The Artifex Team

Will Burgin, managing member of Artifex, is a financial strategist and project manager for small scale development. 

While enrolled in Vanderbilt University’s mechanical engineering program, Will saw firsthand how time-tested principles of urban design and planning helped Nashville realize its ambitions to become a more livable, better connected place for families and businesses. Upon returning to Columbus, he applied his observations and professional training to neighborhood retail development and transportation projects on home turf. His successes in Columbus deepened his appreciation for the seamless integration of design, engineering and planning with finance and construction oversight.

By combining Will’s skill set with those of his partners, Artifex strengthens its ability to both plan and implement transformative projects.

R. John Anderson is a design-build specialist who gained his early experience in the construction trades. He has played a leading role in the design and construction of over nine hundred homes and four million square feet of commercial real estate, ranging from courtyard housing to mixed-use developments.

John is best known for his leadership in the Incremental Development Alliance, a platform that he founded to train small scale developers. Through the Alliance, John and collaborators have coached more than 1,000 participants in the design, finance and project management skills required for identifying and acting on opportunities to address the growing demand for small-scale, multifamily rentals. John is based in East Point, Georgia.

David Kim is an architect who approaches projects with the awareness that good buildings and places result from understanding the environment beyond the specific development.

David’s comprehension spans the macro-issues of finance and policy and the minutiae of building codes and construction details. With that knowledge, he helps clients focus their resources on achieving long term, pragmatic and sensible place-making. His experience ranges from courtyard housing projects to mixed-use, transit-oriented developments.

David is a registered architect in New York and California and a graduate of Cornell University. He is a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and a founding member of the Incremental Development Alliance. David is based in Tarrytown, New York.

Bruce Tolar, architect, has become one of the country’s leading experts in design and development strategies for restoring “missing middle” housing options.

After Hurricane Katrina displaced tens of thousands on the Gulf Coast in 2005, Bruce worked with federal and state recovery agencies shaping early designs for small-scale cottages (Katrina Cottages) and cottage neighborhoods in the storm zone. He developed the Cottage Square model community in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and by 2012, he had supervised the design, site planning and construction of 168 rental homes in five “pocket neighborhoods” in transit-oriented, infill locations along the Gulf Coast. 

Along the way, Bruce became an expert in leveraging public-private partnerships to attract for-profit developers to affordable housing projects. His exploration of system-built approaches (including panelization, modular and manufactured housing) produced strategies for coping with the challenges of traditional on-site construction. 

Bruce is a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and a founding member of the Incremental Development Alliance. He is based in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.