Warren Freedenfeld is a world-renowned authority in animal care design. Having practiced architecture since 1969, he has designed over 450 animal care facilities throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. From restoration and renovation to new construction, he has applied his architectural design expertise to a wide range of projects, including animal shelters, animal control facilities, wildlife rehabilitation centers, veterinary hospitals, animal emergency and specialty referral clinics, university teaching hospitals, pet hotels and resorts, grooming facilities, and pet retail stores. Applying in-depth knowledge of the total project development process, animal welfare best practices as well as veterinary medical technical expertise, and creative vision has enabled Warren to design facilities that have set new standards in the animal care industry. Indeed, he is revered for his skill in integrating comprehensive programming details into remarkable contextual architecture while harmonizing the diverse needs and priorities of such specializations. Warren has a long track record of national design awards, has lectured throughout North and South America, and has written numerous articles in trade publications, including dvm360/Veterinary Economics and AAHA's Trends. He is licensed to practice architecture in over 30 states and other U.S. territories and Canadian provinces.

For more than three decades, Richard Rauh has been a respected leader in animal care facility design. His portfolio includes numerous veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and luxury pet boarding facilities alongside contemporary retail, office, and commercial centers. In 1984, he founded Rauhaus Architects in Newport Beach, California. As Design Director of that firm, he managed the entire design process of each project from schematic design through final construction. In 2005, he joined forces with Warren Freedenfeld, creating Rauhaus Freedenfeld & Associates.

Richard’s work in planning, architecture, and urban design has earned national acclaim. His veterinary hospital designs have won six prestigious Hospital of the Year awards and many merit awards from dvm360/Veterinary Economics. He is also a recipient of the Richard Neutra Award for design excellence. His teaching and public leadership activities have made an indelible mark on the field of veterinary facility architecture. He taught architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and, in addition, he has lectured at veterinarian conferences and participated in roundtable forums across the nation. His articles about animal hospital design have been featured in numerous publications, including Veterinary Economics and AAHA's Trends.

Eric Nelson, a published, award-winning veteran architect of over 30 years, is our Supervising Architect. He is a member of the AIA, NCARB, USGBC, and Boston Society of Architects, actively participating in the Higher Education Roundtable. Having run his own firm and practiced internationally, Eric brings a broad range of design and management skills as well as a client-centered attitude to the firm. He has designed and managed dozens of animal care facility designs in addition to numerous retail, hospitality, commercial development, institutional, and higher education projects across North America, Europe, and Australia. He is responsible for the daily operations of our East Coast office, coordinating the efforts of our project managers and maintaining quality control. Eric has degrees from Pratt Institute and MIT and has taught at Roger Williams University and the Boston Architectural College. He is an avid hiker and frequent volunteer with various environmental advocacy organizations.

A few of Eric’s recent projects include:

• Orange County Animal Care Facility (Tustin, CA)
• Zhejiang University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (China)
• Manati Veterinary Hospital (Manati, PR)
• Red Bank Veterinary Hospital (Hillsborough, NJ)
• Gold Coast Veterinary Specialists (Huntington, NY)
• Swiss Ridge Kennels (Canada)
• Pompton Lakes Animal Hospital (Pompton Lakes, NJ)
• Humane Society of Tampa Bay (Tampa, FL)

Geeta Shrestha has been a practicing architecture professional since 2003. She received her formal training in architecture in her home city of Katmandu, Nepal. After working there for a few years, she continued her training in Bonn, Germany and then at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles. Having lived and practiced in the U.S. since 2007, she has developed into a talented, mature professional and expert BIM modeler. Since joining the firm, she has completed construction documents for numerous veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and pet boarding facilities. She also brings a creative flare to our interior design department with her keen sense of color and style.

A few of Geeta’s recent projects include:

• Big Dog Ranch Rescue (Loxahatchee, FL)
• Gold Coast Veterinary Specialists (Huntington, NY)
• Prospect Ridge Veterinary Hospital (West Orange, NJ)
• The Seeing Eye (Morristown, NJ)
• Veterinary Associates of Cape Cod (South Yarmouth, MA)
• West Kendall Animal Hospital (Miami, FL)
• Orange County Animal Care Facility (Tustin, CA)
• Red Bank Veterinary Hospital (Hillsborough, NJ)

Rosetta is our Director of Client Services and is based out of our East Coast office in Boston. In close collaboration with the Principals and Associates, she demonstrates rfa's dedicated mission in her connections with prospective and current clients, personally cultivating a thorough understanding of how they envision the future of their projects. She is proud to represent the firm’s innovative expertise, enjoying any opportunity to directly engage with those looking to achieve the highest quality of animal care possible. Her sincere proactivity strengthens our proven methodologies and ensures that exemplary projects come to life. Rosetta also builds upon the firm’s identity and leadership via strategic, visionary hands-on management of all outreach efforts, including those of our website and social media channels. In her free time, Rosetta loves to travel, watch hockey, cook, and relax with her cat, Norman.

