Stephen Tilly, principal of the firm, graduated from M.I.T. in 1971 with a Master of Architecture, after an earlier degree in English Literature from Grinnell College. After doing research, planning and urban design work in Boston, Washington and New York, he became a partner in a firm based in New York's historic Soho district in the 1970s and 1980s. There he completed an award-winning solar house in South Carolina, the first movie theater in Soho and numerous other projects. Mr. Tilly has worked since that time in his own firm on projects that reflect a broad range of interests from historic properties to urban design to sustainable planning and design to fine grain architectural design.