Robert Tuñón (35)
Associate, Architect
Rothschild Doyno Collaborative

It’s the great irony of good design — communities that most need the service are often unlikely to have the means to attain it. It’s part of what makes architects and architectural firms such valuable team players in communities and what drives Robert Tuñón’s devotion to service. Tuñón is an architect with Rothschild Doyno Collaborative and organizes the firm’s annual day of service, where employees work with local nonprofits on the infrastructure needed to advance their missions.

“So many of these organizations have great ideas, but they’re stuck in the funding or development phase,” Tuñón says. “Part of what we do is understand and address those needs. It’s transformative and impactful.”

Tuñón is also active in sustainable revitalization efforts in his borough of Etna, a riverside community north of Pittsburgh that has been ravaged by years of flooding. He also sits on the advisory board committee for the Minority Architects of Pittsburgh Scholarship.

“The profession is a challenging one to get into,” says Tuñón, whose father is from Panama and who identifies as Latino. “We need to ask, ‘How do we allow all people to see this as a pathway to a career?’”

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