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Sheena Tu Sheena Tu is the co-founder of Meshki Design Center, where she oversees the firm’s work across the fields. Passionate about all aspects of design, she specializes in web design and development, as well as presentation creation and implementation, on behalf of a wide range of clients.

Prior to founding Meshki, Sheena spent nearly a decade helping clients with many forms of design initiatives, including branding, presentations, motion graphics, video editing, UI/UX design, web programming and development, 3D design, and much more. Through creative thinking, technical design prowess, and an outside the box approach, Sheena continues to push herself with each and every project.

While it may sound a bit cliché, design truly runs in Sheena’s blood. Her father has spent his professional life as an interior designer and businessman, and her grandfather was an accomplished artist, painter, illustrator, and Art Director for a prestigious newspaper in Southern China. In fact, her grandfather’s art was one of her first sources of design inspiration and she often reflects on his work as she thinks about her own projects.

Born and raised in Guangzhou, China, Sheena’s close-knit relationship with her parents and grandfather helped to mold her into the person she is today. As a child, she kept a regimented schedule that was teeming with competitive activities like swimming, track & field, roller-skating, board gaming, and playing musical instruments on both regional and international levels. Her mother and mentor, known for being endlessly patient and supportive, is responsible for helping to manage Sheena’s busy schedule and instilling in her the idea that competing was not about winning or losing; rather, it is about being part of the process and being the best that you can be.

These teachings from Sheena’s family have stuck with her and helped to propel her forward in her academic and professional career. She graduated from UC Davis with honors, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Bachelor of Science in Textile & Clothing and, as well as a Master of Fine Arts focused on Design, Technology & Music. Through this educational background in diverse disciplines, Sheena found herself well-equipped to apply her knowledge to creatively solve contemporary real-world problems for businesses.

Mahan Soltanzadeh is the co-founder and co-CEO of Meshki Design Center, where he heads up all marketing and business development operations. Forward-thinking in his approach to leveraging new technologies in the design process, he also acts as the product manager for Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (XR) software development for the firm.

No matter the medium, Mahan specializes in taking design projects of all sizes from the conceptual stage all the way through final production. His world-class technical expertise includes visual ideation and technical software, including 2D, 3D, CAD and BIM applications and visual programming for 3D animations, simulations, and VFX. His passion for design and making the world a better place has also inspired him to focus his future efforts to utilize AI and robotics to tackle the issues of homelessness and assisted living by applying principles of sustainable design.

A rising star in the industry, Mahan’s work has been featured in prominent international design competitions and trade shows across the globe. Always one to think creatively and solve problems, he approaches each project with excitement and vigor as he helps to bring Meshki’s vision to life and to the forefront of the design industry.

As a child in Tehran, Mahan harnessed his youthful energy into a passion for design through illustration and painting. His focus and attention to the smallest details were evident dating back to his earliest drawings of beloved animals as a young child. As he grew older, he became an avid handballer, soccer player, bodybuilder, meditator, and student of martial arts. To this day, Mahan practices several martial arts styles and applies the discipline learned over the years from this craft to his professional work as a world-class designer.

A lifelong learner, Mahan holds several undergraduate and graduate degrees from the prestigious Azad University of Art & Architecture in the fields of graphic design, interior architecture, and environmental design. Prior to and during his formal design education, he cut his teeth in the business world through sales and marketing roles, and as an entrepreneur specializing in branding, advertising, trade show, interior and architectural design and construction, and commercial exhibit organization.

With this robust educational and professional background, he moved to the U.S. and taught courses on Commercial Exhibition Design before transitioning back into his professional career where he has expanded his work in a variety of design-related fields, including lighting design, education, and software development with a keen focus on AR and VR.

Sahoko Yui is a consultant for Meshki Design Center, specializing in user experience research, design, and development. She combines academic experience with skill sets gained from the completion of real-world, practical projects to deliver immense value to Meshki’s clients.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sahoko uses qualitative methods to validate emerging technologies and create user research-driven designs. She employs this approach as she partners with Meshki’s design, development, and engineering teams to deliver product design features and roadmaps to develop products and services for clients. Her extensive research and development skills and hands-on projects have laid the foundation for our future endeavors in the mentioned fields. Sahoko also aids Meshki with its ambitions for developing cutting-edge solutions for assisted living design and tackling the important issue of houselessness using AI, robotic technology, and applying sustainable design principles.

