Brian Cavanaugh was born in Portland, Oregon in 1969. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon during which time he received a one-year fellowship to study architecture and urban design at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, Scotland. He also holds a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.

Prior to establishing his own practice, Mr. Cavanaugh served in senior positions at a number of internationally recognized design firms. From 2001 to 2006 he served as Senior Associate at Michael Maltzan Architecture in Los Angeles, California. There he oversaw the programming, planning, and design and development of some of the firm's most significant cultural projects, including MoMA QNS in Long Island City, New York; the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa, California; and the programming and master planning for the major expansion of the Vancouver Art Gallery in Vancouver, Canada. From 2006-2007 he served as a Director in the Wellington, New Zealand based firm Architecture Workshop. There he oversaw the programming and master planning of the Te Manawa Museum of History, Art and Science.

The work Mr. Cavanaugh has been associated with has won numerous design awards - including local and state design awards from the American Institute of Architects - and been published throughout the world. He has been an instructor at Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Southern California, the Boston Architectural Center, Woodbury University, and the Otis College of Art & Design, and a guest critic at a number of academic institutions. He is a licensed architect in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC); and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). He recently completed an appointment to the City of Seattle Design Review Program's Capitol Hill Board and is a recent graduate of Seattle's Leadership Tomorrow program.