A San Francisco native and a graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, Hans is an architect with a long-standing interest in the public realm. This interest has led him to pursue a wide variety of project types which at their core enliven the public realm, including mixed use urban projects, grand market halls and projects as small as flower stands and bus shelters. Each design problem is considered both on its own terms as well as how it fits into the larger context.

A LEED accredited professional, Hans is also a strong advocate of a wider vision of sustainability which incorporates inspiration from the tenets of the Slow Food Movement. The combination of the celebratory aspects of Slow Food which constitutes “good” and its insistence with “clean” and “fair” rounds out the more technical aspects of the LEED rating system. Hans has taught architecture at Yale University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and University of Notre Dame, where he served as visiting faculty at their Rome Studies program.

In addition to his teaching, Hans has also been active in the Bay Area arts and architecture community, serving on various boards including the Friends of the Bancroft Library, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) and as chairman of the Maybeck Foundation.