Jim Lau RLA Design Portfolio

Jim Lau, RLA Design Portfolio

Jim Lau, RLA

I have always been passionate about the environment. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, ecology and conservation were emphasized throughout my childhood and taught throughout my education. Having participated in aluminum can drives in grammar school, and competitions to produce recycling posters of "How to Save the Earth" shaped me as an environmentalist. These lessons have been so influential in my developmental years and in choosing to become a landscape architect, urban designer, and environmental planner. Through my 40 years of professional practice, I have designed transformational environmental conscientious projects for the betterment of the community. I strive to ensure viable and sustainable projects. I feel I have always served the public and the environment as if they were my clients and will continue to do so in my future endeavors.

Design Philosophy

Design for the Environment

Design impacts our lives in subtle and overt ways, from our phones to our coffee pots. Every object is a function of a design. Great design is more than just good aesthetics. It is the way we use objects.

An iPad or an Eames chair are beautiful in themselves, but you can only truly appreciate their design once you start using them. Once a project is completed and designed with the public user in mind, it becomes a part of the environment. A well-designed project takes on its own life, growing and changing with every user interacting.Only then can you experience all the subtle touches, all the visible and invisible things that make great design.

Context Sensitive Design

Context Sensitive Design is the art of creating public projects that meet the needs of the users, the neighboring communities, and the environment. It integrates projects into the context or setting in a sensitive manner. We can design with sensitivity towards our environment through careful planning, consideration of different perspectives, and tailoring designs to particular project circumstances. Context Sensitive Design uses a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach. This process includes the early involvement of key stakeholders to ensure that projects are safe and sustainable for the public and in harmony with the natural, social, economic, and cultural environment.

Fresh Outlook

You must take action and monitor your progress to create a fresh outlook. After identifying the problem, make a list of all possible solutions. A positive outcome is more likely with more information. Go through all the options, select the best one for the situation, and set measurable objectives. Set attention to detail and strive to bring in the expertise required to bring other perspectives.

Solution Based Thinking

Impactful Leadership

Leadership must have a clear vision to communicate effectively. Lead by example. It would help if you had a high level of knowledge to meet the highest standards. You must set high standards for others and expect them to meet them. Accountability is key. It would help if you always strived to learn and grow to stay ahead of the curve and the competition..

Encourage Critical Thinking

To encourage critical thinking, you must think beyond your self-imposed limits to achieve innovative solutions that exceed the average ideas. It is imperative to shortlist and challenge yourself to think outside the box. An integrated approach enables you to combine knowledge and experience from different fields effectively. Your solutions make a significant difference using this approach.A problem analysis sets you up for future success by focusing on longterm solutions.

Communicate Openly

To communicate openly, you must create a safe environment for your team to discuss critical solutions. You must consider everyone's thoughts and suggestions and show you value them by genuinely listening. Give your team the chance to develop a viable solution and test it. The challenge is to create a solution-driven mindset as you build a team and mentor a diverse group of individuals. You are responsible for helping your team understand the problem and develop solutions to overcome it.

Swindlers Cove Park, New York, NY

Design Supervisor / Project Designer

Swindlers Cove Park is one of Manhattan's least-known yet most beautiful parks. Opened in 2003, the Park occupies a fiveacre patch of land along the Harlem River as a communal dumping ground. Before construction on the Park could begin, a contract was to remove tons of garbage, rusted-out cars, sunken boats, and construction debris from the waterfront.

Today, the Park houses a series of ponds and waterfalls, a half-acre wetland with meandering footpaths leading to birdhouses, a communal garden, and one of Manhattan's only beaches.

The park structures include a comfort station, a curved steel bridge spanning the title wetlands, a steel pier, and a functional floating boat house with a formal entrance and access ramp.

Jim Lau, RLA

NYSDOT I-287 Improvements Project (Kosciuszko Bridge):Design-Build Project

Environmental Manager and Landscape Architecture Supervisor This project replaces a 1.1mile segment of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway I278 and includes a twin cable-stayed main span over Newtown Creek. At $873 million for contract Phases 1 and II was NYSDOT's largest ever and one of its first design-build contracts, which included the construction of the eastbound segment and demolition of the old bridge and Phase II for the westbound segment and public parks, bicycle and pedestrian amenities and a waterfront plaza.

Jim documented and ensured the environmental commitments were adhered to through construction within the environmental sections of the EIS.

Coordinated the individual 4(f) evaluation and developed the MOA with NYCDPR and FHWA. Jim was responsible for the design aesthetics and Project Designer for all the project's Park and Landscape architecture components.

Jim obtained all the permits before issuing the Design-Build procurement process RFP with DEC, USACE, USCG, and NYCDPR. Jim coordinated with DEC in capping and monitoring the Philips Dodge contaminated site.

Jim Lau, RLA

Sargent William Dougherty Playground/Sarge's Skate Park, Brooklyn, NY

Design Supervisor / Project Designer

This project aimed to enhance the Green Spaces surrounding the Kosciuszko Bridge project. Two parks were planned, with a Brooklyn and Queens having their own new Park after the completion of the Kosciusko Bridge. Each Park is connected by a Shared Use Path/Greenway that spans over the bridge, bringing the two communities together.

The Park has a skate park that has been renamed Sarge's Skate Park by the skating community. There is a comfort station and children's playground with a children's spray shower and a basketball and handball court with passive seating and overlooks. The greenway links to The community Under the K Park and the waterfront at Newtown Creek.

