Team

Zeke is passionate about people, design, and building.   In 2012, he founded Root Architecture and Development to reach more people and push these passions forward.

Zeke is a licensed Architect, Contractor, and Leed Accredited Professional. When not designing or building something you’ll most likely find Zeke fishing with his boys or atop a mountain running a Colorado trail.

REGISTRATIONS
Architect Colorado #402818
Class C  Colorado Contractor #243849
LEED, AP
CU Design Build Certified

EDUCATION
University of Texas at Arlington
Bachelor’s of Architecture ‘04
University of Colorado at Denver
Master of Architecture ‘07

DREAM HOME
Zeke’s would have one big glass wall where he could look out over a misty mountain morning at elk in the meadow, while a fire crackles in the fireplace. His feet would be up as he sits in his chair with a cup of coffee and a book in his hand.

SECRET TALENT
Zeke takes trust falls to the extreme – including rooftops.

Amy is Root’s full-time Realtor. Amy is committed to serving the needs of buyers, sellers and investors by providing the most comprehensive programs available today. Amy has been involved in the real estate business with her husband for 18 years from fix and flips, to multi-family developments to helping first-time home buyers. Whether you need to sell your home, buy a home, or need a turn-key design and sales team for your real estate investment, we are here to provide you with help in your real estate needs.

On a side note, Amy enjoys yoga, the arts, and the great outdoors. She is also an active volunteer Colorado fire fighter with Indian Hills Fire Rescue and truly loves serving her community.

Chad is at his best when he’s bringing people together. Whether that’s through developing an out-of-the-box concept for a client or facilitating a quick conversation between colleagues, he keeps a constant focus on helping others flourish in community  As an architect with decades of experience in the Design / Build world, Chad has the exceptional ability to balance beauty with functionality.

Simplicity and the mantra “less is more” drives Chad’s design process to leverage the natural beauty often surrounding a project.      

Chad is an avid cyclist, splitting time between mountain biking and road cycling, and has spent significant time in the high mountains across several continents.  You will often find Chad and his wife Krista, along with their two adult daughters and their husbands, on some epic adventure.   

EDUCATION
University of Texas A & M
B.S. College of Architecture ‘93

DREAM HOME
Chad has designed and built several dream homes for he and his family, each one having more windows and fewer walls than the previous. Each one has had expansive vistas and were just big enough for friends & family, yet small enough to keep people close.  Their current favorite is a 480 SF “off the grid” tree house on their coffee farm! 

SECRET TALENT
Chad is a coffee farmer.  He and his family own Spirit Mountain, a 350 acre coffee plantation in the Dominican Republic, where they lived for almost 2 decades.

Dulce’s heart is in design. From start to finish, she loves the process of working with each variable (cost, materials, forms, environment, design, structure, client wishes and requirements) and delivering a product or proposal. Dulce believes passion is the key to good design. When she works on a project she puts her entire heart into it with equal measures of love and efficiency.

Dulce was born and raised in Guatemala and currently lives in El Salvador. She says her father is her role model. She admires his work ethic and positive attitude toward work and life and tries to follow in his footsteps. Outside of work, Dulce enjoys yoga, listening to music, going to the beach, painting and movies.

EDUCATION
Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala ‘11

DREAM HOME
Open, friendly, cozy and above all – near a beach.

SECRET TALENT
Empathy toward others. If she notices someone needs support, she rushes to help.

Carlos’ expertise in architectural visualization and building information modeling (BIM) help bring our designs to life. He values the power architectural design holds to improve lives through space organization and sensorial experiences. When Carlos starts a project, the first thing he does is put himself in the clients’ shoes.

Born and raised in San Salvador in El Salvador, Carlos credits his mother’s dedication and passion for her job as one of his greatest influences. Outside of work, Carlos loves soccer, listening to records, playing the drums and dogs.

EDUCATION
Universidad Albert Einstein

DREAM HOME
A flexible home that offers a refuge for peace and quiet but also space for fun and laughter.

SECRET TALENT
Public speaking.

Christian’s interest in architecture began at a very young age. He would watch his father, also an architect, and admire how easily he could handle a pen and sketch ideas and solutions. Christian loves the concept of taking a spatial problem or need, organizing it and yielding a clean drawing with a solution. He appreciates the idea that architecture is a trade that involves a creative process which produces an idea out of nothing in the brain and later manifests itself physically (provided the project is built).

