• Scott D. Baker PLA, ASLA President LinkedIn
    Bio

    A voracious advocate of urbanism, RELM President Scott Baker seeks to engender public life in cities across America. For the past two decades, he has championed landscape architecture’s role in cultivating community, ensuring public realms are indeed public—rendering true benefit for neighborhoods and users alike. His work across Southern California is compelling. Commissions include Marsh Park, Long Beach Airport, Los Angeles Police Headquarters, Wilshire Grand, USC’s University Village, and District NOHO, LA Metro’s largest P3 transit development. Over his career, Scott has realized various landscape typologies: mixed-use, TOD, hospitality, civic, multi-family and education projects. More recently, Scott has led the studio in securing public realm projects outside Los Angeles. In Sacramento, RELM is completing two high-profile state office campuses; opened Merian—UC San Diego’s downtown campus—while securing RELM’s first federal project in Huntsville, Alabama, Redstone Innovation Campus. Scott sits on the Board for the A+D Museum in Los Angeles and is actively engaged with ULI.

    EDUCATION
    Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, University of Guelph, 1995

    LICENSURE
    California, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Oregon, Maryland, Arizona

     ‘Design isn’t always the answer. Sometimes you have to resist the purely creative process and allow public life to drive the urban form before you begin the creative process. You can’t just inherit a site and not question how things are connected.  I love the edges as much as I love the landscape.’

     

  • David Christensen Associate Principal LinkedIn
    Bio

    With a distinguished resume realizing decorated urban parks across the country—Tongva Park, Navy Pier, and Fresh Kills—
    David plays a seminal role leading RELM’s urban campus portfolio. Be they state buildings, creative office, or educational, David applies his training in planning and architecture to realize dynamic landscapes that welcome the larger community in addition to a site’s dedicated user group. David is facile interfacing with complex stakeholder groups while amplifying creative vision, adeptly crafting landscape detailing to render enduring, beloved spaces. At RELM, he has led the studio’s first DGS project, the New Natural Resources Headquarters in Sacramento; 800 North Brand in Glendale, re-envisioning a William Pereira corporate office tower landscape; Aggie Square at UC Davis, and two education projects, one college, one K-12. For all, David’s attention to detail and relentless drive to execute flawlessly has earned him recognition by owners and peers alike. Prior to joining RELM, he worked for James Corner Field Operations and SWA.

    EDUCATION
    Master of Architecture, University of Toronto, 2007
    Bachelor of Regional Planning, Missouri State University, 2001

    'For me, it’s all about people’s daily experience.  Seeing the public activate a landscape brings me tremendous satisfaction.  I take great pride in crafting well-executed open space, both formally and in construction.  But when scores of people immerse themselves in a landscape—playing, conversing, reading—I realize the most gratification.  Open space is for everyday living.'

  • Luning Li Associate LinkedIn
    Bio

    Luning (Luna) Li is one of RELM’s most accomplished designers. Adeptly facile in concept ideation and schematic design, she generates most landscape designs working under RELM Principals. Her hand drawing, 3D modeling, and animation skills enable her to advance concepts quickly and compellingly. Her success is attributed to her ability to envision discrete moments of wonder in verdant settings. Since joining RELM, Luna’s creativity has helped win covet design competitions including Richards Boulevard and Natural Resources Headquarters Building, both in Sacramento, as well as LAX’s consolidated car rental facility (CONRAC). More recently, Luna co-authored UC Davis’ Aggie Square, and an adaptive reuse, creative office campus in Santa Monica with Kilroy Realty. She trains junior staff and continually elevates RELM’s visual lexicon.

    EDUCATION
    Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Southern California 2012

    Bachelor of Art, Environmental Art & Design, Tsinghua University 2010

    ‘Landscape architecture comprehensively improves urban life. It resolves many key questions related to mobility and settlement; anchors people to place by creating destinations; and ultimately uplifts the social energy of urban centers.  Landscape is the life line to how we live.’

  • Yong Kim Associate Principal LinkedIn
    Bio

    Guided by the ethos ‘design is a social responsibility,’ Yong Kim joins RELM with a diverse and skilled background in urban design and architecture alike. His command of complex urban redevelopment projects—and passion for hydrology, designing for water-rich and water-poor environments alike—have resulted in contributions to notable commissions including 6AM with Herzog & De Meuron, 670 Mesquit with BIG, and 5411W with KEATING while part of Studio MLA as well as numerous resiliency master plans while working at DLANDstudio in NYC. There, he helped lead the Gowanus Canal Sponge Park Master Plan and the MoMA exhibition, Rising Currents, with ARO. A Los Angeles native, Yong looks to adapt resilient infrastructure for arid environments while continuing his research through Harvard GSD, investigating best practice development strategies in the global context. Yong brings domestic and international experience to grow RELM’s master planning and urban design capabilities while playing a pivotal role in RELM’s operations. Yong earned his Master of Architecture in Urban Design at Harvard and undergraduate degrees in Architecture and Fine Arts at Rhode Island School of Design.

