Alan Jones’s first exposure to construction and craft was at the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based millwork business founded by his grandfather and carried on by his father. The shop fabricated the interiors for the University of Michigan’s campus and hospital and the city of Ann Arbor’s libraries. His father’s love of books led to a friendship with the Borders brothers. The shop made the millwork for their expanding book store empire.

Alan’s entrepreneurship caught on early. Before he was out of high school, he operated an outdoor service company. He ran it for eight years, paying for college with its income and funding his graduate studies through its sale. Before entering graduate school, he got a taste of life working in an architecture studio, a tour as a faculty member teaching design/build studio to undergrads, and a year-long stint in general contracting.

After graduate school, Alan considered career opportunities in New York and Boston before heading west to Seattle. He was lucky to find a mentor in Jeffrey Taylor, who taught Alan about design and the practice of architecture. A few years later, he moved to Portland and immediately joined Holst Architecture. He worked on a diverse range of project types including fine single-family homes, multi-family housing, urban mixed-use in-fill development, student housing, and offices.