René Bihan is a Managing Principal (Architect) with the SWA Group, a design firm in San Francisco with five offices in California, Texas and China. He has over twenty years of practice as an urban design professional and is associated with a variety of design projects ranging from local projects including the Bayview Opera House and the California Academy of Sciences, to global projects including Beijing Finance Street, Beijing, and Hong Kong Cultural Harbour, Hong Kong. Mr. Bihan’s professional affiliations include the San Francisco Better Streets Citizens’ Action Committee, Harvard University Graduate School of Design Advisory Board, and University of California Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture. Mr. Bihan is an award-winning architect and is a published writer in several architecture journals. He received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from California State Polytechnic University, and his Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and he completed an International Studies Program at the School of Architecture, Florence, Italy.