MARÍA BELLALTA CROMIE, ASLA CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Master of Landscape Architecture Cambridge, Massachusetts
University of Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Fine Arts Concentration Notre Dame, Indiana
ACADEMIC WORK Dean, School of Landscape Architecture Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, Fall 2014-present
Head, School of Landscape Architecture Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, August 2011-Fall 2014
Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board Review, October 2013 Master of Landscape Architecture Initial Accreditation (2016) Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Re-accreditation (2019)
Chair, Foundation Studies Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, April 2014-Present
Co-Chair, MARCOM, Marketing - Communications Committee Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, Fall 2014-Present
Director, Landscape Institute Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, Fall 2014-Present
Director, Advanced Interdisciplinary Studios Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, December 2013-Present
Visiting Faculty Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Escuela de Arquitectura y Diseño Urban Design Studio, Comuna de Santo Domingo, Medellín, Colombia Medellín, Colombia, May 2014
Adjunct Faculty, School of Landscape Architecture Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts, 2010-2011
Visiting Faculty Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Escuela de Arquitectura Urban Park at La Quinta Normal Santiago, Chile, July 2009
Landscape Architecture Studio Instructor and Lecturer Harvard University, Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program Cambridge, Massachusetts, summer 1991
•1 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Design Principal, L T X URBAN LANDSCAPES STUDIO Brookline, Massachusetts, USA, 2010 - 2012
Private practice for contemporary urban landscapes, management and construction of public, institutional, commercial, and private projects. Focus on integration of urban design, architecture and landscape architecture addressing public realm solutions and new sustainable applications; landscape perfornance of built projects, including post occupancy ecological, economic and social benefits.
Design Director Martha Schwartz Partners, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA / London, UK, 2007 - 2010
Design Director for Cambridge studio: design leadership, team management; conceptual vision and technical expertise through full landscape architectural services. Multiple international design ventures with billion dollar budgets. Consultant, Coordinator, reviewing financial projections and design productivity, design scope and financial proposals, including visual presentations, client meetings, international liaision and locally todeliver timely design solutions and meeting budgetary projections and creative programs. Conceptualization and design development for various projects ranging from new civic plazas, a new Central Park for Dubai, UAE, to a new sustainable city, the Yongsan International Business District in Seoul, Korea, Yongsan IBD, Dreamhub International winning competition with Studio Daniel Libeskind, 2009.
Senior Associate Highmark Land Design, Boston, Massachusetts, 2004 - 2007
Senior Associate for sustainable design practice. Design lead, contract negotiation and administration for various civic and private development projects. Natural resources and water management and infrastructure remediation planning. Projects include urban parks, library courtyards, civic spaces and streetscapes, and performing arts cultural distrcit site improvements.
Senior Associate Bellalta 3 Design, Boston, Massachusetts, 2003 - 2004
Senior associate for local design and construction firm. Projects within the public and private sectors, including urban parks, playgrounds, public library site improvements, and multimillion dollar residential developments.
Project Manager, Design Lead Copley Wolff Design Group, Boston, Massachusetts, 2000 - 2003
Designer and project manager for City of Boston public sector projects as well as and private institutional open spaces: Harvard University, streetscape improvements for Central Artery/Tunnel Project from Dewey Square to Bullfinch Triangle; public parks and playgrounds, and campus greens. Executed design proposals for the Mayor and the City’s constituency groups; managed consulting teams, projected and managed City budgets; coordinated with consulting teams and provided construction administration services for local built projects throughout the City of Boston.
Designer Sasaki Associates, Watertown, Massachusetts, 1994 - 2000
Associate designer for mayor civic and institutional projects, including grand entry and rooftop plaza improvements for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in D.C., the rebuilt GSA headquarters in Oklahoma City, and the new Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan. Developed alternative design solutions, construction budgets, and construction documents, including demolition, layout, grading and planting, lighting and irrigation, and construction detail drawings.
Public Art Curator, Sasaki Public Art Program Sasaki Associates, Watertown, Massachusetts, 1994 - 2000
Art curator for public art program. Solicited artists from across the metro region and nationally. Curation for gallery exhibitions of multi-media art works, including print material, annual scheduling. Conceived theoretical significance of exhibits, their layout, as well as the event planning for the public openings of contemporary artists working in the local and public environment.
