Eli Green; the Autobiography

A short explanation of why I do what I do

July 7, 2016

With my birthday this week, SQFT Studios decided we’d take our weekly blog post to tell our story a little bit more. So this one’s about me.

I’ve wanted to be an architect since visiting The Alhambra and then Falling Water in the same year when I was 16. I was astounded at the beauty and power of place and environment, although at that age I probably would have expressed it more like “this is so cool – I want to do this!” The die was cast and a few years later I was enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture.

Before all of that, I was influenced heavily by my home in Portland, Oregon. Portland has long been on the frontlines of the environmental movement. As a Student for Environmental Action member and an active student in other youth programs (such as Outdoor School and social organizations like NFTY) I had a strong basis in the challenges and realities of the natural world. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s in Portland imbued me with a sense of responsibility to preserve and better the world we all share.

Fortunately for me, Carnegie Mellon had, and continues to have, an extremely strong focus on the environment and sustainable design. I was lucky to have thought leaders running, and teaching at, the School of Architecture.

I lived in Portland and worked for the architecture firm BOORA and others honing my design skills through experience. After that, I used my entrepreneurial passion to develop a regional office for Brightworks Sustainability LLC in New York City. There I built relationships with leading developers of sustainable multi-family high-rise towers, some of the best buildings in their class worldwide. 

If fate is simply a culmination of probabilities, I’d say it was inevitable I ended up co-founding SQFT Studios; designing and building small and efficient spaces, as my other chief interest has always been space. Astronomy, science, science fiction, and especially space travel and discovery have been a passion of mine since childhood. No one does small and efficient better than astronauts! My final project a school was a design for a moon base (urban design studio) and I’ve long held the desire to design lunar and other space-born habitats.

Working in architecture has yet to grant me the opportunity to design any space studios, but all of these lessons and experiences have led me to where I am today – working hard to be the premier design & build company for small, efficient, and beautiful spaces. As co-founder of SQFT Studios, I am lucky to be able to pursue this passion every day.