Borough Hall, London / Photo by Laurie & Charles circa 2009
Alissa A.M. Johnson
Architect + Designer | Interior Design, Brand & Visual Identity | Freelance Consulting | AIA, Fitwel Ambassador
I grew up in the Midwest - lived in Omaha, studied in Ames - then spent the next decade and a half collecting cities and experiences: Rome, London, Providence, Manhattan, Brooklyn.
Each place taught me something different about how people inhabit space, build community, and make places feel like home. Each career step also deepened something I'd always felt intuitively — that the spaces we inhabit shape us in ways we rarely stop to name. The way a room makes you feel when you walk in. The street that makes a neighborhood feel safe. The office that either energizes or slowly drains you. Design is empathy made physical.
My career has lived at the intersection of architecture, brand strategy, and relationship building. Eight years in practice at Foster + Partners and William Rawn, then nearly a decade helping grow Fitwel at the Center for Active Design — where the intuition got a backbone. I got fluent in the research and data connecting the built environment to how people actually live, work, and feel.
Now I'm building an independent practice around the things I love most — interiors, graphic design, and consulting for people who believe good design is worth doing right. I'm also a licensed architect, a deeply curious historic home renovator, and the person behind a small stationery shop called Aldenpress.
A few things that might not make it onto a resume: I have synesthesia, which means I've always experienced color, sound, and space a little differently than most. I think it's why design has never felt purely visual to me — it's also been about how something feels. I'm also an obsessive gardener, a decent baker, and someone who genuinely loves a good problem.
Still curious. Still designing. If you're working on something you'd like a thoughtful collaborator on, I'd love to hear about it.
Licensed Architect · AIA · Fitwel Ambassador · Based in Omaha, NE