• 2 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE, cont. Invited Landscape Architect Patricio Schmidt C. y Asociados Arquitecto: “Proyecto Piedra Roja” Santiago de Chile, July 1999
Consulting designer for 1,400 hectare mix-use real estate and commercial development and satellite city known as Piedra Roja, abutting the City of Santiago; open space design guidelines for Master Plan, including public parks and plazas, pocket parks, parking, recreational uses, streetscape, boulevards, and vehicular hierarchy studies. Coordination with Master Plan architects, Patricio Schmidt C. y Asociados Arquitecto and RTKL, Houston.
Designer Martha Schwartz Partners, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1992-1994
Lead designer for Cambridge office. Conceived and developed design ideas for public spaces high on the civic and public platforms. Envisioned how people occupy space and celebrate life through distinguished architecture, plazas, music and entertainment halls, and executed representative projects and design challenges. Conceptual, Design Development and Construction Documentation production.
ACADEMIC COURSES Information Graphics, DME2017, spring 2016 Independent Study: The Medellín Story: Urbanism in Latin America
City X, spring 2016 Theory and Practice in Landscape Architecture, Seminar
LA Studio on Social Urbanism, fall 2015, in Collaboration with Universidad Pontificia Bolívariana (UPB) El Pajarito Barrio: Urban Design and Housing Typologies: Chaotic and Ordered Space, Social Economy. Medellín, Colombia - Boston, MA
Public Art, fall 2015 Independent Study: Public Art and Civic Spaces in Boston.
LA Studio on Social Urbanism Summer Intensive, August 2015, UPB Medellín, Colombia
City X, fall and spring, 2015 Theory and Practice in Landscape Architecture, Seminar
Advanced Interdisciplinary Studio: Boston Living with Water, spring 2015 Adaptations with interdisciplinary criteria addressing various elements affecting constructed and natural spaces
Advanced Open Studio, spring 2015 Advanced studio option addressing local and international sites, current physical and social agendas
Advanced Interdisciplinary Studio, spring 2014 Boston City Hall Plaza and Transportation Center
City X, spring 2014 Theory and Practice in Landscape Architecture, Seminar
City X, fall 2013 Theory and Practice in Landscape Architecture, Seminar
Esplanade Boston 2020 Studio, spring 2012, summer 2012 (Natural Systems, Urban Design, Housing)
LA Year One: LA Theory and Practice, spring 2011, fall 2012 Theory and Practice in Landscape Architecture, Seminar
Broadway 1000 Steps Studio, spring 2012 Academic Partnership, Mary Miss Studio, NYC, Parson’s New School for Design, City College of New York (CCNY), the CUNY Graduate Center, Columbia University, Pratt Institute, Marymount Manhattan College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Pennsylvania State University; Ford Foundation Grant.
• 3 ACADEMIC COURSES, cont. C-1 Interdisciplinary Studio, fall 2011 Lyceum Competition, Artists’ Studio and Program in Barre, VT Quarry, Public Art and Site Analysis.
Construction II, spring 2011 Grading and Stormwater Management
LA Year One: LA Theory and Practice, spring 2011, fall 2010 Theory and Practice in Landscape Architecture, Seminar
Degree Project Studio II, spring 2010 Bachelor of Landscape Architecture final Degree Project studio: Malden River and Chelsea Waterfront Parks.
Urban Design Studio, 1997 Boston Architectural College, School of Architecture Mission Main Public Housing, “A Developer’s Dream on Public Land” Boston Housing Authority and Hope VI grant for urban housing regeneration.
