CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING
At Studio InSitu, we design to amplify what's best about each project's place, and to enrich the meaning it holds for the people who use it.
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W. Timothy Hess AIA, CNU, SEED
Principal, Design Director
Tim’s passion and capacity for designing authentic contextual places, and comprehensive immersive environments has been recognized with regional and national awards for several of the homes, neighborhoods, flagship retail stores, and restaurants he has designed. Tim earned a professional B'Arch at Cornell University and practiced with leading firms in New York City (Pompei AD, Sills Hunniford) and Greenwich, Connecticut (Haverson Architecture & Design) before moving to Massachusetts in 2004. He developed a thriving design department in three years with Groton Design/Build contractor (Platt Builders), broadened and modernized the vocabulary in several years as a principal with a staid Concord, MA Architecture firm (DSK), and integrates all of this broad experience in his place-making practice at Studio InSitu.
In 2009, Tim founded the Moonlight Studio, a volunteer after-hours program whose motto is “we design like we give a damn”. The studio has designed entries for the SHIFTboston, Build-a-Better-‘Burb, New Bedford Whaling Museum, and Waltham’s Embassy Park competitions, placing 2nd in New Bedford. Other Moonlight projects include a deep-green 20-acre artists’ co-housing neighborhood and farm, and a light-green house for the North-Central MASS chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Tim advocates for sustainability and community as a member of the International Living Building Institute, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the SEEd network promoting a development paradigm with a triple-bottom-line of Social, Economic, and Environmental benefits. Tim chaired the Maynard Cultural Council through official state recognition of the Assabet Village Cultural District, and served on the town's Coolidge School Re-Use Task Force. He served the Town of Groton on the Planning Board, Open Space and Recreation Committee, Station Avenue Design Guidelines Committee, and chaired the Design Review Committee for the Town Center Overlay District. In 2013, Tim served on the AIA's R/UDAT Charrette Team to re-vision and revitalize the town of Seabrook Island, SC, proposing specific schemes and initiatives aimed at opening-up the gated community to the vitality and prosperity of inclusion.
Tim conducts Professional Design Peer Review for the Town of Maynard, and serves on the Boards of the Maynard Business Alliance and ArtSpace Maynard. He is also a Corporator at Emerson Hospital.
In 2008, Tim taught a design studio in the Architecture+Design program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and has returned many times as a guest critic in undergraduate and graduate studios there.
Nicholas King, M.Arch
Assistant Project Manager
Nicholas King is a new addition to Studio InSitu as he recently graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from Roger Williams University. During his time there Nick received a BAC Design Award and was 1st place in Comprehensive Studio Design while serving as a TA in the Digital Marketing Program and a member of the Fabrication Lab. After graduating Nick joined a construction firm, gaining valuable experience working in Residential Construction|Construction Management and learning the rigors of planning, organizing, scheduling, directing, controlling, and finishing a project. Nicks's passion for design is rooted in sustainability and a deep curiosity about how things are put together. His curiosity led him to study abroad in Barcelona, where he witnessed how historic European cities have transformed themselves without losing their character; growing new modern flanges that deepen their built environment and further influence our experiences and emotions. Over the last few years, he has come to realize that design is a powerful tool in enhancing everyday life, improving our relationship to the built world and the natural; that a holistic sense of place is created in recognizing the two...
Nick enjoys viewing the world from all angles and recently acquired a Part 107 License which allows him to fly drones commercially,
which he plans to use to help his design process.
In his free time, Nick also loves cooking, rock climbing, and visits to his orthopedic surgeon.
Natalie Leighton-Hess
Designer, Office Manager
Natalie is committed to the congruent and holistic manifestation of an environment's purpose and attitude in users' immersion and experience there. She has a sculptor's love of form and a maker's love of materials' colors and textures, tactility and reaction to light.
Nat is a graduate of the Architecture+Design program at UMass|Amherst where she explored materiality and experience in painting, film, graphic design, furniture design, and photography.
Josh La Liberte
Architectural Designer/Drafter
Josh has been with Studio InSitu since its inception in 2014. Graduating in 2009 from UMASS Amherst with a degree in Architecture and Design, he took part in several Moonlight Studio investigations and competitions, including Millbrooktown Plaza in Concord, MA and Summer Star's wildlife trail interventions / points of discovery before joining InSitu. Josh has a vast knowledge of contextual location land use. His passion and talent for urban planning and downtown development is integral to the robust, thoughtful design we aspire to for commercial and public projects. Josh is a key member of our design team; creating detailed renderings, preparing schematic and construction documents, drawings, generating plans and custom specifications.
Josh has traveled the world in Google Street View, curates an esoteric art and structures board on Pinterest, and prefers car repair to car travel.
Megan Rajner, M.Arch
Assistant Project Manager/LEED Green Associate
As designers, we have a responsibility to not only care about, but also be an advocate for the world around us. It is for this reason that Megan has a passion for understanding building science and is committed to learning about the ever evolving “most sustainable” design strategies. Megan graduated with a Master of Architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where she was president of the National Association of Home Builders student chapter and participated in the annual NAHB Residential Construction Management Competition. She has both small- and large-scale residential experience from architecture firms across MA & NY, but always been drawn toward the level of organization and efficiency required in the design small spaces. Her M.Arch thesis, “Hot Rodding Mobile” aimed to propel a new nomadic generation through architecture to achieve more affordable, investible dwelling solutions. The conception of this thesis was ironically pre-COVID, and revolved around customizing mobile dwelling units to take advantage of travel in a world where so much can be accomplished remotely.
It’s not often that Megan’s brain switches off design mode, but when it does its usually to watch Grey’s Anatomy, to whip up a new creation in the kitchen, to buy more plants, or to spend time snuggling her silver lab, Josie.
Daniela King
Architectural Designer/Intern
Dani joined Studio InSitu this summer after participating in a Cultural exchange program in the US. She graduated from her BArch with Honors from Universidad Santo Tomás Colombia where she is originally from. During her bachelor's degree she won excellence awards and got the Highest recognition in her Thesis, designing a Wellness Center in her hometown, Bucaramanga, Colombia. While working on her thesis she discovered her passion for the concept of architecture and well being, rooted in Biophilic Design and its holistic approach to architecture. She is convinced that architecture should be used to connect with nature rather than distance from it and she plans to continue exploring these relationships and sustainable design as her career develops; designing spaces consciously in order to improve people's quality of life. Her goal is to go back to school next fall to pursue her Master's degree in Architecture at Northeastern.
She is fluent in spanish and English, enjoys crafting, painting and traveling. She loves exploring new places and trying new food around the city
