Jonathan Cardenas has led and influenced designs for commercial, retail, education and institutional facilities throughout North Carolina and Virginia and amassed considerable expertise in higher education and laboratories along the way. Despite everything he's learned over his 20 years as an architect, Jonathan attributes the efficiency of his designs and details to the knowledge he gained from a summer job framing houses.

• Bachelor of Architecture, Drury University

"I've learned that lines on a paper translate to a specific order of operations on the job site. It's critical for me to visualize how and in what order things go together for the craftsmen to build it right."