Misha Semënov-Leiva

Misha Semënov-Leiva, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC

The son of biologists who emigrated from Russia, Misha was exposed early and often to the natural environment that surrounded his San Francisco home. These childhood experiences shaped many of the personal and professional interests he pursues to this day.

“Biology has always been a fascination for me because I grew up with my parents taking me out for hikes, camping, and exploring in the parks of northern California nearly every weekend. A lot of my curiosity and love for all life forms was instilled by them.”

On a parallel track, Misha also developed a youthful interest in design, often sketching vast imaginary cities both for humans and for his favorite animals. He recalls a time from his teens at NatureBridge Headlands, an environmental education center just outside of San Francisco, when his interests in biology and design first began to intersect.

“Working as an environmental educator taught me a lot about how people can connect to place in a meaningful way – our mission was to get Bay Area kids, many of them from the inner city, to get to know and care for the plants, animals, and ecosystems that surrounded them. I realized the siting and design of the campus itself was a teaching tool and an important part of that equation. That became part of my mission: to build buildings that could help reconnect humans with the rest of nature.”

When deciding what to pursue in college, Misha initially chose the path of design, and graduated as the valedictorian of his Princeton University class with a Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture.

“I felt a tension entering college about whether I wanted to pursue ecology and nature or architecture and design. I think my big moment was when I realized they weren’t mutually exclusive.”

Yale University provided the opportunity to study both at the graduate level, so Misha entered the schools of architecture and forestry and environmental studies. He enjoyed the dichotomy of the programs, and the challenge of linking the two when their respective cultures were so unique.

“The design world was all about how things looked and how they were presented. Designers were often ignorant of the science because the field is so focused on image and presentation. In the world of environmental science and ecology, on the other hand, good science wasn’t reaching decision makers or the public precisely because it was not visualized or communicated effectively.”

The lone member of his graduating Yale class to complete the dual degree program, Misha hopes to maintain a symbiotic relationship between ecology and architecture throughout his career.

“I think it’s very important that architects and scientists talk to each other so that design can be grounded in knowledge about nature. Architecture has the power to communicate ecology to people in a direct, emotionally moving way.”

In addition to architecture school, Misha gathered experience through summer internships at design firms in Boston, Miami and New York. He joined Centerbrook full-time upon graduation from Yale.

At Centerbrook, Misha is helping to implement the firm’s sustainability action plan and 2030 Commitment to zero-carbon buildings, and is organizing series of continuing education courses for the office on sustainable design, biophilia, and ecological integration.

Away from the office, Misha enjoys spending time outdoors with Kas Semënov-Leiva – also a designer at Centerbrook – engaging in activities like hiking, backpacking, skiing and kayaking. He and Kas have taken to foraging for different edible plants and mushrooms and they relish incorporating their discoveries into new recipes.

Singing is also an interest that Misha has carried from elementary school musicals to the Princeton Chapel Choir. He is currently a chamber chorus singer in the Yale Camerata. In addition to choral, he also sings and writes other types of music, and is slowly improving his ukulele playing.

Misha and Kas reside in Essex, Connecticut. Together, they curate a blog, The Ecoempathy Project, that articulates their vision for an architecture grounded in nature.