My name is Michael Caton. I am an architect, design strategist, and team leader with an extensive track record of being a catalyst for high achievement and innovation. In a little more than a decade, I have built a broad portfolio of award-winning work and cultivated highly effective teams, operating at the leading edge of the AEC industry. Throughout my career, I have been called upon to tackle the most challenging and complex endeavors undertaken by organizations with whom I've worked. I have a predisposition toward gnarly, complex challenges without clear solutions. Given that, I've thrived in highly collaborative, multi-disciplinary environments, and have honed a sharp strategic sensibility.

I've been interested in the work of Sidewalk Labs for some time, following developments of the Quayside project in the press. Last fall, I was invited by Jonathan Massey, Dean of Taubman College at the University of Michigan, to the Shaping Future Cities: New York event hosted by Sidewalk Labs. There, it was insightful to learn more about the organization's push to synthesize dissonant, innovative strategies to urban development, and re-think broad aspects of construction, infrastructure, and design in a re-framed development context. I believe there is considerable synergy between my experience, strengths, and professional interests, and the work underway at Sidewalk Labs.

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Qualifications

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I've spent the last dozen years cultivating a wide-ranging portfolio of architectural and strategy projects, significantly impacting cities and organizations globally. For the past two years specifically, I've led the architecture discipline at WeWork, as part of a cross-functional design leadership team focused on Enterprise businesses. In this role, I recruited, managed, and nurtured exceptional talent while delivering transformative design solutions for leading global institutions. Driven by my track record as a functional manager and leader in the organization, I work with executives at the highest levels, including co-founder Miguel McKelvey, to inform recruitment practices, company culture, and support, if not lead, sensitive, high-risk ventures.

Before my time at WeWork, I've worked for numerous venerable architecture firms, where my roles have often operated at the intersection of design excellence, computational expertise, and strategic acuity. At Ennead Architects (Ennead), I was part of the award-winning team, working in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), that developed a new refugee settlement planning and implementation framework for UNHCR planners globally. Also at Ennead, I lead the management of BIM processes and the development of computational systems for the highly complex Shanghai Astrology Museum, slated for completion next year. At Studio V Architecture, I lead the winning design team for the Empire Stores RFP, the transformative adaptation of the coffee storage warehouse situated on the Brooklyn waterfront between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.

From the onset of my career, I have intuitively pursued opportunities at the forefront of architecture and design, and I've dedicated my talents and energy toward expanding that frontier. As I've grown professionally, I've increasingly considered opportunities in the AEC industry with broader, cross-functional, and synthesized potential. Sidewalk Labs is of great interest to me for that reason. I welcome the opportunity to begin a dialogue, should you find, as I do, that there is synergy between my experience and interests, and the work and mission of Sidewalk Labs.

Thank you for your consideration.

Curriculum Vitae ︎
Relevant Work Samples ︎
Printable .pdf Version ︎ (Please be green and use a screen. A tree will send you a thank you email someday)