LECTURES Of Immediate Concern: Student Enrollment and Our Professional Future Of Immediate Essence: The Elements of Landscape Architecture ASLA Annual Meeting & Exposition, Chicago, IL, November 2015
The Green Alley - Urban Solutions for the Future, Ecological Landscape Alliance BAC, Halvorson Design Partnership, Linean Solutions, Boston Ground Water Trust, Boston, MA, June 2015
Significance of Emerging Interdisciplinary Landscape Architecture Programs in Latin America Le Notre Conference, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín, Colombia, May 2014
Sustainability and Aesthetics Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Escuela de Arquitectura y Diseño, Medellín, May 2014
The BAC’s Green Alley – Applied Interdisciplinary Research and Sustainable Thinking Mahan Rykeil Associates, Inc., Baltimore, MD, March 2014
Sustainability in the City: Solving Environmental Changes in the Back Bay ABX: Architecture Boston Exposition, Boston Society of Architects, Boston, MA,November 2013
Examined how the Boston Architectural College (BAC), the Boston Groundwater Trust, local government and design professionals are cooperating to ameliorate Boston’s depleted groundwater levels jeopardizing landmark building foundations in the Back Bay.
Landscapes, Sustainability and the Psychology of Space Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Escuela de Arquitectura y Diseño Urbano, Santiago, Chile, July 2009
Exploration of the technical, economic and social-cultural sustainability trends across new city-scaled developments in the Middle East and China. Theorizing on the new beauty prototypes required for meaningful, multicultural spaces. An art movement for designers to set valuable models in place of replicas.
Design Excellence in Public Places: The Integrated Design Process BSA: Boston Society of Architects, Build Boston Symposium, Boston, MA, November 2009
The significance of design excellence in the public realm and on ways to create urban places toremember. Exploration of noteworthy projects such Dubai Park, UAE, International Business District, Seoul, Korea, Battery Park City, and Massport’s integrated public art. A critical view of how to incorporate the community and public art through an integrated design process to create design excellence and meaningful public spaces for the community.
Sponsored by Boston Society of Architects’s Public Art Initiative and the Placemaking Network; Urban Arts Institute at Massachusetts; Massachusetts College of Art and Design; Design Industry Group of Massachusetts.
• 4 CITATIONS, AWARDS, Boston Living with Water: People’s Choice Award FELLOWSHIPS International competition for resilience and cultural adaptations for living with sea level rise. Boston Redevelopment Authority, Boston Society of Architects, Boston Harbor Association, Mayor’s Council, February 2015.
Landscape Architecture Foundation Research Fellow: Case Study Investigation Landscape Performance: Richard Burk Associates; Martha Schwartz Partners, Ground Inc, and Stoss Landscape Urbanism. Boston, Spring 2013.
Host, The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley, Inaugural Exhibition of National Traveling Exhibit. Boston Architectural College in association with Cultural Landscape Foundation, November 2013.
Yongsan International Business District, Seoul, Korea; Competition Award ($500,000 prize). Dreamhub International, Design Director, Martha Schwartz Partners and Studio Daniel Libeskind, 2009.
“US Courthouse Plaza,” Martha Schwartz, Inc., Maria Bellalta, Design Team. The Vanguard Landscapes and Gardens of Martha Schwartz, by Tim Richardson, 2004.
“Jacob Javits Plaza,” Martha Schwartz, Inc., Maria Bellalta, Design Team. The Vanguard Landscapes and Gardens of Martha Schwartz, by Tim Richardson, 2004.
“Miami International Airport Sound Attenuation Wall,” Martha Schwartz, Inc., Maria Bellalta, Design Team. The Vanguard Landscapes and Gardens of Martha Schwartz, by Tim Richardson, 2004.
“Baltimore Inner Harbor” (competition), Martha Schwartz, Inc., Maria Bellalta, Design Team. The Vanguard Landscapes and Gardens of Martha Schwartz, by Tim Richardson, 2004.
3 ACRES: 3 Acres on the Lake: DuSable Park Proposal Competition A public art and publication project initiated by Laurie Palmer Maria Bellalta, Landscape Designer/Project Manager, Copley Wolff Design Group, Chicago 2003.
“Federal Courthouse Plaza,” Martha Schwartz, Inc., Maria Bellalta, Design Team. Martha Schwartz: Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Ed. Heidi Landecker, Spackemaker Press, 1997.
“Jacob Javits Plaza,” Martha Schwartz, Inc., Maria Bellalta, Design Team. Martha Schwartz: Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Ed. Heidi Landecker, Spackemaker Press, 1997.
PUBLICATIONS Bellalta, M. “Las Arboledas.” Designed for the Future \ 80 Practical Ideas for a Sustainable World. Jared Green. New York: Princetown Architectural Press, 2015.