    EDUCATION
    Master in Architecture in Urban Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2007

    Bachelors in Architecture and Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, 2000

    ‘Achieving balance is key to addressing environmental challenges. I am motivated to improve both natural and built systems for future generations.’

  • Vincent Agoe Senior Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Holding a Master of City Planning and Landscape Architecture as well as an undergraduate degree in Urban Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, Vincent joins RELM to champion citymaking, specifically the role mobility plays in building culture. Born in Accra, Ghana, and raised in Inglewood, California, he acutely understands how proximity drives experience and that mobility patterns are essential to enjoy metropolises. He looks to marry policy and design to render urban centers that work—across scale and systems. Prior to joining RELM, Vincent served as project designer on new embassy and consulate campuses in Mexico, Morocco, Malawi, and South Sudan in addition to leading a handful of local projects in Portland: Bybee Lakes Helping Hands Outreach Center and Atomic Orchard Experiment building. During his graduate studies, he interned for San Francisco Public Works and HOK. Vincent looks to design compelling and connected public realms for disadvantaged communities, asserting landscape elevates perception and quality of life.

    EDUCATION
    Master of City Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 2018

    Bachelor of Urban Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2013

     'Proximity drives culture. Living in both Accra and Inglewood, cities I describe as organized chaos, you quickly understand that mobility patterns are essential if you want to enjoy the city at large. You need to create a series of destinations clustered together around transit.'

     

  • Ruoyi Peng Senior Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Ruoyi Peng is a graduate of Louisiana State University’s Master of Landscape Architecture program. Upon joining RELM, she has been critical in delivering a variety of projects including a 9-acre mixed-used development in Glendale, 3200 Foothill; transit studies for the VTA in Santa Clara County; along with a multitude of smaller projects where she contributed to the visualization and design documentation. Ruoyi is gifted in 3D visualization and is growing her design acumen working alongside senior designers.

    Education

    Master of Landscape Architecture, Louisiana State University, 2015

    Bachelor of Engineering in Landscape Architecture, Tongji University, 2012

    ‘Design is a magical experience. I feel fortunate to bring people into an environment, built out of creativity, that offers the public a wonderful experience.’

     

  • Yu Cheng Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Yu Cheng joins RELM having earned her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Her design work, both its inherent approach to site systems and celebration of seasonality, is exemplary. Yu seeks to convey the evolution of time when creating project visualizations. Illustrating how landscapes mature over time, enhancing the urban surround through natural processes is her passion. Yu joins the studio having interned for RELM in 2019 and is seamlessly working alongside project leaders across a broad range of projects: a federal office campus, a technology campus at UC Davis, two design competitions, and a confidential project in Silicon Valley in addition to a series of mixed-use projects near downtown Los Angeles.

    EDUCATION

    Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 2019

    Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Landscape Architecture, Hunan University, 2016

     ‘Landscapes are dynamic. I approach design through an ecological, cultural, and interactive lens wishing to convey the active energy of a given site.’

  • Bio

    Chad Krenzke leads many of RELM’s most significant podium and infrastructure projects. His command of complex systems and design decisions that must be realized and coordinated in collaboration with other disciplines—both during the documentation process and in the field—distinguishes his leadership within the studio. He’s adept in project management and construction administration having led such key projects as Ivy Station, a 5.2-acre mixed-use transit-oriented development adjacent to the Expo Line station in Culver City, ConRac, a 73-acre landscape at LAX, and several multi-family projects throughout the State. For all, Chad serves as RELM’s key point person, working in tandem with RELM Design Principals to render some of the studio’s most heralded commissions.

    EDUCATION
    Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Colorado State University, 2012

    ‘In the urban realm, we create and transform the landscape, beyond the obvious, to create something memorable that enriches the quality of life in our cities.’

     

  • David Mauricio Urban Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    David Mauricio joins RELM after earning the highest distinction from Columbia University’s GSAPP program, the Lucille Smyer Lowenfish Memorial Prize, for the most outstanding portfolio of work in the urban design program. Formally trained in both architecture and urban design, David moved back to Los Angeles, his home city, to apply his skills in urban design, architecture, and landscape to large master planning and feasibility commissions.

