CREJ

September 2019 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 89 F or 50 years Design Workshop has been cultivating a pragmatic design ethos, which is shaped by the thoughtful consideration of four guiding principles – environment, community, economics, and art. The sum of the whole is a well-established legacy of design excellence that stretches across 30 different countries in communities around the world. The firm’s acclaimed portfolio of projects addresses virtually every scope, scale, place, purpose and client expec- tation imaginable. Allyson Mendenhall, landscape architect and principal, has been with Design Workshop for the last 16 years and is the director of DW Legacy Design®. She is especially proud of her role in helping coalesce a broad spectrum of design perspectives into a cohesive way of working that is implemented on every project Design Workshop touches. “We are striving for excellence across an extremely wide range of projects from eight offices,” says Mendenhall who initially became interested in design after graduating from college and moving to New York City. It was there that she first took notice of urban public spaces, recognizing some to be vibrant hubs of activity and engagement and others to be stagnant, unloved dead zones between structures. Wondering why, she decided to pursue a gradu- ate degree in landscape architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design before eventually returning to her Colorado roots in 2003. Design Workshop’s well-established collection of local notes include deft expressions of place and prestige like Cherry Creek North’s streetscape im- provements, Riverfront Park’s master plan and design at the base of the Millennium Bridge, and Lowry’s new Boulevard One neighborhood for which the firm led the visioning, master plan, design and implementa- tion. More than landscape architecture, Design Workshop’s work is often integrally involved in the large-scale transformation of place, reshaping urban contexts, analyzing market opportunities and improving human connectivity. “The name workshop is central to who we are,” says Mendenhall. “I lead the implementation of Design Workshop’s Legacy Design meth- odology and best practices in contemplation of the environmental, social, economic and artistic contexts surrounding each project. I keep an eye on the workshop culture to ensure that we are sharing knowledge and design critique across project teams.” Design Workshop’s trademarked methodology, DW Legacy De- sign®, aims to harmonize these four firm values with all project sites and owner’s objectives to create enduring places. The firm’s WORDS: Sean O’Keefe Thoughtful process leads to Design Workshop’s legacy design Measurable Results Allyson Mendenhall