Meet the Plan Place thinkers.
Douglas Brooks serves as a designer and project manager with Rhodeside & Harwell. Douglas holds and MLA from the WAAC – Virginia Tech and a BS in Urban Planning from Northern Arizona University. While at Virginia Tech he received accolades both locally and internationally through his design research on resilient infrastructure and sea level rise through the conduit of landscape architectural practice. He has presented his research on the loss of estuarine habitat and natural system mitigation design of the Chesapeake Bay at the Bauhaus.SOLAR conference in Erfurt, Germany.
Mr. Brooks has experience working at a variety of scales and believes that design that transforms cities is equally legible at the scale of a detail. He enjoys projects which engage the urban, ecological, and social performance of landscape and infrastructure and the poetic and structural qualities of materials. He currently has a particular interest in how digital and parametric modeling tools can be applied to the field of landscape architecture to promote more informed design outcomes.
Eric Feldman, AICP, is an Associate at Rhodeside & Harwell, where his work focuses on land use planning and urban design, neighborhood revitalization, public realm design, and environmental impact analysis. He joined the firm in 2004 after working on national efforts to promote smart growth and healthy communities. Eric holds a Master in City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Visit Eric on Twitter @ericefeldman
Jenny is an urban planner driven by a desire to promote community development and preparedness, public engagement, active transportation, and environmental protection. Prior to joining RHI, Jenny honed her research skills while working with the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium in Portland, as well as a brief stint with the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design in Chongqing. She is also a former Environmental Protection Agency ORISE Fellow. Jenny is currently the Secretary-Treasurer for the American Planning Association’s Sustainable Communities Division. She received her Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University and a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bryan is a landscape designer, community gardener, avid bicyclist, landscape urbanist, a historical landscape junkie, and foodie at heart. His work and research has consistently been driven by the motivation of creating dynamic urban places that embrace an authentic genuis loci. Highlighting projects include vacant land reclamation at Rutgers University, rebuilding community over a demolished interstate at University of Massachusetts, providing a comprehensive matrix to evaluate Nashville’s public spaces with the Nashville Civic Design Center, and coordinating Parking Day at Rhodeside & Harwell.
Thomas Rainer is a registered landscape architect, teacher, lecturer, and writer living in Arlington, Virginia. Thomas is a passionate advocate for an ecologically expressive design aesthetic that does not imitate nature, but interprets it. He is best known for his influential and provocative blog, Grounded Design. In addition to writing, Thomas has designed landscapes for the U.S. Capitol grounds, The New York Botanical Garden, and over 100 gardens from Maine to Florida. Thomas is an Associate Principal for RHI, teaches planting design for George Washington University, and is writing a book for Timber Press which will be available fall 2015. Visit Thomas on Twitter @thomasrainerdc
After graduating as a proud Hokie with a BLA from Virginia Tech in 2013, Jon began his professional experience with Rhodeside & Harwell in 2014. Jon’s passion for creating engaging, urban people places grew from a desire to not only nurture our land, but to be stewards of relationships among people; diverse people. Design is about more than creating beautiful places; it is about engaging the mind, bringing people together, creating mystery and intrigue, and providing an opportunity for the common good. Jon loves traveling to new places local and afar, exploring diverse cultural lifestyles and their unique spatial forms. His hope is that this blog will provoke critical and insightful discussion about spaces people inhabit often and not so often.
Jeff is an Urban Planner for Rhodeside & Harwell. After growing up in Arlington, VA, he attended Franklin & Marshall College, where he received BA in History. While a student, he served as the Assistant Editor of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted – Volume 9, the final volume of the decades long project to preserve and publish the life’s work of the father of Landscape Architecture. Jeff has a passion for cities and the vibrant experiences they offer to all of their residents.
Dustin is a landscape designer, deep thinker, creative tinkerer, and sometimes a writer. Formerly a Rhodeside & Harwell designer, he comes from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, well versed in the study of urban morphology, streets, cultural landscapes, and as a 2013 University Olmsted Scholar – awarded by the Landscape Architecture Foundation. Dustin has also spent time as an intern for the Town of Blacksburg Planning and Building Department, at a design-build company in Pennsylvania, and studying abroad in China at Shanghai’s Tongji Unversity.
Dustin’s theory on design is a values-led process of telling what we believe about ourselves, expressed in the character of our cities, streets, buildings, forests, parks, and waterways. It is the aesthetic and functional problem-solving act of constructing places that evoke a sense of history, dwelling, stewardship, justice and a willingness to engage others for the betterment of society.