Austin Kelly (1966–2015)

Kelly studied at Williams College in Massachusetts, where he was born, as well as Yale University and SCI-Arc, which took him to Switzerland to learn under Peter Zumthor. After graduate school, he worked in the Los Angeles architectural offices of Frank Israel, Frank Gehry and Eric Owen Moss before starting XTEN Architecture in 2000 with his wife Monika Häfelfinger. The 15-year-old firm is known for its creative residential commissions, many of them folding into and across the landscape, like the award-winning and much-published Nakahouse. A father of two, Kelly was also an educator, having taught design studios at SCI-Arc and USC.