DEBORAH EPSTEIN, AIA, PRINCIPAL

Deborah Epstein, AIA, is a founding partner of the firm Epstein Joslin Architects, an architectural design and consulting practice begun in 2002, specializing in civic, performing arts, higher education, institutional, retail, housing, and high-end residential work.

Prior to EJA, she was owner and principal of Deborah Epstein Architect for 15 years, where her passion for the nature of materials, color, and composition has produced finely crafted, high-end, specialty design work. To support this she has developed extensive collaborative relationships with a wide range of craftspeople and artists.

Her architectural work, which is primarily custom residential and interiors, has been well published, awarded, featured in advertisements, and exhibited.

Prior to opening her office, Ms. Epstein worked for Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Boston, MA, and Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Boston, MA, where she worked on institutional projects such as housing for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and public work for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.

Ms. Epstein received her Master of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with associated study at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College, Columbia University, and studied at several art schools including the Lester Polokov Studio and Forum of Stage Design in NY, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Rochester Institute of Technology. As a student she was the recipient of the Albert Hinckly Traveling Fellowship (1982), which took her to Scotland and Austria.

Ms. Epstein has been a juror for the 2002 AIA Northern Virginia Chapter Design Awards, and has been on juries to review student work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rhode Island School of Design.

Ms. Epstein has also been involved in costuming for the theatre, where her credits include working with the New York Shakespeare Festival both On and Off Broadway.

Her leadership in public service has created Performance Series, a program in the Cambridge Public Schools that ensures that children are exposed to theatre, dance, and music performances. As chairman of the Steering Committee at Oxford Street Daycare Cooperative, she wrote one of the state’s first AIDS policies for a daycare center in response to the then new crisis.

Ms. Epstein has traveled through much of Europe, lived in Milan, Italy, and has visited China and Hong Kong.

Ms. Epstein is registered as an Architect in Massachusetts, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Boston Society of Architects.