About

Hatch Architects Design Center is a nonprofit created in 2021. Our mission is to enhance the community by empowering students with design skills and knowledge while simultaneously improving our built environment. We are primarily focused on the City of Dayton and Dayton Public School students.

Our nonprofit aims to increase the diversity in the architecture profession and inspire young people to explore the profession and pursue it themselves! Through hands-on workshops with guest architect and designers as mentors, we hope to hatch more community-minded architects.

OUR BOARD

Our founder is Alexandra Bohler, an architect born, raised, and living in Dayton, Ohio. She went to Stivers School for the Arts and then Cornell University, earning a B.S. in Urban and Regional Studies. After a brief stint with Teach for America in Philadelphia, she earned her Master of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is particularly interested in what she'd call "community architecture" and is passionate about teaching. (She’s an adjunct faculty member at Sinclair.)

Veronica Pochet moved to the Dayton area 10 years ago and lives in Beavercreek.  She was born in El Salvador and grew up in the DC/ Virginia Metro Area.  She has a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and is a registered architect in Ohio, Florida and New York.  Her work has included educational, industrial, commercial, local government, federal government, military, and office design projects.  She is an Associate at Levin Porter Architects. 

Charlie Setterfield is a professor at Sinclair Community College and chair of the Built Environment Department. Among his responsibilities, he leads the Architectural Technology program. He received his undergraduate degree from Wittenberg University in East Asian Studies then went on to get his Master of Architecture from Ohio State University in 1993.

Joanne Mejias is an Ohio transplant who was born in Trinidad, WI, grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and now works for the City of Kettering Planning Department as their Code Enforcement Manager and Residential Plans Examiner.  She has a BA in Art and a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University. She is an architect registered in New York and Ohio.

Djuna Wahlrab is an Emmy-nominated Visual Effects Supervisor working in the film and tv industry. She has worked on award winning television shows such as Escape at Dannemora, Succession and The Plot Against America. Recent film credits include If Beale Street Could Talk, The Devil All The Time, and forthcoming, The Humans. Djuna grew up in Five Oaks and graduated from Dayton Public schools. She is especially interested in collaboration and interdisciplinary education and is looking forward to helping Hatch reach her community.

Carolyn Bohler, Rel. D., Ph.D., now retired, was Professor of Pastoral Theology and Counseling at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, for two decades. Before and after that she was Pastor of UMC Churches in California. Her books include God the What?: What Our Metaphors for God Reveal About Our Beliefs in God and When You Need to Take a Stand. 

OUR ADVISORS

Clark Anthony Simmons is a project manager in Dayton, Ohio where he has worked in healthcare architecture for over twenty years overseeing major renovation projects. Clark’s combination of education, experience, and creative problem solving abilities continue to make him an invaluable asset to each project. He graduated from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and later attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where he did work toward a Master's degree in architecture.

Jocelyn Spencer Rhynard serves on the Dayton Public Schools Board of Education. She works to defend public education in Ohio, is involved in politics and local campaigns, and is the Co-Director of the SW Ohio chapter of New Leaders Council, a progressive future leadership training organization.  A Minnesota native and Ohio transplant, with a brief stint in Utah for her undergraduate degree, she now considers Dayton home and finds that her best thinking is done while walking her two rescue dogs, Mila and Kepler.