Our Team

Matt Landl, IALD
Principal

With today’s ever-changing technologies, it’s critical to have a firm grasp on innovative approaches and concepts that allow designers to push the envelope. Matt has been a passionate and driven leader in the lighting industry for over 15 years, eleven of which have been spent spearheading design at Banks Landl. 

Matt brings a vast array of skill and knowledge in the industry to the team at Banks Landl. He is a highly motivated leader with a passion to create spaces that are brought to life through the use of light. The depth and diversity of his experience has equipped him to lead in all aspects of lighting design including commercial, office, hospitality, and residential.  

The projects Matt leads range in scope and intricacy, allowing him to use his ability to analyze needs and establish appropriate program requirements. His attention to detail, organizational skills, collaborative ability, and dedication to his trade help set him apart as a project and team lead.

Tobias Holden, Jr Associate IALD
Design Director

Tobias’ interest in light sprang from photography. Through the process of capturing images he learned how different qualities of light affect people and their environments. Tobias utilized and expanded his knowledge of light through his studies at UC Davis and Parsons School of Constructed Environments. This formal education in architectural lighting and interior design gives Tobias an appreciation for form, color, texture and light, and how their relationship is important to the success of a built environment.

Tobias’ core responsibilities at Banks Landl Lighting Design include: collaborating during design meetings with architects and clients, troubleshooting difficult lighting installations, developing office standards around the application and documentation of lighting design. Tobias is an approachable team player, always ready to collaborate and push the project to its fullest potential. He sees every project as an opportunity to demonstrate the ‘quiet artistry’ of lighting design and its ability to transform peoples’ perception, mood and health.

Austin Anderson, Associate AIA, LC
Senior Designer

Austin’s design interest lies in creating spaces that feel personal to the user. He believes a successful interplay of architecture and lighting can impact not only the emotions of the occupants, but also how they navigate a space. His background of architecture, lighting and BIM allows him to have a holistic approach to design in how it’s both created and delivered.

After graduating with a degree in Architecture from Howard University in 2012, Austin immediately started his career as a BIM Technician specifically focused on project delivery and integration through the use of Revit. After refining his experience in the design-build industry as a project designer, Austin transitioned to the lighting design space, where he’s continued to expand his design principles specific to light. Throughout his tenure he worked on a range of corporate, hospitality, and commercial projects in collaboration with many award-winning architecture practices. Austin joined Banks Landl Lighting Design in 2020 as a Senior Designer, and has continued to extend the limits of light and design.

Austin is an easy-going team player who is always willing to learn, share knowledge, and provide support to maximize each project. In his time off Austin enjoys cooking, listening to music, and playing basketball.

Tan Mekathikom
Senior Designer

Tan moved to the Bay Area to pursue her MFA in Interior Architecture and Design at Academy of Art University. While undertaking her education, she was fascinated by architectural lighting and recognized the significance of lighting design as a major part of interior design. She believes that well-designed architectural lighting not only enhances the design and support functions of the space, but also with color and intensity, it has a vast impact on users' emotional states and their behaviors in the space. 

Tan joined Banks Landl Lighting Design in 2015.  At BLLD, Tan is responsible for various types of projects ranging in type from residential, commercial and hospitality. With her background in architectural and interior design, Tan brings valuable insights in approaching lighting design. Tan enjoys learning and continuing her education in the workplace while expanding her knowledge through collaborating with her peers. She aims to bring her keen eye for design, hardworking personality and project management skills to any project she works on.  

Nick Diaz
Senior Designer

Lighting to Nick is about inciting a visceral response within a person the moment they arrive in a space. Great lighting amplifies and distributes the emotional undercurrent of an environment to guests, and allows for the creation of truly vivid memories.

Nick’s lighting interest stems from his background in theatre. He graduated from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where he studied theatrical and architectural lighting design. It was through theatre that Nick developed a keen sense of narrative storytelling through light.

Post-graduation he spent a number of years with Walt Disney Imagineering as a Lighting Designer where he worked to meld the worlds of theatrical storytelling with architectural execution to create hyper-immersive environments. His work with Disney ranged from small, intimate restaurants to full theme park openings, and can be seen in ten Disney parks across four countries.

Prior to joining Banks Landl, Nick worked in New York as a lighting designer on project types including luxury dining, resorts, casinos, health care, and commercial offices.

Kai Mosvold
Senior Designer

To Kai, light centers itself around perception, and perception dictates our ability to not only relate to the world around us, but most importantly, to ourselves. This world may be entirely fabricated and fictional or deeply rooted in reality with a practical purpose, but in all spaces, exceptional lighting allows us to magnify the rich stories and emotions held within it. 

Kai always shared a deep interest in lighting design for theater and dance, which further drove him to study theatrical and architectural lighting design at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). While in school, it was within the newly found worlds of lighting for architecture and placemaking that he could combine his passion for lighting and the impact of rich storytelling. 

