About Me

As a designer, I am always curious about how perspective influences my work. As an avid cyclist, I actively explore this notion every day: the beautiful thing about cycling is that it allows you to view what surrounds you from unique and varying perspectives. In many ways, to talk about my history and approach to the field of architecture encompasses my experience as a cyclist.

At age eighteen, I began drafting for Barretto Granite Corporation (Milford, New Hampshire). Projects at Barretto varied in size from countertops to the Centennial Fountain in Chicago, and my responsibilities included the drawing of individuals stones related to such projects. While working for Barretto, I attended New Hampshire Technical Institute (Concord, New Hampshire) part-time and earned an Associate in Science Degree in Architectural Engineering. With three years of experience at Barretto—and degree in hand—I decided to shift perspective.

Over the next several years, I traveled the US, Canada, Mexico and Western Europe cycling competitively at a semi-professional level. Traveling as a competitive cyclist allowed me to experience places at a level far more in depth than a tourist or traveling student would allow. This experience required living with many different host families during events and enabled me to understand not only how different people live on a daily basis, but also to identify the overlap of people in general regardless of culture, history, politics, and religion. This combined with the necessity of a competitive cyclist to be self aware of your environment, and the riders around you during an event, the terrain, the air quality, the wind, the energy of the crowd and other competitors enables one, I believe as a designer, to practice and exercise the application of intuition with accuracy. This is something I could not learn in a classroom. It could only be learned through the desire to compete through a sport that allowed one self to experience the people, the history of place, it’s terrain, and the need to make decisions quickly all at once. These things can be analyzed in groups and in a studio, but in cycling it is applied at threshold.

At the end of my professional cycling pursuits, I began working on a Professional Degree in Architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston, Massachusetts). While attending Wentworth I worked as a Design Studio Teaching Assistant under Professor Valentine Gunasekara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine_Gunasekara), and in 1996 graduated with honors. Since 1996, I have lived and worked on both coasts of the United States. As a professional, I have intentionally diversified my building type experience: from small war memorials to residential to semiconductor facilities. Altogether my career portfolio includes over sixty (60) billable projects.

Additionally, I have had the opportunity to work within diverse business environments, from individual, small and medium sized firms to working and traveling with Jacobs Engineering, one of the largest architectural and engineering companies in the world.

Following is a brief list of my professional experience:

• Teaching Assistant and Guest Critique for several Universities
• Architectural Design Manager Facilities Planner for GSA, Northern Telecommunications, and Confidential Military Defense Contractor
• Architectural Project Management including scheduling, estimating, budgeting, coordinating and managing a team for project execution.
• Client Contact and Coordination – Successful at developing continuous work from satisfied client relationships
• Principle and Owner of Novomodo Design Studio in Tucson, Arizona — Design office directed towards renovations of small residential projects and design proposals for local businesses in the Tucson area.
• Building Types Experience: Residential, Commercial, Local Government, Military, Hospitality, University, and an extensive background in Industrial Manufacturing and Lab Research Facilities.
• LEED AP with IDP certification; currently taking ARE’s
• Extensive experience and current release expertise in the use of 3-D modeling and graphic presentation tools including AutoCAD, Revit, Sketch-up, Form-Z, MicroStation, Photoshop and Illustrator

Over two decades have passed since my start at Barretto.

I enjoy my career as an Architectural Designer and continue to expand my knowledge base within a professional environment… while seeking design inspiration and perspectives from daily bike rides.

Thank you for visiting my website and portfolio. I invite you to enjoy some of the projects I have had the opportunity to design during my career.
Todd Mion, AIA Assoc., LEED AP