Michael Eliason, RA. Director

Michael is the founder and principal of Larch Lab. He is a researcher, writer, urbanist, and architect based in Seattle. He is a licensed architect, holds a B.Arch from Virginia Tech, and has been an advocate and consultant for Passivhaus buildings for over a decade.

Michael’s nearly 20 year career has included managing a variety of residential, industrial, and public projects. In Germany, he has worked with Pfeifer.Roser.Kuhn and Architekturbüro Leinhäupl + Neuber. In Seattle, Michael worked with Mahlum, Bjarko/Serra, and Patano Studio Architecture – where he was the project manager for the award-winning Washington State Park Goldendale Observatory.

His experiences in Europe and the Pacific Northwest have significantly shaped his viewpoints on housing. He has dedicated his career to advancing innovation and broadening the discourse on passivhaus, community-oriented housing, ecodistricts, prefabrication, circularity, and mass timber. His writings and past collaborations have been featured in Treehugger, Archinect, Publicola, the Urbanist, Sightline Institute, the Seattle Times, Crosscut, and City Observatory.

Michael has been an invited critic and lecturer at several institutions, including the University of Washington, Georgetown, and Cornish College of the Arts. Michael also presents internationally and is featured on podcasts covering topics such as baugruppen (urban cohousing), passivhaus, ecodistricts, and mass timber.

Michael is an activist for dense, livable, affordable, and sustainable cities. He currently sits on the board of Seattle’s new Passivhaus Social Housing Development PDA, and is writing a book on climate adaptive ecodistricts for Island Press.