“The people here care a lot about what they do, and do their best to do right by clients and the community.” —Curt Nichols
Carlile • Macy is a land design firm combining civil engineering, landscape architecture and land surveying that brings the disciplines together to create aesthetically pleasing, functional, sustainable projects. Formed through a mid-1990s merger between Carlile Associates and Mitchell & Hamford, both of which trace their history back to firms originally founded in Sonoma County in the 1950s, it now employs about 16 people in a historic building in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square district.
The company does extensive work with schools to build or redesign sports fields and is also responsible for designing A Place to Play in Santa Rosa, which is an 82-acre community recreation and sports field complex. “It started with community-minded partners and was a 15-year process from a dream to an actual park,” says Curt Nichols, VP/partner and landscape architect. “It was a lot of fun to design and build—something from nothing,” he says.
The company also was the lead design consultant for the Santa Rosa Creek restoration project, known as Prince Memorial Greenway. It took a long-neglected downtown creek and revitalized it by creating a half-mile walkway leading from downtown to the historic district, including bike trails, bridges, public art and gathering places while restoring habitat for fish and wildlife—completely transforming the area in a beautiful way.
More recently, the company has embarked on two projects in San Francisco, called “Hope SF,” to rebuild public housing projects. This involves a series of public/private partnerships to create better-integrated affordable housing. “Old projects were isolated from surrounding neighborhoods,” says Nichols. “If you look from the air, you can see it clearly. Our goal is to redo them and integrate them into the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Many of the projects the firm takes on today consist of public/private partnerships. “It’s a huge undertaking and would be difficult to do all-public or all-private. It’s the way to get things done in this economy,” says Nichols.
Another change Nichols has noticed in recent years is concern about sustainability. “It just makes good economic and environmental sense,” he says. “Handling stormwater is a big concern, too. It used to be you’d just drain it away quickly and efficiently. Now the focus is on letting it infiltrate where it falls and going back to natural processes. It can also be collected and reused for certain things. Think about it: The water system is taxed in the summer; it’s better to use stormwater collected in winter during that time. So water management is rapidly moving from being a good idea to being required. It’s good to see.”
Nichols adds that his firm is delighted to have been chosen as Best in its category. “We’re deeply gratified and honored. The people here care a lot about what they do, and do their best to do right by clients and the community. Being chosen by your readers was unexpected—but certainly nice.”
