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The ideas behind the ideas, and what pictures don’t show.

Welcome to our blog, where we share all the things that inspire, motivate, and define us.

Empathy Modeling as User Experience Innovation

Close your eyes and think about a place that is special to you or left a lasting impression. You may not be able to name every feature, but you can describe the scene, what happened there, and how it made you feel. That’s because great places are more than just cool plan features: they’re a... Read Full Post

Planning, Designing, and Rebuilding for a Better Tomorrow

In fall of 2019, Category 5 Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the coast of Scotland Cay, a private island located just 160 miles east of Palm Beach, Florida. With 75 percent of its homes destroyed and $3.4 billion in damage, residents had to choose whether to rebuild or leave the island. Shortly after the disaster... Read Full Post

Creating Community: Landscape design juxtaposes life's wavering journey with a promise of hope  

Valley Partnership, the Valley of the Sun’s premier advocacy group for responsible development, has been giving back to the community for over 30 years with the Annual Community Project. This year’s project benefitted The House of Refuge in Southeast Mesa, Arizona. A faith-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, The House of Refuge is a 22-acre community that... Read Full Post

Bringing resort amenities to your home with Taylor Morrison

When thinking about build-to-rent communities, or “BTR communities,” you generally don’t think of sprawling activity centers and luxury amenities for the community to share. The future of the BTR community is coming quickly with the push to the next level of comfort and user experience on the front of amenities through a combined effort from... Read Full Post

Water regulation in growing areas and their effect on development

As Florida’s population grows, so does the need for developments to support the population increase. While some areas in the state are dense and compressed already, there are other areas such as St. Cloud, in Central Florida, that have room to grow and adapt to today’s world of housing. RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture has... Read Full Post

Working to make affordable housing a reality in Phoenix and beyond

Affordable housing is a prevalent topic in Phoenix, Arizona, and throughout the country. According to rentcafe.com, the average monthly rent for an apartment in Phoenix is $1,590. The population explosion, which doesn’t appear to be slowing, will only contribute to rising housing costs and the lack of affordable housing options. In response to this, the... Read Full Post

Designing for Drought: Planning for a Water Responsible Future

Water and the American Southwest have long shared a tenuous relationship. It is no secret that water demand in desert cities like Phoenix cannot be met entirely from local sources and therefore, water must be imported from sources sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles away. These imported sources have historically provided an abundance of... Read Full Post

RVi helps design historic mixed-income housing in Orlando’s tourism corridor

Affordable housing is one of Greater Orlando’s most significant challenges, and RVi has been able to contribute landscape architecture design over the past year on what will be the largest mixed-income multifamily development in Orange County, Florida. Altamonte Springs-based affordable housing developer Wendover Housing Partners was chosen through a competitive RFP process in early 2021 by Universal... Read Full Post

Hawes Crossing: A True Village Experience

Hawes Crossing Village, the 1,131 acre residential community in Mesa, Arizona, received approval by Mesa City Council in early 2021. When the opportunity to work on Village One (80.66 acres of the 1,131 acre total community), myself, along with RVi team members Konner Pendland and Kevin Wilke-Nadler welcomed it, recognizing that as landscape architects and... Read Full Post