Meet our new landscape architect and urban designer, Liz Barr

Landscape architect and urban designer Liz Barr joined RTD in October, and she brings experience amassed at private companies across the country working on many notable public and private projects. Barr also served as an instructor in the landscape architecture program at CU Denver. How does Barr’s role fit within a public agency like RTD? We sat down with her to explore the answers to this and many more questions.

What types of projects are you working on, and which are on the horizon?
I'm picking up a few projects where my predecessor left off, different Park-n-Rides that he was working on. I’m getting some things across the finish line for redevelopment and/or renovation, one being the US 36•McCaslin Park-n-Ride that was damaged by the Marshall Fire. We worked to make sure that it's fire resistant and keeping with what the town of Superior wants to see. And then we will turn that around and get that out to bid, so we can get that installed in spring.

Understanding fire, there's a lot of design efforts that go into keeping things safe, and RTD track lines are one thing that actually keep a nice buffer between certain landscapes. It's something I learned in more detail when I taught a studio at CU Denver. There's a lot of designing with fire in landscape architecture, as far as mitigating the risk of it but creating more resilient designs, especially in the mountains.

Liz, tell us about your path prior to joining RTD. Where are you from, and what drew you to this field?
I am from Chicago. I'm a Midwestern gal, which I think has served me well in this industry because I was raised wanting to talk to the person next to me always. That has opened many doors for me, and it’s also helped me create relationships that have helped me move across the country, whether it be for school, for life, for work, living abroad.

I worked in Chicago for a couple of years and wanted to get into some bigger-thinking project work. I went to grad school to try to seek that out, and I did. I found a wonderful mentor, Jessica Henson. She was my professor, and she helped me flesh out what I wanted to learn about. I found it really challenging to go from working back to school because I was super practical, so I was looking at budgets and trying to make things fit. It took me a semester or two to break trying to be so rigid with myself and the realities of what the world, the industry, actually permits. It was so fun once that happened, because it really opened up these floodgates of, what would I do if I didn't have limits?

That took me to my love of trash. I was living at the time in a place called Danville, Illinois. There were many landfills there, sort of a network of them by the river, and I was fascinated. Why were they there? What was the point? I was thinking about garbage and how much trash we create as humans. It’s front of mind because there's a lot of waste, and is recycling happening as it should? I started becoming super interested in human use of land. Thinking that these places were once coal mines, so we've scoured out the earth and then we fill them with trash, and then we cap them, and what do we do with them next?

During my time at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), I pursued that avenue of research, and it afforded me the opportunity once I wrote my thesis to apply for a research grant. I was awarded that grant, and I went abroad to see how other countries, Germany specifically, have reimagined their “wastescapes,” or places fenced off from the public that are deemed no longer safe for human interaction. I thought a lot about U.S. rules and regulations that are in place to protect the human population, but in turn quarantine off these toxic sites from reintegration or reuse. Ultimately, what is the best use of this space? How do we bring these marred pieces of earth back to life? How do we make these landscapes safe again? With growing populations, space will soon be our greatest commodity. My passion was clearly ignited around social justice, environmental health and reimagining pieces of land that have been squeezed dry for all their worth.

I took all of that, and Jessica Henson, a partner at (design studio) Olin, advocated for me. She helped bring me on board at Olin’s Philadelphia office, and I got to work on amazing projects there. The LA River Master Plan was my focus for a number of years – there were so many layers in it, along with a huge serving of social equity. We worked to stitch disparate neighborhoods together through public transit and keep people safe, while recharging aquifers and advocating for native wildlife populations. It was fascinating work.

From there I needed a life change. I packed up my car and drove to the mountains, because that's what one does sometimes in those moments. I moved to Colorado, and I've loved it. Ahead of time, I reached out to (Denver landscape architecture firm) Dig Studio and a few other places. I had also worked for Design Workshop in Chicago as an intern and helped start up their Chicago office. I wasn't sure where I was going to land.

Dig sounded exciting: They were smaller, and they were looking to do similar things. They demonstrated a lot of interest in brownfield remediation projects. I pitched that pretty heavily – I told them that's my passion. While I was at Dig, I was part of the team that worked on the Colorado Springs Downtown Redevelopment project, which includes Vermijo Ave and the newly built U.S. Olympic Museum Plaza. Seeing that project come to life was exciting and really rewarding. I'm fairly certain that was the first project in Colorado to use structural soil cells (modular systems that provides space for uncompacted soil volumes for tree roots and storm water storage). That was something that I’d used often in different urban conditions, and so I brought that to the project. That was something I was proud of, because the trees are looking very happy and it's a way to control and navigate stormwater.

I've worked from Philly to Chicago to LA. While I was at these firms, we touched so many places across the country, and across the world, too. I've worked on a lot of United States embassies, and, as you can imagine, that work has provided me with a depth of experience when it comes to landscape security and safety.

What led you to bring your skills and experience to work for a transit agency?
I studied planning as well – that was my focus in my master’s degree. Big-picture thinking is always really inspiring to me, so I will be pursuing any avenue within RTD where I'll be part of those conversations for bigger thinking and planning for the future. There are a lot of things that are in the forecast that I would really like to have a hand in as a landscape architect. There's just one of me at RTD, which is new for me. Bringing some of my knowledge and excitement to people at the agency would be fantastic. And bringing the agency into more of the current and future practices, because there's so much work that RTD has accomplished and built and done in the last 10, 20, beyond years, but there's always new technology and new ways of doing things that I am trying to stay current with. As long as we can keep pushing to be relevant in that way, and pushing good design and sound design. That's a huge challenge for me, and I like a challenge. I think that drew me in because I knew it would be a bit of a battle to get that ingrained into the norm.

