I have been around design and construction my whole life.

I'm Galen Anderson, AIA, a licensed architect in the State of Massachusetts. I was only a couple of years old when my father, a contractor, took me to job sites in a backpack. OSHA would likely not have approved — but it gave me an early insight into the construction of wood-framed homes.

When my father built our home, I visited the project every day. By age 11 I was helping him build a timber-framed barn. In high school, unsure whether to pursue a degree in science like my parents or one in art, which I was more passionate about at the time, I followed my friends Tanner and Weston to Syracuse University for a five-year Bachelor of Architecture.

Upon graduation I moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where I was mentored by Doug Brown and Martha Werenfels at their firm, DBVW. After four years of intense immersion in high-end homes and multifamily development, I needed a break. I packed a truck full of tools and traveled the United States — meeting strangers at bars and art galleries, and building everything from laundry rooms to solar equipment sheds to redwood decks. Between paid gigs I volunteered to construct stages at music festivals.

When the world was plunged into the pandemic, I struggled to make the organic connections that had kept me busy. On a trip home over the holidays, my childhood friend Kylie — also an architect — introduced me to the partners of her firm. Ken Feyl and Mark Yanowitz took a risk on me and my business, Aelius Design, named for the Latin form of my Greek eponym, Galen of Pergamon. The business flourished, and since 2022 I have provided services to LYF Architects as my primary client.