Drawn to Durham 30 years ago, Ellen Cassilly established Ellen Cassilly Architects in the heart of the culturally rich city. The ECA studio seeks out meaningful community based projects which reinforce the sense of place and spark delight.
All of our design solutions grow out of the site and collaboration with our clients. We welcome creative dialogue with local craftspeople, artists, and consultants in all stages of our projects. We create structures with a timelessness that are modern at their core. We love creating whole new projects from the ground up and are equally intrigued by adaptive reuse projects, exploring historic or new materials used in inventive ways, as this is often the best way to serve both the community and environment.
Ellen Cassilly
Principal Architect
Ellen’s architectural design experience began in 1983. She began working in the Triangle in 1992 and in 1999 became the principal of her own firm in Durham. She focuses on creating projects that contribute to vibrant urban neighborhoods that minimize sprawl, while prioritizing modern and sustainable spaces.
She received her Bachelor’s of Environmental Design degree from Texas A & M University and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to moving to the Triangle, she worked for four years in Paris with Christian de Portzamparc, past winner of the Pritzker Prize (a worldwide award given annually for a career of exceptional architectural design). In 1994, she joined Frank Harmon Architect, a nationally recognized firm located in Raleigh, where she worked on a variety of projects including the North Carolina Museum of Art Amphitheater and Gift shop, St. Matthews Parrish House, Durham Friends School, as well as many residences.
Throughout her career, Ellen has collaborated with architects, artists and clients to design and build single- and multi-family homes, commercial, religious and educational buildings. She is adept at listening to different perspectives and assimilating them into appropriate design solutions. Ellen co-teaches the architectural design/build studio at North Carolina State University in the College of Architecture. She also volunteers time with Durham Area Designers, Downtown Durham Inc. and the Durham Rotary. She is actively involved with various mentorship programs in the Durham Public Schools and NCSU College of Design. Ellen and her husband, Frank Konhaus, created a home-based artist’s residence and exhibitions program in 2009 at Cassilhaus, their home in Orange County.
Megan Patnaik
SENIOR project architect
Megan comes to ECA with ten years of diverse experience ranging from residential design, construction management, commercial interior design, and community based design. Prior to coming on board she worked for Durham based design/build firm BuildSense where she lead residential architectural projects from design inception through construction. Her journey in design began during her undergrad studies at University of North Carolina in Greensboro in their Interior Architecture program.
She currently serves on the department board of advisors, recently rounding out her term as the head of the board of advisors. After working in the commercial world of interior design for several years, she attended and graduated in 2010 with a Masters of Architecture from NC State University’s School of Design, where she was the recipient of the David Allen Company Fellowship Scholarship. During her time at NCSU she focused her studies in community-based design, working with NC State University’s Home Environments Design Initiative. Outside of school she served as the first designer for the Raleigh non-profit Builders of Hope, developing the State Street Village community’s master plan and following through with the designing the first twelve homes within the neighborhood.
Amanda Isnard
Project Manager & designer
Amanda graduated from NC State’s College of Design with a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture (BEDA) in 2014 and Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) in 2015. She then worked for several small to medium-sized architecture/interior and design-build firms in the Triangle and eventually found her way to ECA in the beginning of 2022. She joined the team with prior experience in custom residential and light commercial design, as well as neighborhood planning. While at NCSU, Amanda served as AIAS Chapter Co-President and hosted Raleigh’s first AIAS South Quad Conference. Growing up she loved to freehand draw and build miscellaneous crafts – thus her interest in architecture was sparked by a desire to create functional, everlasting art.
Amanda is passionate about listening to the client in order to create a dream space that serves all their specific needs, and she loves the process of working intimately with them from schematic design through construction completion. Her favorite part of the process is modeling the project in 3D so that clients can graphically visualize what they are getting.
Pamela Osborne BUSINESS/ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
After 25 years vacillating between the restaurant and fashion industry, Pamela came to ECA in 2018 in need of a fresh start. She was drawn to the idea of working with creative, driven women in an inclusive atmosphere. Pamela spent the majority of her childhood and young adulthood in Durham, then moved to NYC after graduating from East Carolina University. She returned in 2009 to be near family, and has loved watching Durham evolve- especially downtown.
Pamela is the one in the office that as Ellen says, “keeps the trains running on time”. She handles the financials for the company in addition to tracking progress of all projects.