural environment.

JOSH PEAK

Project Architect | Josh@HarkaHQ.com

Hailing from southern Louisiana, Josh has a background in a variety of commercial and civic projects. Beginning his career in 2006, he cut his teeth working on Baton Rouge's main branch library, which was one the first LEED certified public buildings in the region at the time. 

For 14 years, he worked on other large, award-winning projects with a great team, but as he watched 100-year storms and floods sweep through his state year after year like a drumbeat, he knew he wanted to join the effort to make the built environment more sustainable. And where better to do it than a region known for innovation? Of course, the PNW's reputation for wilderness, beer, and music could also have played a role. 

In late 2020, Josh drove his then-fiance and retriever across the country in the height of the pandemic to join the Harka team in Portland. He's since found that he loves working with clients to create personal, custom homes. There's a level of intimacy and fit that can be accomplished in a residence which is much harder, if not impossible, to achieve in a building that serves thousands of people. It's that 'fit' that is so satisfying to a conscientious designer. 

Outside of the office, Josh loves exploring the trails, waterways and coast of the PNW with his wife and their 11-year old puppy. For most of those 11 years, Josh had dreamt of getting his water-dog into the rivers and lakes of the Northwest and has thoroughly enjoyed introducing her, one stick-retrieval at a time.

PATRICK DONALDSON, AIA, LEED AP, CEM, CPHC

Principal Architect | Patrick@HarkaHQ.com

Patrick Donaldson is a registered architect in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. He has a diverse background working with many building types such as museums, historical theaters, retail facilities, restaurants, emergency response structures, multi-family, master plans, and single-family homes.

Patrick received Bachelor’s degree in upstate New York from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Art History and Architectural Studies, then went on to get his Masters in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. During this time he studied in Europe which gave him invaluable urban design experience. Prior to arriving in Portland in 2004, he spent five months as a volunteer in Nepal designing a school, which changed the trajectory of his career.

The experience led to spending 9 years at Communitecture as the sole Project Architect and company Director. There he focused on cutting-edge sustainable design and natural building with a strong community platform. He is a LEED Accredited Professional, a Certified Energy Manager, and a Certified Passive House Consultant. With a broad understanding of energy conservation and construction methods, he is a talented designer, problem solver, and valuable on-site representative.

Patrick has been playing rugby since 1993 and served as President of the Portland Rugby Club for five years. He spends many of his weekends playing matches in the Northwest. He is also into bicycling, motorcycling, record collecting, learning piano, performing improv, and garage sales.

SARAH HURT

Lead Interior Designer | Salbert@HarkaHQ.com

Sarah grew up in a small Minnesota town surrounded by bluffs, trees and rivers. The solace she found in the natural environment and the simplicity of life uninterrupted by technology and distraction sparked a deep connection to nature at an early age. 

She studied Psychology and Sociology at the University of LaCrosse-Wisconsin and spent her 20s working directly with dual-diagnosis children severely affected by autism and other mental illnesses. 

After moving to Portland in 2004, she continued that work but wanted to support and implement change in a different way and received a degree in Interior Design with a focus on sustainability from The Art Institute of Portland. 

Her background in single-family residences, multi-family projects, hospitality, solar array design, LEED  consulting and furniture design provides a diverse and multifaceted approach with the ability to look at the bigger picture. Her strong technical skills and experience taking projects from concept to completion has built an emphasis on attention to detail and the ability to pivot towards resolution when issues arise. 

She strives to promote the well-being of our planet, our communities, and our individual lives through simple and sustainable design solutions. The desire to push the boundaries of design, redefining and reinventing the way materials and objects are used in the built environment remains a constant in her process. Her moral compass guides with the belief that sustainable design is not an option, it is the only responsible way. 

In her free time, you can find her running the woods with her dog Lenny, throwing pottery, biking to work, smashing volleyballs, refinishing furniture and playing shows in her long-time folk band The Oh My Mys.