Janelle
Black

A passion for sustainability led Janelle Black to pursue a Master of Architecture degree after returning from a post-college year in Korea teaching English. In addition to small metalwork and jewelry making on the side, Janelle had a variety of work experiences before joining QKA in 2008, including planning work for a civil engineer and developer, working on a cob house construction crew, and performing construction administration duties for a new co-housing community.

A licensed architect since 2012, Janelle has been lead designer for several school district projects. In 2023 she was promoted to Director of Practice. In this important role, Janelle leads QKA’s Practice Resource Team, develops and implements firm-wide best practices and documentation standards, maintains resource libraries, and educates staff on governing codes and state agencies.

In addition to her position as Director of Practice, she also serves as QKA’s Folia Lead, a QKA-developed pre-fabricated classroom building. Janelle has played an integral role in bringing this classroom building solution that dramatically reduces design, permitting and construction time on projects to market.

Outside of the office, Janelle fuels her interest in sustainability through personal projects such as the installation of two graywater systems and a rainwater storage system at her home in Santa Rosa, Calif., and enjoys constructing metal art out of recycled materials, such as old bicycles and other scrap metal.