Christian leads the Root Architecture and Development team in El Salvador. Christian says his work is influenced by his father’s functional style and Scandinavian design. When designing, Christian believes form follows function. Simply put, find the correct solution for the spaces needed and work on the form and look afterwards. Born in El Salvador, Christian is also half Danish and credits his connection to Denmark with influencing with design style preferences.

Outside of Root AD, Christian loves to be out in the wild and in the open air. He enjoys taking his kids camping and climbing mountains or volcanoes (El Salvador has a lot of volcanoes). Christian also loves spending time at the beach with his family. While relaxing, you can always find him reading.

EDUCATION
Universidad Albert Einstein

DREAM HOME
Christian believes a house should reflect the people living inside of it. His personal choice would involve a minimalistic approach. He likens it to a mental state that requires very little to be satisfied and when the idea is externalized in a physical building, it yields a very simple and clean solution.

SECRET TALENT
Christian is a very hands-on guy. He’s always wanted to understand how stuff works, so even as a child, he would open things up to learn. Most times, a few screws didn’t find their way back. As an adult, he still loves opening broken things and fixing them.

Maricruz's interest in architecture started when she was a little girl who loved plastic arts and colors, creating and imagining how to decorate her house for any special occasion such as birthdays and Christmas, as well as organizing and decorating different spaces starting with her bedroom.Maricruz joined the ROOT team summer of 2022....She Born and raised in San Salvador in El Salvador. Outside of Root, Maricruz enjoys play with her dogs, listen to music and made social volunteering.

EDUCATION
Universidad Centroamericana José Simeon Cañas (UCA)

DREAM HOME

Maricruzs dreams with a minimalist house, that is big with great views and that is away from the city preferably near the mountains, with open spaces that connect with the outside. And where she has all kinds of family reunions and can play with her dogs.

SECRET TALENT

I love to declaim poems. I have been doing it since I was in school and I love to transmit what poets want to say, especially when they are about social issues.

PROFESSIONAL
Fernando René Cantisano is a young Dominican architect, currently finishing his education. Since an early age, he has worked for a number ofrenowned architecture firms, on a variety of projects ranging from small domestic spaces to major government facilities. He has excelled in all aspects of architecture over the course of his career, including design, project development, project management, and architectural visualization. Fernando has honed his craft by taking a keen interest in the latter and bringing a clearer grasp of the projects to be developed to his clients before even moving the first rock on site.

PERSONAL
Fernando is a trusted friend and confidant to many. He is keenly aware of the needs of those around him and engages with others with a quiet intensity and wise disposition. His love for the natural world informs the direction of both his professional and personal life. Fernando has a deep affection for nature and stewardship of the natural environment

Claudia is an artist whose time creating abstract works informs her designs as an Architect. With a master's degree in advance design and digital architecture andyears ofexperience collaborating on publicsectorurban designs, Claudia adds to Root's ability to tackle a broad range of projects. She tenaciously pursues the delicatebalance betweenbeauty and functionality for a user focused end product.Claudia was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, with parents and a family that supported her dreams and encouraged her to pursue her vocation as an artist. Outside of workyou will find her with paintbrush in hand creating an off the hook, abstract painting, or traveling to some far away country learning about new cultures. The most important part of Claudia’s life is her family and spending quality time with them.

EDUCATION
Masters Degree -Elisava, Spain (Architecture)
Post Graduate Certificate - lulzbot/Makerbot. USA (Focus on 3D Printing)
Undergradate Degree in Architecture -Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. PUCMM. DR

DREAM HOME
A fully automated 'smart' home with an open format, seamless interior-exterior connections, massive windows, peaceful color palette and a generous exterior covered terrace.

SECRET TALENT
Abstract painter

Accounting is Jane’s heart and passion. While most start college not knowing what to major in, Jane knew early on this was the path she was meant to follow. Since graduating from Pace University in 2002, her professional life has consistently focused on assisting businesses with their accounting needs. Joining the team at Root Architecture & Development has been very rewarding and it brings her joy to know her skills and experience have helped the firm to develop. Jane is enthusiastic about growing with such an amazing group of people.

Other than her love of working with numbers, Jane is a devoted wife and mother to her four beautiful children. They are the driving force in both her personal and professional life. She loves music and no matter what she is doing there is always music playing in the background. She’s also passionate about sports, thanks to her hubby who taught her the ins and outs of football. Football is a big part of her family and this lady is a die-hard NY Giants fan.

EDUCATION
Pace University, New York
Bachelor of Business Administration 2002
Major: Public Accounting