HAVEN:
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE—CREATING OUR OWN SPIRIT OF PLACE
15 September 2026
Greg Mottola
Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Walker Warner
This year, I’ve been exploring the spirit of place — how we design spaces that elevate the tenor and quality of our lives, connect us with the natural world, and support the sense of community that gives our lives meaning. In my most recent conversation, we approached the spirit of place from a different angle. How do we do the work to build a human sense of place in community with others? How do we support that community, and help it to grow into the future?
Greg Mottola is truly one of my favorite people — thoughtful, intentional, human-centered, focused on possibility. I have a deep respect for his intentional approach to design and management, his thoughtfulness and, above all, his kindness. Greg spent most of his career with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, a time he still cherishes.
A little over a year ago, Greg accepted a position as partner and chief executive officer at Walker Warner to oversee the firm's continued evolution while helping it stay true to the values and vision of its founders. Working within the spirit of place that has made Walker Warner such a special firm, he is helping to define and shape it for the future. It’s a journey of trust. I left our conversation inspired. I hope you find it inspiring as well.
XO Mead
Photographer: Matthew Millman
MQ: Let’s jump right in. You are planning for the future, building and tending a culture that will extend beyond the founders, the current principals, and even your time here. How do you approach that?
GM: We are transitioning from the founding partners into a broader future. You have to do that intentionally, understanding the underpinnings, the core values that have made the firm what it is today. We are mindful of developing and incorporating multiple points of view. If you have a consistent understanding of the underlying values, you can incorporate different approaches to architecture and to the practice.
I had the privilege of growing up at BCJ, learning alongside some of the most thoughtful architects I’ve known. I came to appreciate that designing great architecture is inherently collaborative — and that the most meaningful work is created together."
Rendering: Notion Workshop
MQ: How do you codify those values?
GM: That has been the most important work of my first year with Walker Warner, capturing that throughline, communicating it, and incorporating it into everything we do.
MQ: What is it that sets Walker Warner apart?
GM: It is really that shared ethos, which is clear and strong. It yields incredible work. It’s also a carefully-developed set of systems and processes. There is a foundation of support that comes from having an established infrastructure purposefully developed through a values-based approach. We have a system in place that gives the entire team the support they need.
MQ: What is the most important element in planning for the future?
GM: It is important to have strong leadership at the principal level, to continually invest in and develop new leadership, and to give those leaders the runway they need to grow, learn, and succeed. It’s also a continued mindset of being a multi-author practice that has spent years developing the infrastructure that enables growth, change, and succession to succeed.
MQ: As you plan for the future and invest in your people, is there a North Star that keeps everyone aligned?
GM: We want to be among the top five architecture firms in the U.S. designing custom residences. Alongside clear goals, we spend a great deal of time articulating our core values and living into them. They are specific: excellence, integrity, resilience, and humility. As we live these and apply them to our work, we become stronger, and the work is inevitably enhanced as well.
MQ: How do you make that bubble up on a daily basis?
GM: We live by example. Excellence at every point. It applies to everything we do.
MQ: Even in how you answer the door.
GM: Exactly. We built systems around our values, and strategies around our goals. Culture is everything.
Photographer: Matthew Millman
MQ: What are the strategies?
GM: It breaks down into five areas. First, support and strengthen our design culture through shared, communicated core values. Second, build the support necessary to maintain the highest level of design quality. Third, commit to elevating the next generation of leaders. Fourth, strengthen brand recognition and industry presence, ensuring they align with who we are. Fifth, approach growth and business development sustainably to support the culture we’ve created.
MQ: Communication is a big piece of it.
GM: We are being proactive about telling our story. We’re working on our first monograph — it’s exciting and a great way to sharpen our focus.
MQ: You’ve taken on a big job!
GM: In my career, I’ve worn a lot of hats. What I’m doing now is still design. We're designing an organization and setting a direction for where we want to go. We are very intentional about it — we have a board that includes members outside the firm, which helps us be accountable.
MQ: What is the most important thing you are doing?
GM: I keep coming back to the idea of culture. I’m all for flexibility, the possibility of numerous offices, and so on, but we really do our best work when we are together. My primary focus is on how we develop and invest in our people, and on finding and nurturing the next generation of leaders.
MQ: How do you support the design culture?
GM: My mindset is that everything we are doing is design. Everything we do contributes to our shared passion, which has a huge impact on our design ability. We are more and more active in the design community and host internal and external events. We recently held a screening of Schindler Space Architect, a documentary about the life of visionary architect R.M. Schindler, and we invited our friends and colleagues from Aidin Darling to attend with our team. Community engagement and curiosity are critical.
MQ: You are designing your own spirit of place.
GM: That is exactly what we’re doing. We’re molding the earthworks of our place.
Renderings: Notion Workshop
MQ: Even though this is a large office, it still has a very warm, personalized feel. What you are pursuing is the opposite of growth for growth’s sake — you are defining growth in a different way.
GM: We don’t want that to change. We want to stay in our lane, designing very special custom homes and other boutique projects. We might like to move further afield geographically. We’re always looking for growth opportunities for our people.
MQ: What would Brooks and Greg want the world to know about Walker Warner?
GM: That our story is not about any one person. It’s about all of us. The work is better when the passion, curiosity, humility, and considered approach are at the heart of what we do.
MQ: It’s the beauty that evolves from rigor.
GM: It’s a marriage of intuition and rigor.
MQ: Any closing thoughts?
GM: We really feel aligned about the way things are going, and where we want to go. This wasn’t a career move I was expecting; it wasn’t an alignment I was expecting. I’m building upon the good things that were already here. I feel really lucky to be here at this moment in time.
MQ: You are truly a unicorn.
GM: I’ve been called worse!