The Team

Teodoro Amadeo Berndt

Born is the lush province of Misiones, Argentina, Teo demonstrated a passion for designing and building from very early on. <>

He graduated in Architecture and Urban Studies from the “Universidad Nacional del Litoral” in Santa Fe, Argentina, Besides this six-year course, Teo’s additional academic and post-graduate studies include:

• Urban Landscape and Architecture, Madrid, Spain.
• Human Resources and Research, Institute of Urban History, Santa Fe, Argentina.
• Advanced Morphology, Universidad del Litoral, Argentina
• Interior Acoustics, Universidad del Litoral, Argentina.
• Urban Landscaping, Universidad del Litoral, Argentina.
• Urban and Architectural Development of Santa Fe. Institute of Hispanic Culture, Santa Fe, Argentina.
• Seminar on Building Environments (” El Ambiente construido”). Universidad del Litoral, Argentina.

As a young graduate, Teo suddenly found himself in a country in the midst of an economic implosion and the political instability that accompanied it. Undaunted, he launched his career and had a prolific start with a number of residential, commercial and urban projects in Argentina and Brazil

In 2000 he moved to Spain, where he worked at the Vicente Olmedilla studio, in Madrid. With this group he acquired a deeper appreciation for simple, minimalist design and was exposed to the newest methods and techniques for green (sustainable) construction.

Among his projects in Spain are several multi-family dwellings, participation in the Cesine University project as well as in the design of the building of Fundacion Metropoli, an award-winning bio-climactic building in Madrid.

Teo moved to the United States in 2003, where he leads the architectural design projects for Tayo Design Studio.

Monica Berndt

Teo’s sister, Monica is a veteran marketing executive whose interest lies interior design and land development. Among other functions, she is focused on bringing to market a line of architectural products.

Monica’s academic background includes a degree in Journalism from the university of La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina and courses in marketing and communications. She’s currently pursuing a design degree at UCLA.

Monica has always been passionate about the arts -and considers architecture one of its greatest expressions. Besides a busy and fulfilling career in technology, she has been active in the promotion of local art and during the 90′s held regular salons for poets, writers and painters at her Eagle Rock home. Now, after launching software products in the US, Latin America and Europe she looks forward to applying this experience to the promotion of “objects of beauty”.

Richard Puz

A veteran public affairs specialist, Richard Puz serves as TDS’ governmental/regulatory liaison, working to secure official approvals and community support for projects as needed. His role is to address and resolve community and neighborhood issues that may surface in the design and review stages of a project.

Richard’s holds a degree in Political Sciences from Stony Brook University, in New York and has held senior public relations positions for academic institutions such as University of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and the Claremont Colleges in California as well as large corporations, among them Pacific Enterprises in Los Angeles.

Since the late ’90s Richard has worked as a public affairs consultant for several urban development projects.