Five Minutes with Jeffrey Pongonis
We sat down with Principal Jeffrey Pongonis, Landscape Architect to learn more about his passion for projects that build communities and connect people to place.
Congratulations Jeffrey on your recent elevation to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Council of Fellows! Your work has encompassed city and district-scale master planning and landscape architectural built works. How has your work addressed economic, social, and ecological resilience in these urban places?
I approach urban design and landscape master planning as outcome-oriented strategies that are ideologically focused on connecting people, place, economy, and culture by way of an intentional urban landscape network.
What are some of the projects that are examples of where these ideals have been successfully integrated?
Within downtown Columbus, Ohio is a several hundred-acre living-laboratory example of new open space and urban development linking the Nationwide Arena, Lower.com Field, Grandview Yard, and Astor Park districts to the Scioto Greenways over a 22-year period. Working alongside client constituents, we have implemented and stewarded the design and ongoing management of a newly created 6000+ tree urban forest. New courtyards, plazas, streetscapes, green corridors, legacy open spaces, and signature parks are fitted with a robust, evolving, and managed urban tree canopy that contributes to the health and wellness of the city and its citizenry. This commitment to best and evolving practices in urban tree management has resulted in an expansive and resilient pedestrian-friendly environment, performative ecological engine, and attractive tree canopy that will persevere for years linking the Central Business District to multiple neighborhoods and civic resource and serves as a platform for best practices in the greening of our cities.
Leveraging a forgotten, ignored stream that divided the city of New Albany, the Rose Run vision plan established an ecological and social space framework and a strategy to forever link disparate village center anchors, institutions, and gathering places with a stream as the armature for rejuvenation. The vision plan and implementation intertwines the riparian edge of the Rose Run stream corridor with urbanized pedestrian connections and robust green spaces linking the Learning Campus with the Village Center and Public Library, and breaking the once divided land uses. At the core of the Village Center and in the heart of civic life, the Rose Run Corridor Central Parkway breathes new life into natural landscapes and habitats, linking open spaces into a navigable network, and re-energizing urban redevelopment downtown with new park spaces, an improved greenway, and a truly walkable environment.
A catalytic urban park was created for the City of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, linking a historic river city’s residents with its natural resources. We led the revitalization of 2.5 acres in the heart of the downtown riverfront from concept to construction, working closely with city officials, key stakeholders, and a comprehensive community engagement process to develop an inclusive program and transformative urban space outcome. Design inspiration for the space is derived from the braiding waters of the Ohio River, the surrounding geomorphology of the Ohio River Valleys, and the flowing sounds of park programming. Narrowed and tree-lined walkable streets are enriched with robust textural paving and a seasonally morphing plant palette creating a permeable edge to the plaza, carving out space for performances, picnicking, kite flying, and passive recreation. The civic park fills a critical need in the city’s existing public open space, activating downtown to become a regional destination.
Jeffrey is a Landscape Architect and Urban Designer working nationally from our Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio studios. Jeffrey is an active participant at the local and national levels of the Urban Land Institute and American Society of Landscape Architects, a member of the Leadership Columbus Class of 2019, and Past-President of Columbus, Ohio’s North Market Advisory Board.