Ackerman, A. and Bellalta, M. “Analysis to Site Design: Landscape Performance and the Design Studio.” Landscape Research Record, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, Vol. 4, (pp. forthcoming; publication in process).
Bellalta, M. “This Shift.” Fieldbook, Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Ed. Todd Robinson, Natalie Adams, Vicki Carr, Tim Nickerson. Meredith Baber. Sunnyvale: Joomag, Spring 2015.
Bellalta, M. “Paul Revere House Plaza and North Square.”The Landscape Architects’ Guide to Boston: North End, accessed May 1, 2014, http://www.asla.org/boston/#!north-end.
Bellalta, M. “The Prado.” The Landscape Architects’ Guide to Boston: North End, accessed May 1, 2014, http://www.asla.org/boston/#!north-end.
Bellalta, M. “Copp’s Hill Burying Ground and Terrace.”The Landscape Architects’ Guide to Boston: North End, accessed May 1, 2014, http://www.asla.org/boston/#!north-end.
Bellalta, M. “College and University Programs in Landscape Architecture” Fieldbook, Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Ed Todd Robinson, Tim Nickerson, Natalie Adams, Vicki Carr. Sunnyvale, Joomag, Spring 2014.
• 5 PUBLICATIONS, CONT. Bellalta, M. “La Mirada Verde De La Sicólogia: A Psychological Look at Becoming Green.” Interview by Cecilia De Frutos. El Mercurio, Vivienda y Decoración July 2009.
Bellalta, M., Gelb, S., and Marshall, S. “Design Excellence in Public Places: An Integrated Design Process.” Mod. Barbara Boylan. Build Boston Symposium, Build Boston Convention. World Trade Center, Boston. Nov. 2009.
Bellalta, M. “A Tribute to Esmée Cromie De Bellalta, Professor, Landscape Architect, and My Mother.” Harvard Design Magazine. Sept. 2007.
Bellalta, M. “Another Shade of Green, the Central Artery Story.” Land Forum, Spacemaker Press, No.14, Ed by Jane Gillette Feb. 2003.
Bellalta, M. “Central Artery/ Tunnel Structural Soil Proprietary Report.” Rep. Boston: Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Maintenance Manual, 2001.
Bellalta, M. The Other Modernity: Contemporary Architecture in Latin America, La Otra Modernidad: Arquitectura Contemporánea en Latinoamérica.” Spanish to English translation, 1997.
ACADEMIC SERVICE American Society of Landscape Architects, ASLA, Committee on Education November 2014-Present
American Society of Landscape Architects, ASLA, STEM Subcommitte November 2014-Present
Design Studio Critic Harvard University, Graduate School of Design Various Master Studio Projects Cambridge, Massachusetts,1991, 1993, 2007, fall 2015
American Society of Landscape Achitecture Student Awards Critic Harvard University, Graduate School of Design Master I and II Projects, Honor and Merit Awards Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 2010
PROFESSIONAL American Society of Landcape Architects, ASLA, full member AFFILIATIONS & SERVICE Boston Society of Landcape Architects, BSLA, full member
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, CELA, full member
Urban Land Institute, associate member
Town of Brookline Design Review Committee
Esplanade Vision 2010: Landscape Advisory Committee
Boston Society of Landscape Architects, BSLA: Professional Jury Awards, Juror Boston, Spring 2015
Boston Society of Landscape Architects, BSLA: Professional Jury Awards, Juror Merit, Honor and Design Excellence Boston, March 2012
Spanish – English Bilingual
• 6 PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS Dubai Central Park, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 39 hectares, $1 billion. URBAN INTERNATIONAL Jumeira Garden City Master Plan with SOM Chicago, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Nakheel Tall Tower Plaza with Woods Bagot Architects, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Al Sowa Island Master Plan, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Yongsan International Business District, Seoul, Korea; 89 hectates, $1 billion construction cost for site; Winning Competition with Studio Daniel Libeskind, 2009
Parc 1 Shopping Center with Richard Rogers, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Yeouido Island, South Korea: Mixed-use centre, major retail mall, two landmark office towers and a five star luxury hotel; 4.6-hectare site; construction cost $2.2 billion.
