After serving as the Managing Director for the Perkins&Will Washington, DC studio for nearly a decade, Chris Morrison returns to his role as Managing Principal to continue fulfilling his passion for practicing architecture. He has more than 30 years of experience in architecture, historic preservation, resilience/living design, adaptive reuse, and planning. His projects have received numerous design awards, including, The Catalyst Award and The Award of Excellence from AIA Washington Chapter, the D.C. Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation, a Merit Award from the General Services Administration’s Design Excellence Program, and the Custom Home Award from Custom Home Magazine. He serves on the boards of the National Building Museum and the Young Concert Artists. He continues to be deeply motivated by design excellence, the development of young architects, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.

Chris Daemmrich uses the pronouns ‘he’ and him’, and is a designer and organizer born and raised on Tonkawa land in Austin, Texas, living since 2012 on Chitimacha, Choctaw, and Houma land in New Orleans, Louisiana. He serves on the boards of NOMA Louisiana and the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans. Chris is a part of Dark Matter U and Out in Architecture.

Through his company, Collab. | the Collaborative School of Design, Chris prepares students and professionals to challenge unjust systems. He works as a project manager for Broad Community Connections, a place-based community economic development nonprofit in New Orleans.

Emma worked as a cabinet maker and luthier en route to becoming a licensed architect. In keeping with this background, she values and emphasizes the element of craft in architecture. Shortly after graduating from Texas A&M College Station, Emma worked in Corpus Christi for a year before following an opportunity to study at the University of Hawaii and earning a Doctorate degree in Architecture in 2005. While attending the University of Hawaii, Emma began a nine-year tenure at Ferraro Choi And Associates Ltd. – the architect for the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station among other notable works in Hawai‘i and Antarctica. In 2012 Emma and family moved back to South Texas where she opened a sole proprietorship which operated as Freeman Architecture Collaborative for two years until partnering with Sheldon Shroeder, AIA in late 2014. This partnership set fresch Architects in motion. Emma’s career has span project types from commercial, commercial interior, institutional, research, hospitality, educational, retail, civic, health care, and residential projects in Texas, Hawaii, Antarctica, and Central America. She has worked on several unique sustainable architecture projects including multiple LEED Platinum Certified projects. Emma’s project technical background includes work on operating suites, cold deep seawater HVAC, passive cooling systems, and building systems for ultra-remote site construction and assembly. Emma is also an adjunct professor of Architecture History at Del Mar College, serves on the TxA EDI Committee, and is involved in the AIA Corpus Christi Chapter. Emma is a contributing author for Out in Architecture, published in 2023, and is also an active advocate and supporter for the LBGTQIA+ Community on the local, state, and national levels. On the occasion when she is not working or spending time with family, Emma also enjoys surfing, fishing, and being involved with music including the local music scene in Corpus Christi.