As Finance Manager, Maria oversees all areas of the firm’s finance, accounting, and administration. She regularly provides strategic and detailed analysis to determine project and company finances. Maria plays an active role in managing our team’s time billing and project accounting software. In addition, she upholds company policies and procedures and serves as a point of contact for human resources management as well as corresponds with office payroll service, insurance brokers, and 401(k) financial advisors. She enjoys providing timely and relevant data, problem-solving, and working with the entire team at rfa.

Linda Gerry joined our firm in 2011 as our Office Manager and Graphic Designer. Her eye for creativity and pixel complexity has expanded her responsibilities to include photography, website design, and the creation of our firm’s client-facing materials and award submissions. Linda’s goal is to inspire and create great work by providing artistic input for architectural renderings to make our clients' facilities look even more impeccable and dramatic. Linda is also a fine artist, a painter of architectural imagery and landscape. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her pet kitten, Maia, who is well-known in the neighborhood for retrieving and befriending small animals.

Rega, our Office Manager on the West Coast, carefully manages project development status and timelines while maintaining extraordinary client service. She joins rfa with a formative interior architecture background in the hospitality industry and applies her creativity through design solutions and assistance to the East Coast's marketing team, fostering energetic collaboration between offices. Additionally, she credits her greatest life experience to many years of working as a linguist with the U.S. military; from a war zone to safer grounds in the architectural field, Rega brings attentive leadership and effective communication to her work. In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor activities, like camping, with her husband and daughter and values family traditions, like Sunday morning yoga.

Gershon Gottlieb, a talented, creative designer and planner who is intimately familiar with the operations and technical requirements of specialized and complex facilities, is one of our Project Managers. He has more than ten years of experience and significant expertise in healthcare, laboratory, and higher educational facility design that he applies to our projects. Gershon earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree at Pratt Institute, worked in New York State, and lived and practiced in Israel for several years before moving to Boston in 2011. He joined the firm already having completed major renovations and additions to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Pratt Institute, and Boston College. Equally comfortable working with clients, consulting engineers, and contractors in the field, he brings many valuable design and management skills to our team. In particular, he serves as our resident equine and large animal care facility design specialist. In addition to his general project duties, he oversees our parametric modeling and analysis group.

With a Master’s in Architecture from Boston Architectural College, Project Manager James Howe brings to rfa diversified design experience from the healthcare, laboratory/office, retail, and childcare sectors. As a former Plans Examiner for the City of Boston, James also acts as rfa’s lead Quality Assurance/Quality Control reviewer, a true expert in technical document coordination who ensures Building Code compliance while maintaining project expectations. From assisting clients in the realization of their design needs and goals, to creating safe and welcoming opportunities for interaction between people and animals, and to determining resolutions to unforeseen construction conditions, James enjoys the creativity that accompanies true problem-solving throughout all phases of a project. In the same way as the entire rfa team, James loves animals but especially appreciates cats; in fact, his family has four of them, one of whom goes for walks on a leash!

Katherine Wood joined our firm in 2016 as a Job Captain after developing a comprehensive range of skills in several Boston-area architecture firms. In addition to performing her design and technical drafting duties, she is an integral member of our development teams, liaising with clients, consultants, and contractors in the field. Kate's focus and organizational skills keep our projects on budget and schedule. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology and a Master of Architecture degree from the Boston Architectural College. In her spare time, she is an avid hiker of the White Mountains.

A few of Kate's recent projects include:

-Jefferson County Animal Resource Center, Hillsboro, MO
-Pleasant Paws Pet Center, Newtown, CT
-Milton Academy Retrofit Program, Milton, MA
-Humane CNY, Syracuse, NY

Veronika Kakhnovska joins rfa after having worked in hospital design in Ukraine for ten years with a degree from the Kharkiv State Technical University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. In addition to carefully managing projects from the schematic design through construction documentation phases of service, she brings to our West Coast design team high proficiency with Revit and CAD softwares as well as expert 3D-modeling and illustration-rendering abilities pertaining to a wide range of project types and scopes, from all to complex and large-scale.

Veronika's most recent projects at our firm include:

- Martinez Animal Hospital
- Mission Oaks Veterinary Clinic
- Veterinary Technical Teaching Center at Cal Poly Pomona

Christine Gallant received her Bachelor of Interior Architecture from the Boston Architectural College in 2020 and has recently joined the rfa design team. Upon her onboarding, she led the meticulous development of an internal material resource library and maintains active correspondence with materials manufacturers in the development of all animal care and veterinary facility projects. With a keen sense of color and style, she interprets clients’ aesthetic preferences to compile material boards for presentation, enthusiastically engaging in the discussion of the best-suited durable and easily-maintained materials for each use in these demanding environments. With creative flair, she brings to rfa a complementary work ethic that supports the efforts of the firm’s full architectural services.