Welcome! / K.C. Farrell Joins the Carducci Team

The newest member of our staff, Associate K.C. Farrell has a team-oriented approach to design, along with ten years of experience. “The best idea wins,” he says, of collaborating. “I believe that good design is achieved without ego and that ideas can come from anywhere and anyone at any time.” At all times, K.C. brings this attitude to his work. 

So far, K.C. has brought a fresh perspective to old projects, leadership to new ones, improvements to our office standards, and a bounty of herbs from his garden. “Every day that I come to work, I strive to design something with meaning. My goal is to create spaces that allow users to have unique experiences and create memories that will outlast the built environment.” 

His previous experience includes high-end residential, retail, campus, and public works, and he studied landscape architecture at UC Berkeley and UC Davis. In 2008, K.C. began volunteering at the National AIDS Memorial Grove (NAMG) monthly workdays to maintain and improve the eight-acre site. Soon after, he became a workday Team Leader and Site Advisor on the Site Committee, where he helped design and develop site improvement plans. 

In the years that followed, K.C. has continued as a Site Advisor to help lead many projects, including a historic waterfall restoration (2011), South and North Slope repaving (2016-2017), and SF Gay Men’s Chorus Circle (2018). Of his decade as a NAMG volunteer, he says: “serving as a Workday Volunteer is still some of the most enjoyable work that I do. Digging my hands into the soil and working with a team in an effort to maintain a landscape that is sacred to so many people is truly a rewarding experience.” 

Advancements at Carducci Associates / Joel Franceschi Promoted to Design Coordinator

We are happy to announce the promotion of Associate Joel Franceschi to Design Coordinator! After three years of contributing to and managing many projects at Carducci, we recognize Joel for his proficiency in skills essential to leadership in landscape architecture practice today, from representation and professional communication with colleagues, consultants, and clients, to construction methods and code.

One of the best talents Joel brings to the office is his vast knowledge of soils and plants, as species, aesthetic elements, and life sensitive to highly specific environmental conditions. His love of native plants, especially those supporting pollinators, is evident throughout all of his school and residential projects. Alpine meadows and the Santa Cruz Mountains have long provided Joel with a rich inspiration, before studying landscape architecture at UC Davis and working at a residential landscape architecture firm in Santa Cruz.

When he isn’t coordinating, Joel can be found caring for and experimenting with his rapidly expanding collection of unusual orchids and other friends that are beginning to engulf his desk.

Celebrating Leadership At Carducci Associates / Monty Hill Promoted to Senior Associate!

Carducci Associates is excited to announce our growth in leadership with the promotion of landscape architect Monty Hill, LEED AP, CID, to Senior Associate! For five years, Monty has brought his sense of beauty and technical expertise to many teams and projects, always with singular calm, respect, and thoughtfulness. With this promotion, we celebrate Monty’s achievements in the firm.

Monty began his career as a civil engineer focused on the technical aspects of watershed analysis, hydrology, and stormwater management. Subsequently, his interest shifted to the design of people-oriented spaces and the creative aspects of landscape projects.

Monty returned to school to study landscape architecture at UC Berkeley Extension. Concurrently, he was able to immediately apply his new skills at a high-end residential landscape firm designing poolside rural retreats and sustainable urban garden spaces using refined materials. After graduating with distinction, Monty turned to public and commercial design opportunities to apply his creativity and technical skills to the wider audience that Carducci Associates affords. He enjoys making a difference in the lives of everyday people by creating functional, sustainable environments such as Willows Shopping Center, Fallon Sports Park, and Cupertino High School. In his new role, Monty looks forward to working on future projects at Carducci Associates and mentoring the next wave of landscape architects.

Celebrating the Grand Opening! / Fallon Sports Complex Phase 2

The City of Dublin celebrated the Grand Opening of Fallon Sports Complex Phase 2 on March 24 during on and off rain showers. The $14 million development, which began in 2013, includes: a 90’ lighted natural turf baseball diamond, two lighted synthetic turf soccer fields, a shaded group picnic and BBQ area, four lighted bocce ball courts, an adventure playground, and custom furnishings throughout. Children immediately gravitated to the playground this first day.

Although the baseball game was rained out, the rain of course contributes positively to the new phase in other ways. Vegetation will grow to provide aesthetic, ecological, and hydrological features to the sports complex. Bio-basins are planted with over a dozen species of native plants, and include educational signage about the role of a bio-basin in the water cycle, and the pollinators and bloom periods associated with specific native plants.

In just a few months since plant installation, some ornamental grasses, especially Muhlenbergia rigens (Deergrass) and Deschampsia cespitosa (Tufted Hairgrass), already provide significant volume to the new park features. These spaces will continue to fill in adjacent to the picnic and play areas, and at the base of the artist Heath Satow’s “Elatus,” the park’s iconic 32’ tall stainless steel statue.

Carducci Associates has designed a sports complex that includes the thoughtfully-constructed wildness of a true park. On a recent walk through Fallon’s Phase 1, where our office’s planting design has had 10 years to grow in, this unique pairing of landscapes has matured. Baccharis pilularis, Salix lasiolepis, Platanus racemosa and Salvia ‘Pozo Blue’ shade and frame the enduring brightness of synthetic turf, the sharp geometry of adjacent basketball courts, and running paths. The playful contrast between maintenance and wildness, synthetic and natural, continues in Phase 2. Concentric mow pattern rings a baseball pitcher’s mound that echoes Dublin’s hills visible in the distance.

Instances of this balance will increase as the park ages. The third and final phase will complete the picture our office has been involved with since the development of master plan beginning in 2004. The final phase of the 60 acre park will introduce two additional Little League baseball fields, two additional softball fields, additional group picnic and play areas, and the completion of the BMX facility. Fallon Sports Complex provides an intriguing case study for the ability of a traditionally highly maintained and synthetic sports complex to provide an ecological and hydrological partner to broader development patterns taking shape throughout the City of Dublin.