    After Columbia, David worked at FXCollaborative on one of Governor Cuomo’s downtown redevelopment initiatives in Nassau County, Long Island—Westbury New York. There, he helped recommend urban strategies encompassing rezoning, transit, housing, commercial leasing, and streetscape improvements. David seeks to foster community and public benefit through his work, creating synergies between public and private investment and its relationship to infrastructure and the built and natural environment.

    EDUCATION

    Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, 2019
    Bachelor of Architecture, Woodbury University, 2018

    ‘Each place has its own narrative, its own unique culture, systems, and challenges. People are at the apex of these complex and colliding storylines centered around needs and desires. Urban design is about creating inclusive environments for today and for the future. Done well, it creates socially, economically, and environmentally resilient communities.’

  • Hana Georg Senior Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Drawn to design for its ability to be simultaneously critical and imaginative, Hana strives to mediate social, spatial, and ecological disparity through landscape architecture. Their approach to spatial design is both playful and rigorous inviting experiences of connection and delight within projects that overall seek to foster societal and planetary change. With a penchant for plant-based approaches to problem-solving, Hana is skilled at restoring ecological function within large urban parks and plazas. They lead highly complex projects having worked on Brooklyn Bridge Park and Waterloo Greenway during their tenure at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, learning how hydrology and geotechnics inform design vernacular and construction methodology. Hana’s passion around the ethics of landscape architecture and design as a transformative social practice earned them recognition as both an Olmsted and ASLA NY Designing in the Public Realm Scholar. At RELM, they serve as a project manager, currently leading the UC’s San Diego Medical Research Campus, a 5 billion-dollar project with Wexford Lab, and contributing to District NOHO, LA County’s largest TOD project.

    EDUCATION
    Master of Landscape Architecture , Anne and Bernard Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York, 2019
    Bachelor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2009

    ‘The collective experience of landscape holds a unique potential for shaping cultural expectations.’

  • Jarrad Newman Senior Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    As a passionate design innovator, Jarrad brings his design and planning experience to a range of complex and varied projects. Leveraging creative insights and methods from digital culture, historical analysis, mapping, programming, and drawing, Jarrad’s work embraces an open vision for creative practice. Prior to RELM, he played a substantial role in delivering projects for Stoss Landscape Urbanism including the Eda U Gerstacker Grove at the University of Michigan. In Australia, Jarrad worked in both the public and private sectors. He was the lead designer on a significant transportation infrastructure project at Hassell and for the City of Melbourne, working as an urban designer, Jarred worked on urban corridor initiatives.

    EDUCATION
    Bachelor of Design - Landscape Architecture (Hons. 1st Class) RMIT University, 2015
    Bachelor of Applied Science - Urban Planning (Hons. 1st Class) RMIT University, 2015

    ‘Design is about opening up new possibilities for connection, reflection, and experience in our cities, peeling back the layers of our daily lives to reveal the art and beauty of our shared world.’

  • Xinxin Shen Senior Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Adeptly talented in visual representation, conceptual design, and construction documentation, Xinxin works alongside senior leaders to conceive and detail landscapes across a spectrum of project types. In a span of just two years, after graduating with Master in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, Xinxin has helped RELM win several notable competitions including the $4 billion, 5,000 employee, Richards Boulevard complex in Sacramento for the Department of Government Services along with two of LAUSD’s largest modernization efforts: Ascot Elementary and Elizabeth Learning Center. Her documentation and construction administration skills are equally an asset. Xinxin plays a critical role in the adaptive reuse of a William Pereria creative office campus in Downtown Glendale scheduled to open late 2020. There, drawing reference to the region’s foothills, a trio of programmed ovular-shaped nests create opportunities to gather, play, and dine and help connect downtown Glendale to the city’s larger open space network. From competition to field work, Xinxin’s design acumen and rigor make her a rising talent within the studio.

    EDUCATION
    Masters of Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, 2018
    Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, South China University of Technology, 2016

    ‘Designing landscapes in an urban context is like stage design. I look to create a proscenium for people to linger, for storylines unfold.’

