Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Working on the series, Valle explains, “is my way of understanding the
principles that govern this movement known as the New Urbanism.”“The
urban ingredients I rediscovered which constitute those Southern cities has
since become my measuring bar for our planning projects.The list of cities
goes on to include other cities throughout North, Central, and South
America.”
His growing involvement with urban design led Valle to make another
career move. In 1996 he entered into a partnership with his wife, Estela
Valle, and with Jaime Correa. CVV (Correa,Valle & Valle) is an architecture
and town planning firm that is committed to the principles of New Urban-
ism.To devote more time to the business,Valle gave up his faculty position
at UMSA. Within the firm, the three partners collaborate on all projects,
but have distinct roles and responsibilities. Correa is responsible for plan-
ning, Estela Valle is the lead architect and designer, and Erick Valle is the
negotiator, handling “all presentations, negotiations, contracts, invoicing,
lectures, research, and other issues.” “I enjoy convincing my clients/audi-
ence of what is wrong with the built environment and presenting them
with the alternative,” he says. The three partners share a common vision,
working harmoniously and usually in complete agreement, but Valle
acknowledges they must often compromise when working with existing
codes or with developers “who are not visionaries.”
CVV has won commissions for architectural and urban design projects in
North, Central, and South America. Because it can take as long as 10 years
for a building project to be completed, much of their work is still in plan-
ning stages. By chance, the firm's first constructed design was for a civic
building in Costa Rica—the library of the Instituto Centroamericano de
Administración de Empresas, an important business school that was
founded with assistance from Harvard University.
The three partners have made “cultural urbanism” a focus of their firm.
“We are very interested in celebrating the cultural diversity found in our
inner cities,” saysValle.“We are currently working on projects that celebrate
the cultural roots of the people that bring historical value. My firm's mind,
heart, and soul are gearing up for the next wave of growth, which will
demand memorable neighborhoods of mixed income, mixed uses, and
mixed cultures.”
One example of their approach to cultural urbanism is an independent
study they did for Wynwood, a low-income Miami neighborhood with a
population that is nearly 90 percent Puerto Rican. CVV developed a mas-
