Melissa Hanley

Melissa Hanley, principal and architect, co-founded award-winning commercial architecture firm, Blitz, in 2009 at the age of 26. Since its founding, the firm has grown to three studios (San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver) and has undertaken commercial, retail, and hospitality projects across the world. Well-known clients include Google, Instacart, Microsoft, Levi’s, Skype, Webcor Builders, and Parachute Home. Her firm has been responsible for the design and implementation of more than 300 projects totaling over 5.5 million square feet. Melissa’s work includes many international commissions, as her firm has transformed whole buildings, complex technology campuses, and multiple offices and restaurants throughout the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia. As an expert in commercial interior design with specific emphasis on workplace strategy, she regularly lectures at universities and contributes to technical and lifestyle publications such as Architect, Interior Design Magazine, Fast Company, Inc., SF Business Journal, Contract, Vanity Fair, GQ, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and the WSJ. Additionally she has been privileged to serve on several AIA and IIDA awards juries. Melissa has authored Blitz’s ‘Hacker’s Guide to the Post-Covid Workplace’ and has spoken on the subject of re-entry strategy on panels for IIDA National, San Francisco Business Time Leadership Trust, Steelcase, and several real estate brokerage and venture capital firms. She has been sheltering-in-place at her home in Sebastopol with her husband (and business partner), Seth, and two Frenchies, Beauregard and Bardot.