RAW was co-founded in 2010 by Paul Neseth and Barbara Hahn. Paul, an award winning architect and seasoned carpenter, leads each workshop, assisted by a talented ensemble of architects, construction practitioners and local craftsman. Each member of the team shares a unique set of skills, perspectives and experiences during RAW. Barbara leads marketing and operations, and keeps the workshops running smoothly.
Paul Neseth
M.Arch, Harvard GSD 1992
Paul knew he wanted to be an architect at age 10. He is co-founder of LOCUS, an award-winning Minneapolis, MN based architecture firm where he is conceptual designer, devil’s advocate, macro thinker, and comprehensive detailer. Paul brings a passion for new architectural ideas to the firm through investigations into and experiments with alternative construction methods and materials.
In 2010, he founded RAW, which offers him the chance to travel, teach, and experiment along side students enrolled in the intensive design/build workshops. RAW is the realization of Paul’s long time dream to give young architects and students critical real-life design and building skills that expands their value and impact as architects.
He has taught design/build studios at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design, lectured at universities and conferences in the Midwest and served as a mayoral appointee for the Committee on Urban Environment in Minneapolis, MN. Paul enjoys watching his kids play sports, tinkering with materials, and the occasional slab of pickled herring. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College (BA. Art) and Harvard University (March), and lives with his wife and two children in a South Minneapolis home designed and built by LOCUS.
Adam Jonas
M.Arch, Iowa State University, 2005
Though a farm-boy at heart, Adam has spent several years studying far from the cornfields of Iowa in Rome, Glasgow and Helsinki. Adam’s multidisciplinary background includes a convergence of painting, poetry, and sculpture, complimented recently by Permaculture Design certification, Yoga Teacher certification, and LEED accreditation.
Adam asserts an empathetic approach to architecture and is currently putting the philosophy to practice through residential design that promotes local economies, rapidly renewable resources and community building. He is an architect at LOCUS Architecture and when he’s not in the office or you’ll likely find him cycling, skating or tangoing throughout the Twin Cities.
Justin Merkovich
M.Arch, University of MN College of Design, 2008
Justin’s first architecture project, at the tender age of eight, was a design/build, pre-fab, net-zero dwelling, built from beautiful, local materials and infused with a strong sense of context. Designed for the express purpose of escaping a hectic family vacation, the one-room hut on his grandfather’s land in central Wisconsin used nothing but native prairie grasses. Unfortunately, it fell over.
After discovering “Batman”, Justin put the built environment out of his mind in favor of superheroes. Twenty-five years elapsed before he thought of architecture as something that could be imaginative and engaged with nature, and enrolled in the graduate program at the U of MN.
A design/build course through the University of MN led by Paul fed Justin’s insatiable appetite for hands-on learning opportunities involving projects that have social value, architectural meaning and a sustainable focus. He is a designer with ESG Architecture and is thrilled to be contributing his talent and sweat to RAW.
Nate Steuerwald
M.Arch, University of MN College of Design, 2008
Architecture was never Nate’s lifelong goal, but the expression of ideas through the work of his hands was. At an early age Nate found it extremely rewarding to create. Whether with legos, paper and pencils, or computers, he enjoyed the connection from head to hands to the finished product.
Nate moved away from the small cities of Wisconsin to pursue his now passion of architecture at the U of MM. Seven years of architectural education transformed his perspective of the built environment, but not the confidence to construct it. It took leaving the comfort of the classroom and actually building to push him as a designer to learn from the building experience. Nate works at VJAA and lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two kids. While the legos are long gone, he enjoys designing and building ideas of all shapes and sizes.