The Children’s Center, Museum, Damascus, Syria
Piedra Roja Open Space Guidelines, with Patricio Schmidt C. y Asociados Arquitecto, Santiago, Chile
Solarium “Jungle Park”, Liberia, Costa Rica
Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bois de Vincennes, Parc Zoologique de Paris – competition, Paris, France
URBAN - CIVIC - USA Nouvelle at Natick Luxury Condominiums Intensive Roof Garden, Natick, MA
South Street Archway, Roslindale, Boston, MA
Taft Hill Parking Site Improvements, Boston Transportation Department, Roslindale, MA
El Barrio’s ArtSpace Project PS109, East Harlem, NY
Pine Havens Cemetary, Burlington, MA
Jacob Javits Plaza, GSA Federal Buildings, New York, NY; ASLA Honor Award, 1997, P.N. Winslow Landscape Design Award, Parks Council for Parks, NYC, 1997
Miami Airport Sound Wall, Miami, FL
World Trade Center Plaza, New York, NY
Jazz Hall of Fame and Public Park, Kansas City, MO
Ahmanson Theatre Celebrity Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
Minneapolis Federal Courthouse, GSA, Minneapolis, MN; GSA Merit Citation for Design Excellence
Cosmopolitan Adult Deck, Las Vegas
Marriott Convention Center, 1% for Art Competition, Philadelphia, PA
World Cup Soccer USA 1994, National Stadia and Foxboro Stadium, MA
Thalhimer Theatre, Richmond Performing Arts Center, Civic Streetscape, VA
Central Artery/Tunnel-Logan International Airport Terminal Area Projects, Boston, MA
The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts Master Plan Improvements, Washington, D.C.
Oklahoma City GSA Federal Campus, Oklahoma City, OK
• 7 PROJECTS, cont. Towers Crescent Industrial Development-RTKL, Fountain A, Fairfax, VA
World Bank Plaza, Washington, D.C.
Legoland Entertainment Park Site Plan, Carlsbad, CA
Central Artery/Tunnel Project Surface Restoration: Streetscape Improvements from Dewey Square to Bullfinch Triangle, Boston MA, $16 billion completed construction cost.
HOUSING, CAMPUS, Arboretum Place Commercial Development, Streetscape and Pocket Parks, Jamaica Plain INSTITUTIONAL Boston, MA
Mission Main Housing Development and Open Space Master Plan, Boston, MA
Center for Business and Technology, with Goody Clancy Architects, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA
Haverhill Transportation Center, Haverhill, MA
Master Plan and Phase I Improvements for the Public Library, Town of Brookline, MA
St. Aidan’s Mixed Income Housing and Condominiums; church conversion into residential units and private and semi-public open space program.
Carnegie Mellon University Master Plan, Pittsburgh, PA
Loyola College Recreational Center and Athletic Site, Baltimore, MD
University of Nebraska, Lincoln Student Center Plaza and Fountain, Lincoln, NE
Scranton University Urban Master Plan, Scranton, PA
Sweet Briar College Student Center Courtyard, Sweet Briar, VA Shaw’s Landing, Housing Development, New London, CT
Belmont High School Courtyard, Belmont, MA
Kresge and Mellon Halls, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA
Gertrude Howe Playground, Roxbury, MA
PARKS Moose Cove Camp Master Plan, Bridgton, ME
Smith Park, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Boston, MA
Children’s Park, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Boston, MA
Ringer Park, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Boston, MA
City of Somerville, Perry Park and Stone Place, public parks and playgrounds, City of Somerville, MA
East Boston Greenway, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, East Boston, MA
RESIDENTIAL Penner Residence, Brookline, MA
Lohner Residence, Sustainable Hillside Garden, Melrose MA
Osorio Residence, Woodland Garden, Waban, MA
Minton Stables, Boston Natural Areas Network, Community Gardens, Boston, MA
• 8 PROJECTS, cont. Urban Residence, art studio and barn-guess-house, Carlisle, MA
Schwartz Sustainable Residence, Woodland and Green Project, Newton, MA (20 Million Dollar Project)
Brookline Garden, Urban Oasis, Brookline, MA
• 9