Established in 1953, Torti Gallas + Partners has designed over 500,000 residential units and planned over 2,500 residential and mixed-use communities that house over 1 million people today. The Firm designs at all scales of master planning, neighborhood-making and building projects in the residential, mixed-use, transit-oriented, and commercial markets, applying appropriate jurisdictional needs and code requirements in local, national and international locations.

With offices in Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Tampa, as well as Istanbul, Turkey, Torti Gallas is one of the largest planning, placemaking and architectural design firms in the United States dedicated to advancing the principles of the New Urbanism and Smart Growth to meet the challenges of our time. With extensive experience in the public and private sectors, and through public-private partnerships, we take pride in balancing the diverse needs of communities with the realities of the marketplace to arrive at buildable solutions that bring value to our clients and to the communities in which we work.

We regularly assist clients with real estate value creation through all stages of acquisition and development, from strategic site analysis, and conceptual design and entitlement, to design implementation and construction phase services. Since our founding, our projects have resulted in more than $80 billion of construction. Our expertise and dedication to the full implementation of our designs and master plans over 69 years of practice enables our team to arrive at inventive and viable solutions for communities and downtowns that provide desirable places for our clients and for the people who will ultimately live, work, learn, shop, visit and play in them.

Design Philosophy

At Torti Gallas + Partners, we take pride in a culture of constant inquiry and innovation resulting in the positive transformation of the communities in which we work. We carefully consider each site’s unique context, challenges and opportunities before developing design solutions that maximize the potential of the site. We aspire to create socially just communities, delivering positive economic development while preserving local commerce and cultures.   We believe that this inventive and balanced approach is essential today as society faces increasing pressures on our current environmental, economic and social frameworks.

Navigating these challenges requires a much more holistic approach to planning, designing, placemaking and caring for implementation than the past industry norm. “Spectrum” is our responsive approach, which builds upon the principles of New Urbanism and Smart Growth to create a framework for viable and sustainable communities while responsibly meeting the challenges of our time. We deliver this framework through a “systems approach”. We believe that viable and sustainable communities offer solutions through 3 critical platforms:

Natural Systems • Built Environment • People

Delivering such integrated solutions requires an inextricable relationship between the planning, urban design, placemaking and architecture of communities and the contextual nature of the buildings they contain. We incorporate environmental sustainability and embrace social justice and diversity as foundations for all of our work. As a Firm, we are dedicated to the holistic design of the built environment, which includes both the responsible development of greenfield sites at the edges of our metropolitan areas, brownfields redevelopment, and the revitalization and redevelopment of our inner cities and suburbs. We work collaboratively with community stakeholders in a comprehensive approach to arrive at designs that are a seamless integration of use, lifestyle, income, and tenure.

The overarching concern of all our engagements is the creation of a “sense of place,” a quality that has been further defined in terms of a set of contributing characteristics. First and foremost, these characteristics must include a vital public realm anchored by safe spaces and complementary structures that relate to the scale and context of the location. At the same time, we believe that the most successful synergies are created when the neighborhood master plan has a direct relationship with the natural environment to arrive at a unique design solution for that site. Our placemaking is delivered by combining these foundational elements with integrated buildings, communities and neighborhoods that are diverse in use, and allow a safe, 24-hour existence, with opportunities for working, living, recreating, shopping and worshipping in close proximity to one another and to public transit. This approach allows us to design unique buildings and neighborhoods that enhance the health and well-being of entire communities. 

"Place creation" is used here, which I like as a phrase, but I worry that it doesn't emphasize "place making" enough. Which is important enough to warrant repetition and consistency. 

Commitment to Sustainable and Equitable Communities

Torti Gallas + Partners has made a Firm-wide commitment to designs that yield economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially equitable communities. Every new project, from luxury buildings to affordable housing communities, begins with a Sustainable Development Workshop where we identify beneficial and feasible development options that integrate sustainable horizontal and vertical construction strategies. Our LEED Accredited Professionals are supported by the entire Firm’s resources in researching, designing, monitoring and implementing designs and master plans that preserve the earth’s resources by creating developments that enhance the natural setting, and buildings that maximize water and energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

Torti Gallas has designed more than three dozen LEED Certified buildings, with a dozen more pending certification. This experience includes LEED-H Platinum affordable housing at Alice Griffith in San Francisco, California, Salishan in Tacoma, Washington, and Westlawn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the LEED-NC Platinum Fairfax Village Neighborhood Center at Fort Belvoir, VA. Gold Certified buildings include both Press House and One501 Eckington in Washington, DC (both LEED-NC), the LEED-H Stanworth Commons at Princeton University, and Twinbrook Commons, a LEED-ND mixed-use, transit-oriented development in Rockville, Maryland. Torti Gallas’ LEED Silver and LEED Certified projects range from multifamily mid- and high-rise buildings and community recreation centers, to the Concept Home for PATH (Partnership in Advancing Technology in Housing) designed for HUD and the National Association of Home Builders.