  • Wei-Lun Hsiao Senior Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Wei-Lun joins RELM with extensive experience in both urban planning and landscape architecture, holding dual master degrees. Passionate how context influences the character and experiential qualities of a site— sunlight, shade/shadow, as well as form and circulation— Wei Lun believes spatial design is the synthesis of urban design, anthropology, horticulture, and human and ecological need. Skilled in REVIT and several digital platforms, Wei-Lun works directly with RELM’s leadership in detailing documentation packages and serves as a Project Manager. Projects include Hollywood and Wilcox, a multi-family high-rise in Hollywood, Aggie Square at UC Davis, and District NOHO, a transit-oriented development connecting 15 train and bus lines into a new 15-acre mixed use site in North Hollywood. Prior to joining RELM, Wei-Lun worked at SWA.

    EDUCATION
    Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington 2017
    Master of Urban Planning, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, 2011
    Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan, 2009

    ‘Form is not how most users engage with design; it’s context and use. Only when sites work for people are beauty and detailing appreciated.’

  • Chenjie Zhang Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Chenjie (Alfred) Zhang comes to RELM from Rhode Island School of Design’s Master of Landscape Architecture program. Chenjie brings a systems-focused approach to his work, thoughtfully examining how differing community needs can be comprehensively addressed through the lens of landscape. To him, design needs to respond to economic, ecological, and health issues as much as resolve programming needs. Chenjie is passionate about exploring the intersection of sculpture, architecture, and landscape architecture to achieve both beauty and functionality in his designs.

    EDUCATION
    Master of Landscape Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design, 2022
    Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Shanghai Business School, 2019

    'The world needs art. And so, it has us, the people, using learned and innate skill to design, support, and create.'

  • Marsha Wong Accounting Manager LinkedIn
    Bio

    Marsha Wong’s commitment to helping clients manifest ambition and reach through financial performance is formidable. Versant in both corporate and project accounting, Marsha is masterful in visually communicating data. She joins RELM with twelve years experience, most recently as accounting manager for AC Martin. She works with RELM’s leadership team creating reporting tools, setting performance targets, and strategizing financial investment.

    EDUCATION
    Bachelor of Accounting Azusa Pacific University, 2010

    'Ultimately, I enjoy the details in numbers and how the smallest thing can impact actions/desires/metrics on a much larger scale. There is something so satisfying about having figures balanced and well organized.'

  • Kat Luksus Studio Coordinator LinkedIn
    Bio

    With a decorated background in design production, Kat joins RELM to spearhead day-to-day studio activities and assist with marketing and communications efforts. Formally educated in both Technical Theater and English, Kat has enjoyed producing sets for Disney, Universal Studios, California Academy of Science, and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures as well as theatrical productions in Tokyo, where she lived for 4 years. In her role, Kat works alongside RELM’s senior leaders to advance RELM’s brand and business goals. Away from the office, she continues her passion for production design, welding set pieces for Wasteland Weekend, an annual festival in Southern California.

    EDUCATION
    Bachelor of Arts, Technical Theater and English, College of Charleston, 2009

     'It’s the pockets of graceful design and greenery found within the urban landscape that make it feel inviting, safe, and inspiring. I want to help create—and expand—those havens.'

  • Xinlei Gu Landscape Designer LinkedIn
    Bio

    Xinlei Gu, a recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design Master of Landscape Architecture program, is inspired by the connective role landscape architecture plays between nature, humans, and happiness. She believes designing open space involves looking at a composite of need and aspiration—ecological, economic, equity, users, mobility—to maximize tangible outcomes for multiple conditions. Collaboration coupled with diversity of expertise is imperative to realize such benefit. She looks forward to being part of large project teams, contributing her artistic, illustrative hand and modeling skills, hastening health and happiness through urban development.

    EDUCATION
    Master of Landscape Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design, 2022
    Bachelor of Engineering in Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Agricultural University, 2018

    'For me, landscape architecture exists not only as spaces, places, and memories, but also as a medium to connect me to the environment and the rest of the world.'

  • Valorie Born Affiliate ASLA Communications and Strategy Consultant LinkedIn
    Bio

    Valorie plays a dual role at RELM.  She leads the studio’s communications initiatives, be they marketing pursuits, specialty communications, or visual storytelling for project deliverables.  She also works alongside RELM’s senior leadership to curate brand strategy.  Drawing upon her fifteen year tenure securing commissions for leading A/E studios worldwide, she works directly with President Scott Baker to grow influence. She helps define client strategy and outreach, develops key messaging, and guides professional development for all staff.  She authored RELM’s identity and enjoys playing a strategic role within the studio culture.

    Education

    Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, 1997

    ‘Even timeless designs have a point of view.  Brands—and their leaders—need to give voice to their point of view to succeed.’