Sahoko has extensive experience in landscape architectural design and research. While completing her Ph.D. in Geography at the University of California, Davis, she assisted the team at Meshki with several design, planning, and research projects in this space. One of these projects was the complete landscape design of Cruess Hall at UC Davis. With her input, the team came up with several innovative ideas, including the design of adaptive furniture for students to use on campus and the creation and presentation of ReFrame, which is UC Davis Design Department’s installation prototype for the prestigious Sofa Chicago event.

Continued collaboration between Sahoko and the team at Meshki has resulted in several successful projects over the years, and her expertise in this space presents a great opportunity for clients looking to bring their visions to life.

Solar Decathlon

  • Event,  Experience,  Immersive
  • 2013 - 2017

University of California, Davis entered the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Solar Decathlon Competition for the first time in 2015.

Mahan was part of an award-winning team that devoted its efforts to providing sustainable zero-net energy housing that farm workers could afford.

The Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition comprising 10 contests that challenge student and faculty teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. More than 100 universities worldwide send their respective proposals to DOE for review. DOE selects 20 universities as the final competitors. These 20 universities have almost two years to fundraise, design, and construct their version of zero net energy building for the contest.

Overview

01
AR Application
02
Proposal
03
Roles
04
Responsiblities
05
Result
06
Continuous partnership
01
AR Software

What makes this project unique is its visualization in augmented reality (AR). Mahan developed an AR application and formed the presentation and exhibition strategy to present the Aggie Sol house in Irvine, California, as part of his graduate program thesis project titled "How To Exhibit Architecture In A Meaningful And Effective Way Using Augmented Reality Technology.”

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02
Proposal

Mahan was one of the five people on the proposal committee who helped design, write, and visualize the UC Davis proposal for DOE, including the first design of the UCD solar house sent to the DOE in the fall semester of 2013 in his first year of graduate study at UC Davis design department.

This proposal was successful as DOE elected UC Davis by the end of the fall quarter as one of the 20 teams to compete in the 2015 Solar Decathlon.

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03
Role

Mahan was the Aggie Sol project's architectural manager from the winter quarter of 2013 to the summer of 2015. He assisted the team in developing and building a design that addresses health, living, and cost concerns—including inadequate heating and cooling, poor air quality, work-related debris, and affordability—associated with farmworker housing conditions at an affordable price.

04
Responsibilities

Mahan took on specific responsibilities, including recruiting, conducting workshops, providing visual communications, and helping with construction, as the architectural manager for the Aggie Sol project:

Recruiting

He helped to form the design team by recruiting from diverse academic backgrounds. This included a multidisciplinary approach to include architects, landscape architects, graphic designers, and lighting designers, as well as civil engineering, structural engineering, and electrical engineering students from across the UC Davis campus.

Conducting workshops

Mahan held several workshops and classes to teach students about architectural design and drafting, model making, digital simulation and visualization, and lighting simulation (day lighting and electrical lighting). This knowledge helped the team to learn relevant professional skills and collaborate on its Solar Decathlon project.

Visual Communications

Mahan assisted the sales and marketing team to create the branding, team name, and all the graphic visuals required for the UC Davis Solar Decathlon team. This helped to present the design visually in an expressive and efficient way and to raise money from other UC Davis colleges and departments, and companies in Northern California for sponsorships.

Construction

After finishing the house's design and getting approval for the structural and architectural details from DOE in the winter of 2014, Mahan joined the construction team to build the house for the Solar Decathlon contest. This was all presented in 2015 in Irvine, California.

05
Result

Mahan attended the Solar Decathlon contest in the fall quarter of 2015 with the construction team to move and assemble the house in the exhibition field in Irvine, California.

Of the 10 contents, the team won first prize in commuting and affordability, third place in energy balance, and fourth place in architecture.

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Continued Partnership

Mahan continued his participation in the Solar Decathlon as the 2017 competition design consultant for the UC Davis’ team, which included the philosophy of addressing the environmental and social needs of California residents.

Credits

Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

Contestant
University of California, Davis

Year
2013 - 2017

Role
Architectural Manager and Consultant