Coexist Build focuses on commercial architecture — retrofits, adaptive reuse, office fit-outs, and warehouse conversions, and takes on a small number of purposeful residential projects each year. We bring over a decade of material research, policy leadership, and built experience to every engagement.
ABOUT
"I work at the intersection of how buildings are made, how they perform, and what it takes to change the systems around them." — Ana Konopitskaya, NCARB
ANA KONOPITSKAYA
LICENSURE
Licensed architect - PA & NY
POLICY
Co-signed application to include hempcrete in the 2026 International Building Code
ACADEMIC COLLABORATIONS
Pratt Institute — Decarbonization Group consultant · B.Arch material research instructor Jefferson University · Alvernia University · Healthy Materials Lab, Parsons School of Design
EXHIBITIONS
Ana Konopitskaya is a licensed architect, material developer, and policy advocate with over 15 years of professional experience across New York, Pennsylvania, and California. She has spent almost a decade making bio-based construction viable in the United States — from growing hemp to shaping the building standards.
Her work sits at a rare intersection: she has designed buildings, developed materials, written policy, and built the civic infrastructure to support a new way of constructing. She co-developed the first mass-produced hempcrete block in the US — manufactured at up to 1,000 blocks per day — and co-authored the application that brought hempcrete into the 2026 International Residential Code.
Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest — which called the Traveler "the Best-Designed DIY Tiny Home", as well as Monocle, Dwell, Elle Decor Italy, Dezeen, Business Insider, Design Milk, Anthropocene Magazine, The Guardian, and regional outlets including Lancaster Farming and the Lehigh Valley Business Journal. The Traveler was longlisted for the Dezeen Awards in 2022. Coexist's work has been exhibited at Time Space Existence, European Cultural Centre, Venice 2023 — concurrent with the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Philadelphia Design Festival, the Javits Center in New York City, Kristin Henson Gallery in New York, and the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Ana consults for the Pratt Decarbonization Group and material research in the Bachelor of Architecture program at Pratt Institute. She has lectured and presented at Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University, AIA Philadelphia, the Carbon Leadership Forum, the Green Building Alliance, the Philadelphia Design Festival, and the Southern Hemp Expo, among others. She has collaborated with Jefferson University, Alvernia University, and the Rodale Institute, and led a workshop at the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design in New York, where she was also interviewed for their podcast.
Beyond practice, Ana serves on her township's zoning board.
She and Drew operate a 10-acre research farm in Berks County, Pennsylvania — a working laboratory for climate-resilient farming and plant-based building material development.
Coexist Build takes on a limited number of projects each year.
The New Regenerative City — Time Space Existence, European Cultural Centre, Venice 2023 Philadelphia Design Festival · Javits Center, NYC · Kristin Henson Gallery, NYC · The National Mall, Washington DC
AWARDS
Dezeen Awards 2022 — Longlist, The Traveler kit Architectural Digest — "The best designed tiny house on the market", 2nd place — One Hundred Days International Competition, New York, 2010
PRESS
Architectural Digest · Monocle · Dwell · Elle Decor Italy · Dezeen · Business Insider · Design Milk · The Guardian · Anthropocene Magazine
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DREW OBERHOLTZER
BOARDS
Board Member for the Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council; Member of the PA Flax Steering Committee; Consultant for PA Flax Project
FUNDING
$500,000+ in grant funding secured — including USDA grant for hempcrete block manufacturing facility
PRODUCT
The Traveler — first hemp-and-wellness-based DIY cabin kit on the US market Dezeen Awards 2022 — Longlist "the Best-Designed DIY Tiny Home" — Architectural Digest
EXHIBITIONS
The New Regenerative City — Time Space Existence, European Cultural Centre, Venice 2023 Philadelphia Design Festival, Javits Center, NYC, Kristin Henson Gallery, NYC, The National Mall, Washington DC
CAMPAIGN
Hemp House on Wheels — 500,000+ visitors across Design Philadelphia, National Mall Washington DC, Javits Center NYC, Farm Progress Show
EVENTS
Pennsylvania: Towards a Bio-based Future — industry summit, 150+ stakeholders
MEDIA
Hemp Entrepreneur podcast host and co-founder, award-winning film and television producer and editor
Penn State, Jefferson University · Alvernia University · Rodale Institute · Healthy Materials Lab, Parsons School of Design
COLLABORATIONS
Drew Oberholtzer is co-founder and partner at Coexist Build, and one of the more quietly consequential figures in the emerging US bio-based building economy. He serves on the board of the PA Hemp Industry Council, is a member of the PA Flex Steering Committee and is a consultant for PA Flax Project — some of the most significant industry bodies shaping the future of bio-based materials in the US.
Over the past decade, Drew has built Coexist's operational, communications, and funding infrastructure from the ground up. He secured and managed over $500,000 in grant funding for research, development, marketing, and agritourism — including a USDA grant that funded Coexist's hempcrete block manufacturing facility. He launched the Traveler kit — the first hemp-and-wellness-based DIY cabin on the US market, longlisted for the Dezeen Awards 2022 and called "the Best-Designed DIY Tiny Home" by Architectural Digest — and drove the press strategy that placed it in Monocle, Dwell, Elle Decor Italy, Dezeen, Business Insider, Design Milk, Anthropocene Magazine, and The Guardian.
He created and led the Hemp House on Wheels campaign, a live demonstration of bio-based construction that reached over 500,000 visitors at Design Philadelphia, Agriculture on the Mall in Washington DC, the CWCB Expo at the Javits Center in New York, and the Farm Progress Show. He co-created The New Regenerative City — Coexist's installation at Time Space Existence, European Cultural Centre, Venice 2023, concurrent with the Venice Architecture Biennale — which explored the circularity between agriculture and architecture. And he organized Pennsylvania: Towards a Bio-based Future, an industry summit that brought together 150+ stakeholders to advance a regenerative economy in the state.
Drew, in partnership with Cameron McIntish from Americhanvre, founded and co-hosted Hemp Entrepreneur, a podcast exploring the people and ideas shaping the bio-based economy. His background spans documentary film production, content strategy, and grant writing. Before Coexist, he produced and edited long-form documentaries — including work for National Geographic and History Chanel, and directed field production across multiple continents. He brings that storytelling discipline to everything Coexist builds and communicates.
Their collaboration began well before Coexist — in 2010, Ana and Drew placed 2nd in the One Hundred Days International Competition in New York, an open call for artists working at the intersection of fine art and sustainability.