Tim Skinner is Promoted to Project Director / 2022 Promotion

Timothy Skinner, Landscape Architect, has been a positive leader and done the hard work for Carducci Associates for over eight years. In recognition of his exemplary professional growth as a Senior Associate, Carducci Associates has given him the additional title of Project Director. In this role, Tim serves our clients’ needs, directs, checks and coordinates the design of multiple projects, mentors and supervises staff, and uses his special talents to progress public school projects through the rigorous approval process of the California Division of the State Architect. The principals look forward to Tim’s success in this role, his leadership for firm management and to inspire others to perform well.

CARDUCCI SPOTLIGHT: PIAN ZHANG

We are really sad to say goodbye to our intern Pian Zhang, but before she flies back to the east coast we would like to feature one of her amazing projects from her first year at RISD. We wish you the best and hope you visit again soon!

GREENWOOD LANDING

“Phillipsdale Landing has witnessed industrial developments along Seekonk River over centuries since 1860, which has been drastically shaped to a post-industrial waterfront wasteland. Though being totally dismantled, what these factories left are contaminated soil and topography shaped by industrial activities, leaving the land barren through decades while slowly getting into succession with the reoccupation of pioneer plants. Despite being a wild urban void, it is located at a crucial ecological node for both anadromous fishes and migratory birds. The question for us is how to make the voids vibrant again by bringing out its potential.

We conceive a possible shift from extractive human-centric productivity to sustainable natural resources production, which aims for interrelating ecological restoration, economic anchoring, and activity programing. Through healing the ground, making profits from green, and bringing back life, This site-in-transition is supposed to adapt to future new systems, which will reunite fauna, flora and people and lead to a vibrant future.”

Brownell Middle School / Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Carducci Associates is thrilled to have been part of the Brownell Middle School campus replacement project for Gilroy Unified School District, which culminated 3 years of hard work when the school was officially opened to the public on August 12. Although Carducci Associates has been working alongside Aedis Architects and Flint Builders since 2018 on this site, Brownell has been a part of the Gilroy community since 1949, when it opened its doors to seventh and eighth graders. Few alterations were made to the original campus since its initial construction, and Carducci Associates is proud to be part of the newest chapter at Brownell. Measure E, passed by Gilroy voters, made the campus replacement possible; clever management by the design team, the GUSD facilities team, and contractor meant Brownell was reconstructed with all the elements that the District deemed vital to a 21st century learning environment.

In designing the site, Carducci balanced outdoor spaces for play, gathering, and teaching. Prior to the pandemic, the design team emphasized carving out ample space for outdoor learning in a variety of settings, including semi-circular concrete seat walls surrounding central areas for instruction, to less formal decomposed granite pathways with boulder seats in a grove of newly planted oaks. Carducci also designed courtyards inside classroom pods with ample boulder seating surrounding Shade loving greenery and wide concrete patios outside maker space garage doors. The patios will enable students to spill out from maker spaces to tinker and collaborate. Carducci is pleased that these spaces are in place and will play a crucial role of keeping students and staff safer, while enriching student learning opportunities.

In addition to the instruction-centric outdoor spaces, Carducci designed what has now been dubbed the “pollination station” packed with nectar-rich pollinator-friendly shrubs and grasses adjacent to a flexible, outdoor space for a student garden. New fruit trees provide a backdrop for a space that may be adapted for growing food or conducting science experiments that can be aided by an outdoor power pedestal intended to make this garden area as adaptable as possible for the school’s specific future needs. In addition to these upgrades, Carducci also designed a river-themed coated asphalt pattern in the central campus that reinforces biophilic themes while reflecting solar radiation to keep students and staff cool in hot Gilroy weather. Brownell also benefits from entirely new natural turf playing fields with more efficient, modern irrigation. The fields have been sited adjacent to the updated gymnasium and newly striped sports courts, away from classrooms to minimize disruption. Finally, in a nod to the community that made the modernization possible, long-lived native Valley Oaks flank the edges of the campus to provide shade along Carmel and 3rd Streets, in order to extend improvements beyond the campus.

Video credits: B43Productions

Carducci Spotlight: Emily Adler

This is Emily Adler. She has been interning with Carducci Associates since May 2021. We hope she enjoyed her time with us working on interesting designs and 3D Models, attending project site visits and developing construction documents. We wish her the best for her final year at Pennsylvania State University.

Here’s our first Carducci Spotlight in series with many more to come. With that said, meet Emily!

Emily, what are some of your hobbies?

Hiking, art, knitting, traveling, cooking, and sports.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Carmel Valley, California.

What’s your earliest landscape memory? Or, what early landscape memory is most important to you?

My earliest and most important landscape memory would be hiking Half Dome when I was 8 years old. This impacted me because prior to the hike my family spent months training and traveling to hiking areas in central California. So, I spent a lot of time in the outdoors and I have always really enjoyed being in nature.

Do you have a favorite landscape?

My favorite natural landscape is the Big Sur coastline because of its raw, natural beauty. Also, my favorite built landscape is Copenhagen because of its innovative and creative urban planning. The biking infrastructure, vibrant parks, and children’s playgrounds make it easy for people to enjoy the city.

What’s your favorite plant to work with and why?

Sedum because of its environmental resiliency and ecological benefits. It has many variations and is great for green roofs and storm water management.

If you could design a landscape and budget (and value engineering) weren’t an issue, what would it be?

I would design a temporary art installation that is pertinent to the area and excites the community. It would be something similar to Society’s Cage or Christo and Jeanne Claude’s work.

What are you drawing inspiration from right now?

Currently, I am drawing inspiration from exploring San Francisco. I have never lived in a city before so it has been exciting to discover new areas and be in a city with so many spirited outdoor spaces.

What potential for sustainability most excites you on one of your current projects?

I am not working on any projects currently… but projects that focus on ecological restoration and coastal resiliency excite me!

What made you want to become a landscape architect/landscape designer?

I have always been passionate about art and nature. I believe landscape architecture gives me the opportunity to be a steward of the land and engage the community.