While in school, Kai worked as a lighting consultant for both Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Parks & Resorts. The majority of the projects at Disney centered around the ever-dynamic nighttime spectaculars and those at Universal mostly being immersive attractions and experiences. This work can be experienced across the globe and has only furthered his passion for creating glowing, rich memories. 

Before Banks Landl, Kai worked as a lighting designer in Los Angeles on projects including commercial offices, retail spaces, theaters, experience centers, health care, and gallery spaces.

Zuleika Yan
Designer

Zuleika obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering in Hong Kong and completed her Master’s Degree in Lighting at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She got her lighting design experience through working and completing various projects in different cities such as Las Vegas, Boston, Hong Kong, and Macau before joining Banks Landl Lighting Design in 2020.

Zuleika uses her unique lighting design perspective, combining her senses of well balancing light and shadow to enhance the aesthetic of the surrounding. She is a goal-driven, detail-oriented, and performance-focused professional. She insists on providing excellent, artistic, and fun lighting design in all projects because she believes lighting is an important element that influences all forms of architecture and health. 

“Without the play of light, form is inert and space becomes static” — IM Pei.

Christian Mejia
Designer

Lighting has the ability to both transport us to, or make us feel grounded within, a place and time. It can affect our mood, lead our emotions, and enhance the everyday moments that make up our lives. Christian’s approach to lighting design is human-centric, seeking to create ideal environments where people can thrive and feel joy.

Before joining Banks Landl, Christian worked extensively in theatre and live performance, crafting illuminated atmospheres that served to guide the audience’s focus, emotional response, and sense of space. He brings a refined understanding of color, contrast, and tone to his architectural work.

Christian received his BFA in Production Design from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and his MFA in Lighting Design from the California Institute of the Arts, where he developed a deep interest in the ways in which architectural settings can tell stories through thoughtful lighting integration.

Brian Tran
Designer

Brian is interested in the dialogue that occurs between people, light, and space. In his work, Brian uses light to shape people’s perception of a space as well as guide their emotional response to the built environment. He is enamored by the dichotomy of light, and its intangible yet quantifiable nature. For Brian, lighting can be used as the silent narrator of the manmade world.

Brian’s interest in lighting began in the theatre, and he graduated with a degree in theatrical lighting from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). It was there where he developed a love for storytelling through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Prior to Banks Landl, Brian has worked in Los Angeles as an architectural lighting designer on projects in a wide variety of sectors — from themed entertainment to commercial, retail, hospitality, residential, and master planning. His projects have ranged from as small as 1,200 square feet to as large as 1,200 feet tall. 

Chelsie Cocjin
Junior Designer

Zealous about people and environment, Chelsie believes in art and design’s influence on space and human experience. A year into the lighting design industry, she has cultivated a great appreciation for a quality of light that is fostered with attention to detail and sensitivity to architecture and interiors. 

Through professional experience and a background in architecture she has honed her skills to develop solution-driven design that adheres to both form and function. She aims to effectively deliver ideas cultivated from collaboration and expressed through creative visual language. 

With today’s evolving technology, Chelsie sees the inevitable role of lighting design to create innovative and inventive design solutions that will directly affect the way we inhabit spaces and relate to each other.

Bassel Helmy
Junior Designer

Bassel is originally from Cairo, Egypt, where he earned a bachelors degree in architecture and environmental design.  In addition, Bassel also holds a master’s degree in interior architecture from Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

While completing his master’s degree in interior architecture Bassel discovered how lighting can drastically improve health and well-being and provide spaces their own unique characteristics and personality.  Realizing this essential component of any design project led Bassel to pursue a career as a Lighting Designer.     

As an intern at Banks Landl Lighting Design, Bassel gained experience and enhanced his skills including render creations and animations displaying different effects of light color, temperature and orientation. 

Alejandro Montoya
Junior Designer

Light is more than a necessity it's a material that shapes and conditions space. Alejandro found his interest in lighting design during his time at California College of the Arts while working on his interior design degree. He found himself focusing his design on the lighting and materiality of the space. With his design experience and skills, he can build relationships with space, objects, people, and light.

 As a designer he aims to create intentional, functional, and delightful lived experiences. With empathy and expression as core values, Alejandro designs environments that react to the architecture and the culture that inhabits and surrounds it. With an open mind and an open heart, his goal is to illuminate as many people's lives as he can.

John Hagquist
Studio Manager

John is a bay area native who holds a degree in business administration with a marketing concentration from San Francisco State University.  Prior to entering the professional world, John worked in the hospitality industry for 10+ years, where he gained much of his people and time management skills.  Previous work experience includes working as an AP specialist and accounting assistant for a small family investment office.  When not working, John’s interests include traveling, being a foodie, live entertainment, weightlifting and recreational kickball.