Our sustainable design experience also includes highly energy efficient multifamily buildings such as 11 Crown in Meriden, Connecticut, a Passive House certified project, and Church Hill North in Richmond, Virginia, a Viridian approved mixed-income development. Two more Passive House multifamily and mixed-use projects are also currently in design. In addition, we have several projects either approved or pursuing certification under Green Communities, DOE Zero Energy Ready or Florida GBC programs. Lastly, by “practicing what we preach”, all of our offices are located in LEED Gold or Platinum buildings.

Our national leadership in designing high quality market rate and affordable housing that is environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially equitable ensures clients that we have the expertise to utilize innovative strategies that are financially feasible and buildable in a way that brings value to all.

Design of Affordable Housing

Torti Gallas is a national leader in the neighborhood revitalization and design of affordable housing to create high quality and equitable housing for all. We have been the Planner and Designer of 23 successful HOPE VI Grant Applications as well as 11 additional Public Housing neighborhoods that were funded under the HOPE VI Program prior to our involvement. Thirty-three of these 34 neighborhoods are fully occupied. Our national, award-winning involvement in the HOPE VI Program has resulted in the design of over 26,000 mixed-income rental and for sale homes and accounts for over 13% of the entire HOPE VI Program since its inception. We have also designed numerous communities under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Additionally, Torti Gallas’ portfolio includes seven Choice Neighborhood projects and four Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) projects.

Placemaking

No two places are the same. Torti Gallas’ approach to creating great places in our communities is based on the strategic employment of Placemaking design principles. We firmly believe great places are those where people want to live, work, shop and play – places that enliven, inspire and entertain their residents and guests. To that end, our goal is to create pedestrian-oriented, walkable, amenity-rich neighborhoods that provide the framework for enriching experiences, social engagement, and patron ownership.

Torti Gallas brings together teams of experts in Placemaking Visioning and Placemaking Design to access, identify and design all aspects of the destination. Our integrated and highly collaborative teams focus on retail strategies, brand design, urban design, architectural design, and landscape design to create a holistic “place” aimed at offering unique and appropriate solutions for the given market, demographics, and location that will resonate with the community and the intended market. All team experts play important roles in the collaborative Place Creation Process and inform decision making based upon the client’s underlying development goals and brand positioning – from developing the project name and logo to identifying the appropriate retail tenant mix, to streetscape and amenity planning, to landscape, signage and lighting design, to storefront and building design.

Public/Private Partnerships

Well over fifty (50) percent of Torti Gallas’ work involves public/private partnerships (PPP’s) at the national and local levels. Our proven expertise in these projects centers around working with development teams to arrive at innovative and strategic design solutions that contribute to successful project awards, and then actively engaging with our clients and community stakeholders to gain project acceptance and approval. Our hallmark contributions to these successful efforts to ‘CHASE’, Compete and Win PPP’s are diligently focused on creating realizable visions that will transform public assets into viable contributors to their communities.  In all cases, our work is focused on bringing value to our clients and to the community who will live, work, recreate, shop, worship and play there.

Community-Based Approach

Torti Gallas is committed to working actively with community stakeholders to arrive at innovative and appropriate design solutions that are “owned” by the community. Our collaborative approach is “listening-based” to benefit from the insights of residents and community stakeholders to build consensus throughout the process. We have conducted over 400 Workshops and Charrettes, both locally and nationally, to engage communities in designing “win-win” solutions for challenging urban conditions. In each case, we have worked to craft a stakeholder infrastructure that is specific to the unique conditions and makeup of the project and the community. We involve residents, community leaders, clergy, elected officials, county officials and staff and other important participants, as appropriate, to obtain the right and necessary level of community participation to ensure the project’s success.

Design Awards

Torti Gallas has been the recipient of numerous awards for our innovative design work. We have won over 400 international, national, and local design awards for planning and design. This recognition by such prestigious groups as the American Institute of Architects, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the International Council of Shopping Centers, the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the National Association of Home Builders establishes Torti Gallas’ long-standing commitment to high quality design over our 69-year history. Recognition of our work by prestigious groups of our peers is gratifying, but of even greater importance to the Firm is the pride and happiness of the people who reside and visit the neighborhoods we create.

Quality Service

Torti Gallas’ team of 100+ planners, urban designers, placemakers, architects and landscape architects work together with numerous specialty consultants as a multi-disciplinary team on projects all over the world. We have a long and successful history of providing comprehensive architectural and planning services on projects that have been built on time and within budget while maintaining the highest standard of quality and integrity of design.

Torti Gallas is committed to providing our clients with innovative and high-quality design leadership. Our unique ability to offer integrated planning and design services enables us to comprehensively meet the market-oriented needs of our clients. We look forward to assisting you in solving your most challenging planning and architectural requirements.