Jim Lau served as Design Supervisor/Project Designer. He was responsible for high-level NYC agency approvals and coordination. Jim was also responsible for QA/QC of the project and sealing the final contract documents.

He was also responsible for negotiating and documenting the MOA of the property transfer to the NYC Parks Department.

Jim Lau, RLA

Design Supervisor / Project Designer

NYSDOT developed the master plan, acquired the rightof-way for the entire Bronx River Greenway project, and designed and constructed Phase 1 along with Starlight Park, which opened as a city park in January 2013. The BRGW project encompassed four bicycle/pedestrian bridges and a multi-use path that meanders along and over the once-neglected Bronx River.

The final phases of this transformation project were completed in the summer of 2022, completing the 1.8 miles of contiguous off-street trails from the southern end of Concrete Plant Park to the northern end of Starlight Park.

Alongside this project, NYSDOT converted the Sheridan Expressway into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard, creating three new access points to Starlight Park for pedestrians, a new bike lane along Edgewater Road, and a small park at the entrance to Starlight Park that has a small plaza with seating and a beautiful view of the Bronx River.

The project has reconnected communities closed off to the river allowing the community to enjoy this natural resource transforming the Bronx.

Jim Lau served as Project Designer and Project Manager. He was responsible for signing and sealing the contract documents and overseeing the planning and implementation of two phases of the project while working at NYSDOT.

Bronx River Greenway, Bronx, NY

Sheridan Enhancement: Design-Build Project

Environmental Design Manager

Jim while working at NYSDOT as the Landscape Architecture and Environmental design supervisor, managed the progression of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the Arthur Sheridan Enhancement Design-Build Project in the South Bronx. The $85M project on the Arthur Sheridan Expressway (I-895) connects the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) to the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95).

Jim was instrumental in coordinating the design concepts for de-designating and converting the Sheridan Expressway to a boulevard with three at-grade crossings. These signalized intersections provided pedestrian and bicycle traffic connections between the aesthetic waterfront on the East side of the highway and residential/commercial/retail neighborhoods on the West.

The project included the construction of streetscapes, tree planting, and an entrance plaza with a new bridge over the Bronx River, connecting Starlight Park. The Bronx River Greenway Phase II, part of the Master Plan, was developed in 2010.

Arthur

Jim Lau, RLA

Maspeth Park, Queens NY

As the Design Supervisor and Project Designer of Maspeth Park, Jim developed the playground as part of the NYSDOT's master planning that Jim coordinated and managed, which proposed and designed green spaces for the reconstruction of the Kosciusko Bridge project. This 24-million-dollar Park will include a new building with comfort stations, a maintenance garage, offices, and the first public green roof required under the NYC mandate. The Park will have expanded green space, sitting areas, and viewing platforms.

These recreational amenities include a basketball court, game tables, ping pong tables, an adult fitness par course, and a designated signature skate plaza with the first ever wave wall built adjacent to a six feet bowl. Jim was the designer of the Landscape architectural components and mentored the design team from conception into construction.

He negotiated the MOA with NYC Parks and managed and coordinated all the property transfers from NYSDOT to NYC. Jim worked closely with the in-house design staff to develop the architectural aesthetics of the building before progressing and coordinating the architectural details with WSP's architecture staff. The Park is scheduled to open in the summer of 2023 and is strategically located at the base of the Shared Use Path of the K Bridge connecting Sargent Dougherty Playground and Under the K Park on the Brooklyn side.

Jim Lau, RLA

NYSDOT designed and constructed Sutton Parks, a series of vest-pocket parks along the East River waterfront near Sutton Place. Sutton Place Park's bi-level design is a series of passive parks with breathtaking views of the Queensboro Bridge.

The gardens are located on top of the FDR Drive and were part of NYSDOT's restoration from 53rd to 63rd Street of the FDR Drive in 2005. The design process and ROW maps determined a 99-year public lease had expired and never renewed, allowing the private open space to be renowned by NYC Parks for public use.

The FDR Drive project developed the outboard detour for EDC's Eastside Esplanade project. Jim was critical in coordinating approvals with the residents, USCG, DEC, ACOE, FHWA, and NYC Park's approvals for all permits. Jim was instrumental in advocating for the piers to remain in place for future use and development.

Reconstruction of FDR Drive from 53rd to 63rd Street

Design and Environmental Supervisor Project Designer at NYSDOT.

Jim Lau, RLA

Skate Park , Brooklyn NY Design Supervisor and Project Designer

Golconda Skate Park, also known as Fat Kid Skate Park, is a public skate park in Brooklyn's Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene neighborhoods.

he Skate Park originated as a DIY skate park built under the BQE. The new skate park is approximately a football field in length and is over 18,000 square feet in area. The signature skate elements have drawn borough skaters to experience and skate this historic site.

The project was completed in 2016 and is part of Golconda Playground. Jim, the design supervisor at NYSDOT, collaborated with Skate Park Designer Steve Rodriguez to design Golconda Skate Park.

The Park is owned and maintained by NYC Parks, and NYCDOT maintains the BQE structure. The Park was designed to allow lift and boom truck access to the entire structure above the Skate Park for future inspections.

Golconda

Jim Lau, RLA

Summary

Identifying innovative approaches and improved solutions to business challenges both motivate and drive me. Observation, inspiration, and determination are my foundation for success. My philosophy is that introducing fresh perspectives and new techniques allow businesses to evolve and grow. My goal is to remain on the cutting-edge of design and engineering services. The projects I design must strive for long term environmental sustainability for our society. I aim to ensure client satisfaction and accountability to foster long term business ventures and opportunities.

Jim Lau, RLA