Deborah Epstein, AIA, is a founding partner of Epstein Joslin Architects, an architectural design and consulting practice, begun in 2002, specializing in civic, performing arts, higher education, institutional, retail, housing, and high-end residential work. At EJA, Ms. Epstein leads custom residential projects, and leads the interior design and finishes of performance spaces done by EJA. She has directed such projects as: Shalin Liu Performance Center for Rockport Music, C Walsh Theatre Renovation for Suffolk University, and the Estate House in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.
Prior to EJA, she was owner and principal of Deborah Epstein Architect for 15 years, where her passion for the nature of materials, color, and composition has produced finely crafted, high-end, specialty design work. To support this she has developed extensive collaborative relationships with a wide range of craftspeople and artists.
Her architectural work has been well published, awarded, featured in advertisements, and exhibited.
Ms. Epstein received her Master of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with associated study at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College, Columbia University. She has also studied at several art schools including the Lester Polokov Studio and Forum of Stage Design in NY, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Rochester Institute of Technology where she worked in costume design, printmaking, and exhibit/industrial design. As a graduate student she was the recipient of the Albert Hinckley Traveling Fellowship, which took her to Scotland and Austria to study the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Vienna Secession.
Ms. Epstein is an elected member of the Boston Society of Architects' Members Enrichment Committee, where she leads the Architects and Artists Initiative whose mission is to encourage and facilitate collaborative relationships between architects and artists through lectures, studio visits, and site tours. She has been a juror for the 2002 AIA Northern Virginia Chapter Design Awards, and has been on juries to review student work at MIT and RISD.
Ms. Epstein has also been involved in costuming for the theatre, where her credits include working with the New York Shakespeare Festival both On and Off Broadway.
Her leadership in public service has created Performance Series, a program in the Cambridge Public Schools that ensures that children are exposed to theatre, dance, and music performances.
Ms. Epstein’s interests have always been multi-disciplinary within the arts. Ms. Epstein splits her time between architecture and weaving; the two disciplines feed each other technically, aesthetically, and in terms of process.
Ms. Epstein is registered as an Architect in Massachusetts, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Boston Society of Architects.