Kenneth A. Thacker

Principal @Vmdo Architects

Charlottesville, VA, US

Over the years, I’ve served both K-12 and higher education clients as a Project Architect and have been responsible for dozens of unique school construction projects, both large and small. Some of those projects have been awarded by our peers or by educators; more importantly, all of them — I believe — have improved learning outcomes for the students who’ve inhabited them. I particularly enjoy the challenge of “doing more with less”; of developing architecture within the constraints of limited budgets, tight schedules, or both. I am grateful to be a part of an incredibly talented team and to be surrounded by a vast network of highly skilled specialists with whom we regularly collaborate. With a profound appreciation for the complexities of building, I’ve been fortunate to carry most of my projects through to construction, developIng a rapport with the construction industry along the way. The mutual respect that develops among the project team leads to a reliable outcome, an enjoyable process and, often, a better project.Like many of my colleagues at VMDO, I’m passionate about the intersection of education and architecture, and believe my most important professional responsibility beyond project leadership is in training young architects. I hope my role as Project Architect on demanding projects inspires our interns and motivates the consultants and teammates with whom we work.

University of Illinois Chicago

Master of Architecture (M.Arch.), 1995

University of Virginia

Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.)