The son of Methodist Missionaries, Daniel lived in Malaysia and Singapore until moving to Chattanooga, TN at the age of nine.  He graduated with high honors from Princeton University in 1988 and a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Harvard University in 1995.

In 1992 he received a Fulbright Scholarship to draw the Amsterdam Exchange, the masterwork of the Dutch architect Dr. H. P. Berlage.  He received funding from the Dutch Ministry of Culture for an additional year of work, and in 1996 the Nederlands Architectuurinstituut mounted an exhibition of his drawings and published the book Drawing Berlage’s Exchange.  The book was awarded a Citation for Excellence by the American Institute of Architects.

In 1999 the Getty Center in Los Angeles mounted an exhibition of his drawings entitled A Structure Revealed: The Amsterdam Stock Exchange.  (Click here for LA Times article.)  He has lectured and exhibited his work at architecture schools such as the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

In 1997 he was awarded the Rome Prize, in Architecture, for a year of research at the American Academy in Rome. His work, a spatial analysis of Bramante’s Tempietto, was also supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation in Chicago.

In 2007 he established Castor Architecture in Mill Valley, CA to work closer to the home he shares with his wife Jennifer Jerde and their daughters Nell and Gwen.  Jennifer is the founder and creative director of Elixir Design.

Over the years, Daniel has created his share of forts and follies – including a play structure for the Mountain School in Corte Madera, and an installation at the Children’s Museum, or Zeum, in San Francisco.  He was a member of the Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade Committee and remains an avid designer/builder of parade floats.