Panel Bios
Bob Royer (Moderator)
Bob Royer is a writer, historian and public affairs professional. He served as deputy mayor of Seattle after running his brother Charles Royer’s campaign for mayor and later worked in the water, wastewater and electricity utility industries.
He is chairman of the board of historylink.org , the online encyclopedia of the state of Washington, and works for the regional public affairs company, Gallatin Public Affairs.
AARON ASIS
Aaron Asis is a New York based artist and designer whose work is focused on promoting spatial awareness and the relationship of access and appreciation – at the intersection of city agency, community engagement, and physical access.
He has worked for over a decade on the documentation and activation of under-appreciated urban environments in cities around the globe, and more specifically, he has collaborated on urban-scaled subterranean initiatives in Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Paris.
Aaron is the creator of the b’End Tunnel Initiative, co-founder of Recharge the Battery, and holds a Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Planning from the University of Washington's College of the Built Environments.
LYLE BICKNELL
Lyle Bicknell is Principal Urban Designer with the City of Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development where he promotes urban design excellence throughout the built environment.
He has served as the City’s urban design lead for large transportation projects, transit oriented neighborhood planning and major center city redevelopment initiatives. Lyle is a member of the executive board of Seattle’s Allied Arts and as the 2012 Scan|Design Professional Fellow he analyzed superior transportation integration and urban design in Scandinavia.
Lyle is an affiliate faculty member of the University of Washington’s College of the Built Environments where he received his architectural degree.
Matt Jones
Matt Jones is a Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) and co-leads the firm’s civil engineering practice.
He brings 17 years of an unusually broad perspective to his designs, having served as a Drip Irrigation Project Coordinator in rural Kenya, a university lecturer on Business Analysis in Australia, and Project Manager for a 2,500-acre master-planned, nationally recognized “Green Community” in the U.S. Since joining MKA, his focus has been on the development of highly sustainable site designs featuring innovative LID interventions and a member of MKA’s Water Resources Technical Specialist Team.
Matt is an active member of the Water Reuse Guide Working Group, a LEED accredited professional, and skilled at 3D modeling for civil design visualization and integration.
Cory Mattheis
Cory Mattheis is an architect at The Miller Hull Partnership in Seattle, Washington whose work ranges in type and scale from large US embassy compounds around the globe to small libraries and cabins in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout all projects his design process is focused on leveraging advantages of a specific site and context to create unexpected opportunities.
Cory is a guest lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington where he teaches graphic representation courses and serves as a Co-Director of the Architecture in Mexico City travel studio.
Panel Hosts
DESIGN IN PUBLIC
Design in Public celebrates all the ways that design makes life better for Seattle, by supporting imagination, vision, and participation in the creation of our public realm.
PROJECT BELLTOWN
Project Belltown is a community non-profit focused on the challenges that face Belltown residents, including rising rents, and underdeveloped public spaces.
Recharge the battery
Recharge the Battery is a community driven initiative working to elevate public dialogue and promote conservation efforts surrounding the Battery Street Tunnel.