2025 Fall Preview: Adrienne Nelson, Pickard Chilton

What trends or shifts do you see shaping your industry this fall and into 2026? The acceleration of transportation-oriented development. For decades, our studio has designed sustainable mixed-use projects around transit in mega-cities around the world. Recently, we’ve seen the exciting shift to smaller cities, driven by the demand for housing and livable downtowns. For example, we recently partnered with Gilbane and Newman Architects to re-envision a parking lot into a new residential building near transit in New Haven. This initiative highlights the broader trend: transforming underutilized land near public transportation.

What’s one major project, initiative, or innovation your firm is focused on in the months ahead? A significant focus for our studio lately is the sustainable repositioning and reimagining of existing buildings into high-value assets for owners across the country. Two key projects are wrapping up, including the major revitalization of 600 Fifth in D.C., for the Rockefeller Group and Stonebridge. This project is far more than a cosmetic overhaul. Our design retains the original structure to achieve substantial reductions in embodied carbon, while adding usable area, generous terraces, a new façade expression and a transformed street level experience.