Grounded in the reality of how buildings are constructed and operated.
Brad Machado's approach to architecture is grounded in the reality of how buildings are constructed and operated. A planner and project manager by background — construction management, building retrofits, and facilities operations — he brings a practical perspective to complex design challenges. He is currently pursuing his Master of Architecture at the University of Illinois, where he also serves as a research assistant at the Responsive Architecture Lab (RAL).
His work centers on computational and parametric design, exploring the intersection of digital algorithms and physical fabrication. From developing specialized concrete wall panels for cliff swallow habitats to utilizing AI for generative form-finding, Brad focuses on using data-driven tools to solve tangible problems in urban infrastructure and ecological design. His primary interest lies in bridging the gap between advanced digital modeling and real-world execution by incorporating environmental analysis early to help shape design decisions.
Download Resume (PDF) ↓Computational Design & Building Performance — Parametric Workflows · Environmental Analysis · Owner-Side Construction Experience
M.Arch candidate in high-performance building design and analysis, working at the intersection of parametric modeling and environmental simulation — Rhino, Grasshopper, and evolutionary solvers on the geometry side; EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, and Ladybug/Honeybee on the performance side. Currently a research assistant at the Responsive Architecture Lab, characterizing the U.S. single-family building stock at national scale in Databricks. Six years delivering and operating buildings before architecture — construction oversight on a $3B project, owner’s representative for a garrison utility portfolio, and R&D chair for Department of the Army capital investment planning. Design decisions tested against how buildings are actually built, operated, and paid for.
Champaign, IL — relocating to the Bay Area or Seattle, 2027.
Research Assistant — Building Energy Analytics
Responsive Architecture Lab, Illinois School of Architecture
- — Characterizing the U.S. single-family detached building stock for an HVAC OEM client: harmonizing ~84M property records against the ResStock simulation dataset (~500K modeled homes, NREL) to transfer peak heating and cooling load estimates onto each record.
- — Built in Databricks / PySpark on serverless compute — schema harmonization, categorical crosswalks, and validation at national scale.
Research Planner — Infrastructure & Resilience
U.S. Army ERDC–CERL
- — R&D chair for Department of the Army long-term capital investment planning and liaison to IMCOM Headquarters for the Installation Energy and Water Plan and Infrastructure Portfolio Review — identified and evaluated energy solutions, presenting investment options to Senior Executive Service and General Officer decision-makers.
- — Secured $2.075M in competitive funding across multiple studies, self-funding the position; led cross-agency teams including U.S. Geological Survey and Department of Energy personnel on installation and regional energy and water resilience assessments across North America, Europe, and the Pacific.
Utilities Manager
U.S. Army Garrison – Presidio of Monterey
- — Owner's representative for a garrison-wide utility system under master-metered, privatized distribution — a DoD data center, a fixed satellite communications (SATCOM) ground station, public safety and detention facilities, academic and administrative buildings, transit maintenance, and 100+ housing units. Accountable for $10M in annual utility commodities, $2M in reimbursables, and $5M in active construction across mixed load profiles.
- — Identified an uncoordinated load doubling at the SATCOM facility during construction planning that had never been raised with the serving utility; as utility subject-matter expert and PG&E point of contact, initiated and drove the distribution backbone upgrade required to support it.
- — Cleared FAA obstruction review for pole heights adjacent to an active airfield and NEPA consultation for a protected vernal pool crossing, compressing a standard 3–4 year utility planning cycle to under twelve months and delivering the electrical backbone and a critical gas line with no loss of site uptime.
- — Contracting Officer's Representative for 11 privatized utility contracts and the Installation Energy and Water Plan contract; administered Resource Efficiency Management and Utility Energy Service Contract vehicles — task orders, modifications, quality assurance, payment approval, and issue resolution.
- — Built a 15-minute interval rate engine evaluating 38 PG&E commercial schedules — legacy A/E and successor B series, Peak Day Pricing variants, and all voltage tiers — against ~102,000 intervals. Scoped to size behind-the-meter storage against the 1 MW rate-class threshold; extended into the portfolio tariff selection and rate migration method.
- — Primary point of contact with PG&E for the installation — outage and maintenance coordination, service changes, and billing disputes. Rebuilt utility invoicing and cost tracking end to end; recovered $200K in lost reimbursables and brought annual cost projections to within 1% of actual.
- — Sole 24/7 emergency contact for utility incidents — directed response to sewer, water, gas, and electric failures, including a dormitory evacuation on a struck gas main, and verified backup generation ahead of PG&E outage and brownout events. Held the Public Works seat in the Emergency Operations Center, briefed garrison command, and established response procedures that reduced downtime at critical facilities.
- — Coordinated a joint Air Force, Navy, Army, California National Guard, and PG&E project — regional grid upgrade, new generation, solar and battery storage, and a redundant feed. Acting Energy and Utilities Branch Chief, DPW (2020); chaired the Garrison Energy and Water Steering Committee.
Health, Safety & Environmental Manager (Contract)
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
- — Managed EHS medical operations on the $3B joint Google and NASA Bayview project; built the incident reporting system used to identify safety hotspots. Streamlined orientation and access, saving 20–30 labor hours daily.
Critical Care Flight Paramedic
U.S. Army — 3rd Infantry Division
- — Aeromedical evacuation and critical care; Afghanistan, 2012–2013. Scene medical authority coordinating multinational, federal, state, and civilian agencies.
Master of Architecture — High-Performance Building Design & Analysis
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
B.S., Society & Environment
University of California, Berkeley
- — Building energy simulation — EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, Ladybug/Honeybee: envelope, load, and environmental performance modeling from parametric geometry. Multi-objective optimization — Wallacei and Galapagos evolutionary solvers in Grasshopper; Excel Solver for constrained cost optimization.
- — Rate and load analysis — Excel (Solver), MATLAB. Data engineering — Python, SQL, Databricks/PySpark. Modeling — Rhino, Grasshopper, Dynamo, Revit, AutoCAD.
Secret security clearance previously held; eligibility subject to reinstatement verification. OGE-450 confidential financial disclosure filer.
Department of the Army — Quality Step Increase (off-cycle merit pay increase for exemplary performance) · Civilian Service Commendation Medal (2021) · Civilian Service Achievement Medals (2020, 2019).
Leveraging Privatized Utilities for Installation Resilience — DoD Utilities Conference, San Antonio (2019), invited · Ukraine Infrastructure Impacts — Military Operations Research Symposium (2024).
REFoRM Policy Analysis — Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (2024) · European Regional Water Scarcity Assessment (2024) · Water System Modeling for Increased Resilience — USACE Report (2021).