Tegan Behel

Tegan Behel (neé Tegan Bukowski) is a writer these days, but was trained at Yale to be an architect before starting a venture-backed mental health company which she has helmed for the last 7 years, essentially by accident. One thing leads to another and poof. Recently, she has been enjoying the freedom and pure creation that writing fiction provides. Her current work focuses on storytelling through writing novels, screen plays, and extremely sad poetry.

Tegan has worked across architecture, industrial design, ceramics, web and film over the course of her career.  She has contributed to architectural projects as large as the entire urban space of Dubai, skyscrapers in Taiwan, concert halls in France, but over time found that she finds the most delight in the human scale. For clients, she has designed sex toys, dishes that are sold in Harrod’s, a hydrofoil surfboard inspired by stealth jets, and numerous lines of homewares. She grew up on a boat, spent her freshmen year of college at the Air Force Academy, started a non profit that operated in 9 different countries including a project with NASA astronauts, and then spent most of her twenties throwing major events and festivals in London, New York and Los Angeles.People often tell her she seems like she has lived 10 lives, but she is really just a chronic overachiever and potentially has undiagnosed extremely high functioning ADHD. But, she always believes in starting everything she finishes.

Tegan has a Masters Degree from the Yale School of Architecture, and apprenticed with Zaha Hadid in London.

Select Films

Life in a Day by Ridley Scott, Feature Film, Field Director

The Essentials, Narrative Short, Producer and Production Designer

26,000 Days, Executive Producer

Hodinkee Watch Air Land Sea, Producer

Family Dinner, Writer, Production Designer, Executive Producer (in production)

Select Publications & Press

• New York Times “Zaha Hadid: More than a Female Architect”
  I wrote this New York Times Opinion piece after my mentor, Zaha Hadid, tragically passed away. The American Institute of Architects kept referring to her as a “great female architect” and I felt something needed to be said about the unnecessary adjective. So did the Times.
  

• Radiche “A fun little feature on Tegan Bukowski”
  Radiche’s founder Alysha Malik interviewed me for this fun article. Get a little bit of background on me and my time running WellSet. This was published pre-acquisition, so is referring to the first marketplace platform we launched.
  

• The Badass CEO (Podcast Episode) “How to attract customers quickly with Tegan Bukowski”
  

• Remotely One (Podcast Episode) “Tegan Bukowski’s vision for a healthier remote workforce”
  I really enjoyed talking with these guys. A podcast about startup core-values that went off the rails.
  

• Mother Jones “If There’s Going to Be a Wall, Let It Be This Collaboration Between American and Mexican Designers”
  A group of designers from the USA and Mexico, including myself, collaborated on a vision for an ecotopia instead of a Mexico-USA border wall. We submitted it to the US government contract RFP and it was featured in publications such as Mother Jones and TIME Magazine.
  

• Mashable “WellSet wants to avoid the woo woo - and the responsibility”
  What can I say, this was a really fun negative beat piece written about my startup, WellSet. We kind of love it and want it framed on our wall. We sold the company shortly after to a credit card company. WellSet was also featured (more positively) in FastCompany, TechCrunch and more, but what’s the fun in puff?
  

• Fast Company “Your Craniosacral Therapist Will See You Now”
  My first startup, SereneBook, had a grisly demise (read: hire a lawyer when setting up your first tech startup) but in the meantime was a wild ride. This is a Fast Co article about our launch.

Design

Leroy Street Studio Architects - Architectural Designer 2013-2014

Zaha Hadid Architects - Architectural Designer, 2014-2018

Studio Bu - Founder, Industrial Designer, 2017-2020

Select Studio Bu Industrial Design Clients & Collaborators:

FOIL Surfboards
Hokan Bowls
Atelier Swarovski 
Adessa Sex Toys
Burner Yurts
Alkemie Road

Education

Bachelor of Arts, Washington University In St Louis, Sam Fox School

• Named the Outstanding Graduate of 2010, Architecture

• Gephardt Institute Fellow

• American Institute of Architects Honor Education Award (Florence Studio)

M.Arch Yale University

• Peter Eisenman Studio Feldman Nominee

• Drawing Teaching Fellow

• Fabrication Lab Fellow

• Zaha Hadid Studio

• Rome Fellow (Yale Fellow in partnership with the American Academy in Rome)