Joel VanderWeeleRA, CPHC
AssociateA walking resource on city-making and building design who always makes time to share insights, tips, and the new thing he’s reading.
Throughout his academic and professional career, Joel has specialized in being a generalist, using design at all scales to create and sustain walkable mixed-use neighborhoods with an enduring sense of place. He is particularly interested in urban infill projects because they contribute to the creation of great streets, and there is little in this world that is more exciting than a truly great street. Great buildings can come from singular expressions of genius or wealth, but a great street is the result of the craft, care, and cooperation of many hands across time and space. The city street is the backdrop of our civic life and it must be designed for everyone.
Outside of the office, Joel likes to read books without pictures of buildings in them, play baseball and violin, hunt down the best strolls in New England with his wife and daughter, renovate their 150-year-old workers’ cottage, fine-tune the pro forma for the vacant lot next door, get upsold at neighborhood businesses, and support the arts and culture scene in Providence.
Joel graduated from Houghton College with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, and the University of Notre Dame with master’s degrees in Architecture and Urban Design.