SHIRLEY THOMAS

DESIGNER

Originally from Mumbai, India, Shirley found her way to the Emerald City two years after finishing her Master in Architecture at Iowa State University. Before coming to the US, Shirley practiced as a junior architect in India. She brings experience in residential, retail, commercial, sports, historic and adaptive reuse projects.

As a child, she admired the structures of railway stations while traveling with her mother and her fascination for architecture grew from her mother’s continual encouragement to pursue design. She grew up surrounded by Heritage buildings in Mumbai which were her greatest source of influence and speaks of Mumbai as a “living architectural model of inspiration.” She particularly loves to explore adaptive reuse and finding ways to strengthen our connection between architecture and the natural world.

With a fascination for infrastructure and how buildings fit within the urban realm, she enjoys exploring the city on foot and by public transportation and visiting the many coffeeshops she has discovered. Outside of design, Shirley couldn’t imagine living without traditional Indian cooking at home. In addition to her love for cooking, she has a passion for music and fashion – and is trained in Indian classical Carnatic vocal music.

B. Architecture, University of Mumbai

M. architecture, Iowa State university