Joe Herrin Orcas Island

Joe Herrin is a fourth-generation Seattle-area local with strong ties to the San Juan Islands, having visited them by boat for most of his life. He earned degrees in architecture at WSU and the University of Pennsylvania, then spent nearly a decade doing architectural work for corporations. After a life-changing bicycle ride across the U.S., he left the corporate world and co-founded Heliotrope Architects, a Seattle-based studio whose ecologically sensitive designs include many custom residences in the islands. Joe has volunteered to help with past SJPT fundraising campaigns and has done pro bono architectural consulting on multiple SJPT preserves. In 2002 he and his wife, Belinda, purchased an A-frame cabin on Orcas Island, and they eventually plan to live on the island full-time.