URBAN DESIGN

 
 
 

Centennial Plaza x Larry Bell

Raleigh, North Carolina | 2020-Present

Executive landscape architect working with artist Larry Bell and the Centennial Art Plaza Committee at NC State University.

  • Generated locational studies for the art

  • Configured plaza design with Thomas Skolniki and the artist Larry Bell

  • Oversee concept during implementation with Design Workshop Raleigh

“Although we tend to think of glass as a window, it’s a solid-liquid that has at once three distinctive qualities: it reflects light, it absorbs light, and it transmits light all at the same time.“

Bell, Larry as quoted in Surface Magazine (2021). Inside Open Architecture’s Boulder-Like Chapel of Sound, and Other News.

 
 
 
 

New Mexico State Fairground Central Avenue Entry Reconfiguration

Albuquerque, New Mexico - 1987

Project manager, Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey

The project provided stacking lanes to remove traffic from Central Avenue and alleviate traffic jams. A bus stop and pedestrian walkway led to the fee gate interior to parking lots. The tower was reinvigorated with paint and neon lighting.

 
 

Las Vegas Valley Water District

LAS VEGAS - 1992–2001

In 1992 I was asked to assist the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) to redesign the Desert Demonstration Garden. At the time, Las Vegas was growing by 5,000 people per month. After initial research, my team suggested the need for an interpretive center that imparted a sense of place and taught newcomers how to live more sustainably in the Mojave Desert. Over the following years we provided the intellectual leadership that led to the implementation of the Springs Preserve, a 180 acre facility on the original “vegas” or springs that have served as the source of life for over 10,000 years.

 

The Hills at Summerlin

Las Vegas- 1990

As Summerlin Manager of Land Planning,

  • Coordinated planning and design, and environmental mitigation activities for a 22,000 acre planned new town of Summerlin, Las Vegas

  • Developed financial proformas, and supervised planning, landscape architectural, architectural and graphic design consultants

  • Worked with manager of engineering, marketing, and finance staff

  • Secured entitlement agreements with state, county and local agencies

  • Generated locational studies for the art

Awards and Honors:

Award of Merit in Planning (with Summerlin team), Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association - 1992

Landscape Silver Award (with Summerlin Team), Nevada’s Contractor’s Association - 1992

Outstanding Planning Accomplishment (With Summerlin Team), American Planning Association Nevada Chapter - 1993

 

Elements of a Linear Park

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - 1987

Truly great cities are connected by systems of linear open spaces containing activity nodes and pedestrian and bike paths. The linear park might also contain sculpture, seating areas, and location identifiers. This is a series of projects created for Albuquerque, New Mexico where existing arroyos form a framework which will one day become a linear park system. Many of these projects incorporate judicious use of water, a precious commodity here, as well as the existing high desert flora.

 
 

The Glen

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - 1986, UNBUILT

The Glen was originally designed for the Phil Chacon Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico when I worked for Royston Hanamoto Alley and Abey. It is conceived as a lush oasis in the desert that visitors discover off the park path. Anchored by an allée of flowering trees, a granite “well” pours water into a runnel leading to a rough-hewn, square, granite pool. Ferns, hosta, and other shade tolerant plants flourish in the allée. A series of granite seating walls splays away from the allée to eventual become markers flush with the meadow ground plane. Hedges and rows of small trees delineate spatial edges. A high canopy of large cottonwood trees (Populus fremontii) provide shade.