​Susan Hadden is the daughter of two capable parents whose home was a hive of creative activity and well supplied work spaces: a basement metal shop for her engineer / inventor / boat building father, a chemistry lab for her brother, a canvas of expression for her home-making mother with a well-stocked art table for all. Susan showed signs of interest in architecture soon after her sister gave her Lincoln logs when she was two, followed by her mother’s gift of a metal box containing essential adult tools, all color coordinated teal, when she turned five. Early projects included box forts under the ping pong table, a multi-story self-built tree-house, various modular 'pod' designs for studying and entertaining, a loft she built with her father and series of renovations in her bedroom over eighteen years, influenced by 1970's pop culture.

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Susan studied fine art, then earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Penn State University. She has worked as an architectural designer and consultant based in Philadelphia for over thirty years. She brings experiences restoring her parents’ wooden boats, renovating historic buildings, gardening and raising two sons, along with her thrifty and optimistic nature to interactions with clients and contractors.