WHO
We are a strategic real estate + planning + design consulting firm that brings interdisciplinary sizzle to development with visionary design grounded by strong real estate acumen, resulting in memorable & profitable places.
WE EXPERTLY DELIVER
PLACEMAKING
URBAN DESIGN
WHY US
With nearly 20 years of experience creating innovative and iconic places across the world, Ryan has perfected both the art and science of building visionary concepts that are grounded in hard-nosed realities of the constraints that could derail a projects, whether it be byzantine zoning, long and contentious entitlements, the risk-averse world of real estate finance or a lack of innovation in the world of construction. Ryan is able to formulate sticky ideas that get people excited that can also be realized.
As an interdisciplinary practitioner with deep institutional real estate development expertise, Ryan knows the challenges large development projects face with investment committees, third party capital, government bureaucrats and community activists. He has spent his career sitting on almost every side of the table. He has worn the hat of an owner, developer, contractor, and urban planning and architectural design leader.
On the owner's side as Head of Design at Lendlease, Ryan created formative best practices for development operations and design management. He trained teams to think differently, adopting a rigor and clarity of concept that results in projects with a strong, clear point of view and resilient business plans. His experience as a practicing, licensed architect and urban planner in-house within a large multi-national institutional real estate development and construction company gives him a unique interdisciplinary lens crucial for efficiency and efficacy in the design life of projects.
He also formulated the vision and led design direction–from origination through construction–on a number of prominent mixed-use projects across the US, including Habitat, a mixed-use, 260-unit multi-family and creative office complex in Los Angeles; Hayes Point, a 300-unit condo and office tower in San Francisco; Southbank, a seven-acre Master Plan in Chicago; One Java, an 830-unit multifamily building in New York City; and Forum, a 350,000-square-foot life science building in Boston.
A visionary architect, Ryan has worked on some of the most iconic architecture projects in the world, including the Collins Arch in Melbourne, Australia and 111 W 57th St in New York City. Ryan also led the design of dozens of iconic master plans and mixed-use buildings in cities across the US for some of the largest institutional names in real estate. As Director of Urban Design & Development at SHoP architects, Ryan led the creation of many iconic mixed-use masterplans, including the Ion District for Rice University in Houston; the Berkeley Global Campus in Richmond, CA for UC Berkeley; and the Schuylkill Yards master plan in Philadelphia for Drexel University and Brandywine Realty Trust.
Ryan is recognized as a thought leader on innovation in the built environment. His work is cited in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Architect’s Newspaper, and Architecture Magazine, among other publications. He is also a respected technologist, and currently advises a number of proptech companies and AEC technology start-ups. He previously served as Regional Head of Practices, Lendlease’s internal innovation group, where he led a number of cross-functional initiatives and special projects focusing on next generation sustainability strategies, office-to-residential conversions, new asset classes and building materials including cross laminated timber. He is also an active member of the Urban Land Institute, serving on the Innovation Council and NEXT in Los Angeles, a registered architect in the State of New York and a Certified Urban Planner (AICP) by the American Planning Association.