Leadership

Michael Kyes, AIA, Phius CPHC

I’m an experienced architect, educator, and industry integrator focused on the intersection of architectural design, building science, immersive XR, and collaborative project delivery. My work centers on helping designers, builders, owners, and manufacturers better understand how buildings come together through clearer communication, more effective coordination, and shared technical understanding. I’ve always been especially interested in the space between design intent and real-world execution, where collaboration, trust, and technical clarity have the greatest impact on project success.

Throughout my career, I’ve worked across diverse project markets including hospitality, education, mission critical, life science, residential, and retail. My roles have ranged from designer, project architect, and project manager to architecture department leader within a 200+ person integrated A/E practice. Alongside conventional roles, I’ve also focused on advancing digital workflows, mentoring teams, fostering design culture, and connecting people across disciplines. Over the years, I’ve helped offices and teams evolve from CAD to BIM, computational workflows, visualization technologies, AI, and immersive XR, always with a focus on improving how people communicate, coordinate, and make decisions together. For 11 years, I led an architecture department responsible for staffing, mentorship, professional development, and research-driven innovation initiatives. During that time, I helped hire more than 90 professionals and founded IQ Projects, a firmwide research and quality improvement initiative engaging over 100 participants across disciplines. More recently, I’ve been focused on the transformative potential of immersive XR to strengthen collaboration and technical understanding throughout the AEC industry, which led to the launch of DSCVR Studio.

Outside of practice, I enjoy teaching, knowledge-sharing, and building relationships across both the AEC and XR communities. I’ve collaborated with students through local design universities, participated in BSA knowledge communities and related industry groups, and connected with XR researchers and practitioners internationally. Volunteer and humanitarian work have also been an important part of my journey, including helping design and build a children’s home in Nepal and leading the design of a K–8 school currently under construction. I’m always interested in thoughtful conversations that connect design, technology, construction, education, and research in meaningful and practical ways.