Understanding Architecture

Mark Johnson, FAIA, NCARB, CDT, CS, ARM, LEED AP, is the director of development for DivcoWest Real Estate Investments, a real estate investment firm with offices in San Francisco and Boston. The company has acquired more than 30 million square feet of commercial and residential space throughout the United States and, with its affiliates, is currently managing over $2.5 billion of equity. Johnson oversees design, permitting, and construction for a 4.5 million square foot transit-oriented, mixed-use development on 46 acres in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After serving as a senior construction project manager at the Harvard Business School and director of major capital projects and physical planning at the Harvard Law School, Johnson was the first vice president for capital planning and project management at Harvard University, where he had executive responsibility for physical planning, capital planning, and project management at the University. He produced Harvard's first university-wide capital plan and oversaw a $3+ billion building program, including management of the University's largest and most complicated projects. Before joining Harvard, Johnson was a project manager with Linbeck Construction Corporation and an architect with William Rawn Associates, Inc. Previously, he worked at KieranTimberlake, Pelli Clarke Pelli, and The Related Companies. Johnson graduated from Princeton with a bachelor of arts, magna cum laude in architecture with a concentration in design. He earned a master of architecture from Yale and a certificate in management from the Harvard Extension School. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.