Stephen grew up in the Midwest, earned an engineering undergraduate degree, drove a nuclear submarine, and then did some carpentry before settling down to pursue his lifelong passion in architecture. After attending the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Master of Architecture, he worked on a variety of residential and commercial projects in Philadelphia and New York. He established his own design firm in 2006 and relocated to the Bay Area in 2011.
Stephen lives in Oakland with his very supportive wife and their two amazing children. When Stephen can break away from work, he loves to coach soccer or go for a swim.
Monica graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 2001. In 2009 she earned her Masters in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA Monica was part of a 7 person team led by Thom Mayne, in conjunction with Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, helping to research, design and construct a prefabricated, sustainable and affordable floating house in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Prior to joining Verner Architects in 2014, Monica gathered over ten years of experience working in the Bay Area and Los Angeles on custom residential, public safety, and tenant improvement projects.
Monica was raised in Walnut Creek, California and currently lives in Berkeley with her husband and two daughters. Outside of the office, Monica enjoys long walks, drinking tea, reading design blogs, and impromptu dance parties in the kitchen with her daughters.
Braulio Soto grew up in Napa Valley and attended school at UC Berkeley where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a minor in City and Regional Planning. He went on to work on a variety of projects for Touro University and other civic and commercial projects in the East Bay. He returned to school to receive a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Illinois where he joined the Urban Research Lab, participated in the Rotch Traveling Studio in Japan, and was selected for the Technische Universität München exchange program. He returned to the Bay Area where he has spent the last three years working in residential design.
Outside the office, Braulio can be found either biking or running around the trails of the North and East Bay.
David Swaim is a proud California native. He was raised in Southern California, studied in Central California, and settled in Northern California. In 2011, he earned his Bachelors of Architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with a minor in sustainable design. During his studies, David participated in the Furniture Design program at DIS in Copenhagen, developing his hands-on approach to design. Prior to joining Verner Architects, David worked as a public artist, garden designer, and an architectural model maker.
As a self proclaimed 'Maker', David spends the majority of his time outside the office tinkering in his garage, making a general mess, and pushing the limits of his wife's patience.
Verner Architects is a small dedicated team of architects working with great clients in the Bay Area. We focus on residential projects, both new construction and renovations, tending towards a modern aesthetic.