My next year will be full of evaluating Park-n-Rides, so I will be physically going out there quantifying, looking at, determining what needs to happen at each Park-n-Ride to make a case to have budget to do those things. I will be evaluating, is concrete broken or are curbs functioning? Are the lights on? Is there glass broken? Is there trash? Are there amenities? Are the trees dying? Is the irrigation working? Are there opportunities for us to improve something, whether it's sod to native grasses? Is there a missed opportunity for bringing some of my passion of integrating people, transit, layering all these things together? Is there an opportunity for this space to become more equitable, accessible and usable for the community?

Because these are hubs, people are drawn to Park-n-Rides, whether they're driving or walking. So how do we create this space that serves the folks that are using RTD and serves the employees of RTD so that we're all proud of what we're doing? It truly is the gateway from one piece of RTD, downtown Denver, wherever you're commuting to. The whole experience is tied together, from getting to the Park-n-Ride, getting on the train, your whole day is dictated by that flow. So how can I as the landscape architect help make that experience the best possible – the safest, the most comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, somewhere you want to be, rather than just moving through it?

As a landscape architect, you're advocating for the environment, but you're also advocating for the people who live around there and work there. Big or small, how do we integrate both of those worlds? It's easy to follow what's been done and what's standard, but to try to break the mold and integrate both is a challenge, and it takes a village to get those kinds of projects off the ground.

Can landscape architecture improve safety on RTD’s properties? Are safety and security considerations in your work?
Absolutely. I mentioned I worked on a number of U.S. embassies, so safety was of the utmost importance. We worked on blast ratings to bollards to looking at vehicle testing of speed, and where vehicles would flip or turn. That's all integrated in landscape architecture.

We have regulations in the United States, but there are many ways that we can layer improved safety and nice design. Again, all of this comes down to design goals and, of course, budget. From bollards, lighting, shelters and making the space accessible and safe for all, there's a melding between facilities and engineering. Whether it's a way that the path is laid out or the placement of a tree, I'm always looking and thinking about view angles, viewsheds with plant material. Long term, if this tree grows to be this big, can you see safely to your car? There's a lot going on in my mind when I'm laying something out on site.

Has RTD outlined positive impacts it would like to see with this type of work and defined a time frame to achieve them?
Yes. Landscapes are ephemeral and nothing is permanent. You put in a parking lot and curbs and think, we did that 10 years ago, it should be fine. Well, maybe something happened and the ramp is no longer functioning. This process needs to be ongoing, and there needs to be eyes on all of these Park-n-Rides and stations so we have a proper understanding of what needs to be done.

It's on the radar, and now there's a plan in motion. And I think we will be seeing some improvements in the coming years. These things will definitely be well documented, and we will have an operating list of priorities to get out there and make them happen.

What are you most proud of in your career to this point?
My contributions to the LA River Master Plan are certainly ones I'm very proud of – seeing things come to life that I've created and dreamt up feels pretty good. Also, as I mentioned, I'm really proud of Colorado Springs, because I've heard people speak to the impact. That's amazing.

Being from Chicago, the Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, was one of one of my projects. It gives me great pride to know that I helped reimagine the repositioning of the tower. That was another project where we worked extensively with bollard spacing to make sure there is not a pedestrian crash risk. On top of that, there is a rooftop garden that we created, and other small gardens around the building. We redesigned the entire city block with bollards, paving and lighting. And underneath all of the paving we used structural soil cells, because Chicago is built over a vast network of tunnels with little space for utilities, let alone tree planting. We made it all work with connected soil volumes. That was a really interesting puzzle that we solved. We were almost to completion with our construction drawings and then the budget was cut, so some of our ideas had to be adjusted. But it was a very proud Chicago girl moment.

Tell us about a challenge you addressed elsewhere that was satisfying.
When something changes pretty dramatically in the 11th hour, rallying with your team and being able to come up with something worth its salt. The hardest and most challenging moments are when you're exhausted and trying to come up with something great, and overcoming that and still putting out something that you're proud of. That's happened to me multiple times, and I'm sure any landscape architect will say that. But overall the general story is being able to pivot, keep your composure and put something back out that's just as quality as the original design – sometimes better!

What would you like the public to know about you that we have not discussed?
I am an open book. I love to learn, teach, advocate for the underdog and inspire change. Admittedly, I will need to remind myself that I am the landscape architect at RTD, as I am a team player through and through. I have worked alongside some of the most prominent architects and landscape architects of my time – I joke that I may be of the few that can send off a text to Frank Gehry and Laurie Olin and get a response – but still prefer to stay humble. I’d credit that to my father, who always has time for another person, be it stranger or friend, and who still works hard chasing his passion at 75. Personally, I would prefer not to be working at 75, but I will bring all that I can to this role before I get there.

As you might imagine, I am a nature enthusiast, so I have high stakes in this profession of mine. In college, I signed up to be a landscape architect in efforts to save the world, and I think keeping the bar that high serves us all well.