Ripple Effects

What’s in a name? Our office is located on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, at the mouth of one of the largest watersheds in the country. The actions of millions of people and businesses upstream have significant impacts on the health of our bay, and therefore our local economy. While not everyone lives in such an extreme location, we chose the name Watershed as a reminder that we all live downstream.

The alternate meaning of “a watershed moment” inspired us to start a new business while in the depths of a recession. Our founding concept was that the economic downturn could be a watershed event, stimulating people to examine the way we build and the way our communities grow, so that we can chart a more sustainable course.

Our mission is to create and improve buildings so that they to leave this region better than we found it. We want to go beyond “mitigation” or reducing the harm of development, to creating positive impacts on the natural world, positive economic gains, and positive social impacts.

Our method is threefold: to build expertise around affordable, sustainable building solutions for our hot humid climate, to create built environments that inspire a greater connection with the natural world, and to perform our work in the spirit of collaboration, sharing information with our communities and clients.

Meet the Team

At Watershed, we work with design, development, and construction teams, businesses, and homeowners to create healthy buildings and landscapes that conserve energy and resources while fostering a greater connection to the natural world. Our expertise revolves around building design, construction, and operational solutions for a hot humid climate. While the growing green building movement is international, our solutions are local.

Rebecca Dunn Bryant, AIA

Principal

Rebecca Dunn Bryant, AIA co-founded WATERSHED in 2008 in order to build expertise around affordable, sustainable building solutions for a hot humid climate and create built environments that inspire a greater connection with the natural world. Originally from Alabama, Rebecca moved to Colorado to study sustainable design in 1990, receiving a BA in Social Ecology from the University of Colorado and a Masters of Architecture from Tulane University.

She worked in San Francisco, New York, and Houston, before returning home to get red dirt back under her feet. Rebecca has spent almost three decades focused on sustainable design and is frequently a featured speaker at conferences across the Southeast. Her work has been recognized with a Synergy Award from the Citizen’s Environmental Coalition, a LEED Fellowship, and AIA Alabama’s Presidents Award for leadership. She was also highlighted as one of 9 “Green Leaders in Red States” and Mobile Bay’s “Top 40 under 40” class of 2011.

Rebecca’s passion for sustainable development is focused on a biophilic design approach that seeks to restore a connection to place, and design, construction, and operational strategies tailored to meet the unique challenges of a hot humid climate. While the growing green building movement is international, her approach is decidedly local.

Photo Credit: ChadRilyPhoto.com

Anthony J. Garcia

Associate Architect

Anthony was born in Biloxi, MS and raised in the small communities of Jackson County. A childhood spent exploring the bayous, pine forests and shorelines along and off the Mississippi Gulf Coast cultivated his reflective nature. After receiving his Bachelors of Architecture from Mississippi State University, Anthony ventured off to Raleigh, North Carolina to begin his architectural career while starting a family.

Anthony has spent the last decade on teams that have designed award-winning facilities for mid-Atlantic higher education institutions and state-of-the-art research facilities for bio-science companies while also working with local developers and businesses to provide design services for smaller community-driven projects. Whether through an underlying need to create with his hands, his passion for anything on two wheels, his athletic past, or the basic desire to leave anything he touches in better condition than when he found it, Anthony seeks to be completely engaged.

Anthony and his wife live near Perdido Bay, where they are raising their children to enjoy and respect the natural beauty of the northern Gulf Coast. They spend much of their family time exploring the parks, preserves and white sands of Northwest Florida and Lower Alabama.

Registered Architect in Alabama | LEED AP BD+C | Cal OES Safety Assessor

Photo Credit: Steven Savage