Katherine Hillbrand enthusiastically engages with her clients to find design solutions that articulate functional beauty. Her work ultimately embodies the spirit of each specific circumstance and place. She is known to incorporate both handcrafted timber joinery and common, everyday materials in unusual and whimsical compositions. Her work includes both large and small projects that reveal a poetic juxtaposition of familiar elements and modern solutions. Her approach to sustainable architecture encourages environmental stewardship through design and culminates in well-crafted buildings that fit comfortably in their settings.
Katherine joined SALA Architects, Inc. in 1986 and became a Principal in 1995. She received a Bachelor of Arts in 1965 and a Master of Architecture in 1986 from the University of Minnesota. She is a registered architect and certified interior designer in Minnesota, Utah, Michigan and Wisconsin. She has been published both regionally and in national publications.
Heath Lake Home, AIA Minnesota/StarTribune Home of the Month Award, 2006
Wikstrom Residence, AIA Minnesota/StarTribune Home of the Month Award, 2006
Hoke Residence, AIA Minnesota/StarTribune Home of the Month Award, 2003
Timber Framers Guild of North America/Habitat for Humanity House, Hanover, Pennsylvania, awarded and built, 1989
AIA Henry Adams Award for top-ranked architecture students, 1986
MSAIA Award, Graduate Design I, 1985
Minnesota Pre-Cast Concrete Association, First Prize, Graduate Design I, 1985
MSAIA Award, Grade II Design, 1984
Minnesota Pre-Cast Concrete Association, Honorable Mention, 1984
AIA
Timber Framers Guild of North America
“Get Away Homes,” Fine Homebuiiding, Winter/Spring 2006
Rustic Revisited: Innovative Design for Cabin, Camp, and Lodge, by Ann S. O’Leary and Andrew Wellman, Watson-Guptill, 2006
The Getaway Home: Discovering Your Home Away from Home, by Dale Mulfinger, Taunton Press, 2004
“Norwegian Wood,” Architecture Minnesota, May/June 2003
Before and After, HGTV, Episode 406
Katherine has been a lecturer at the University of Minnesota and Science Museum of Minnesota as well as the Featured Lecturer at the Timber Framers Guild of North America.