Matthew Teismann, AIA

Matthew Teismann, AIA

Teismann is based in Columbus, Ohio, where he became the 10th president and primary owner of MKC Architects in 2021. The firm, which he joined in 2016, is the longest continually owned and operated architecture firm in the state, and Teismann aims to transform it to meet the needs of today’s clients. Through his guidance, MKC has embraced technology and reconfigured its staff to include experienced practitioners and young, energetic designers who together shape a lean and innovative delivery system. MKC probes the boundaries of what is possible for a small business and is currently exploring proto-typologies to address inequality through affordable housing in the U.S.

At MKC, Teismann has drawn on his previous experiences in which he approached the act of making as a testing ground for radical new ideas. In 2011, he founded LIONarchitecture in Columbus, a firm as engaged in dialogue as it was practice. Through projects like the BadSeed House at Urbavore Farm, a completely off-grid and self-sufficient building, Teismann demonstrated his ability to directly affect social and environmental change. The project received a merit award from AIA Columbus.

Drawing on his background in academia, Teismann infuses his practice with critical theory. Since joining MKC, he has presented at four international conferences and has been published in three peer-reviewed journals. More recently, he collaborated with one of the firm’s young designers to demonstrate how people, once removed from their homes, tend to detach themselves from their environments and abstract reality into simple forms and mass. That relationship between humans and architecture sits at the center of his research, which was once solely the domain of anthropologists and archaeologists. In his view, if buildings are the object, then architecture is the place of experience within our larger social context.

Teismann is an active member and contributor to AIA Columbus, where he seeks to spark curiosity and help young designers establish their voices. He served on the chapter’s board and helped steer it through the COVID-19 pandemic, growing its membership despite the challenges.

His pursuit of mentorship opportunities runs parallel with his teaching career. For the University of Technology Sydney, he was a subject coordinator for second-year students. In that role, he developed the studio program, lecture series, and culminating exhibition that reexamined modern housing projects through the lens of sociology, philosophy, and critical theory. Having directly impacted more than 200 students at multiple national and international universities, Teismann’s contributions to architectural design and discourse will be felt for years to come.