Jeffrey Paine  |  FAIA

Founding Principal

Jeffrey (Jeff) Paine recalibrates the architectural process to create opportunities that expand the power and function of design. He is a facile leader and thinker, with a ‘long view’ of the impact of design on communities and economic growth. Jeff focuses on the critical contributions of client representatives, members of the design team and individuals at all levels of expertise. This approach ensures inclusion of the diverse perspectives that fuel the firm’s masterful design process. He has led the design of iconic, transformational buildings for organizations and communities throughout the US and abroad.

Jeff’s fluency in developer metrics demystifies the design process while strategically realigning client interests with architectural solutions. He effectively engages clients and contractors, and models an approach to listening that allows others to embrace—and validate—new ways of thinking. By advocating for the inclusion of public and social space, he assures a client’s investment includes giving back to the community. In 2016, Jeff was selected as a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, where he spent eight weeks investigating the significance of the ancient city’s most successful squares and piazzas. He brings this insight to all campus master planning efforts in the firm.

As Managing Principal of Duda|Paine, Jeff is a devoted mentor to the firm’s international design and support staff. He has established extensive training programs to build a new generation of design and business leaders to address the complex challenges facing architectural practice today. Upon being honored with the F. Carter Williams AIA Gold Medal in 2021, Turan Duda offered the following, “From Jeff I learned that architecture is a business and an art, and if you don’t do the business, you don’t get to do the art.”

A sought-after speaker, Jeff’s lectures to multidisciplinary and international audiences expand public awareness of architectural practice and the role it plays in our global future. His insight into current design trends and the aspirations of today’s office tenants has been published in Forbes Magazine, Work Design Magazine, Office Insight and other local and national business journals. In 2019, Jeff was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows, an honor bestowed on only three percent of architects nationwide. He was recently included, along with his partner Turan Duda, in Business North Carolina Magazine’s Power 100 List, highlighting the 100 Most Influential Leaders in North Carolina in 2022.

Bachelor of Architecture Syracuse University

ORGANIZATIONS
American Institute of Architects
Urban Land Institute, Rethinking Southern Cities Council
U.S. Green Building Council
Society for College & University Planning
Downtown Durham Inc., Executive Committee