The Jerde Partnership Announces Seven New Partners.

LOS ANGELES -- The Jerde Partnership, Inc., an internationally acclaimed architecture and urban planning firm, today announced the addition of seven new partners. The new partners, who play important individual and collective roles in the firm's vitality, represent a cross-section of Jerde's multiple disciplines of architecture, planning and landscape design, as well as its business and operational functions. Along with the existing partners, they will play an active leadership role in the firm.

"While we are an architecture and urban design firm, we recognize that all of our people - regardless of job function - are critical to our overall performance and growth," said Jon Jerde, founding partner and chairman. "Our new partners are a truly gifted group of professionals whose different backgrounds and areas of expertise reflect the strength and depth of the firm."

The new partners follow:

Stuart Berriman, design principal, has been with the firm four years. Berriman focuses on project design; leading internal design teams; working with clients and engineers; and coordinating with specialty consultants through all phases of the design process. He has played a key role in the conceptual design and development of large-scale, mixed-use projects in China, including Heyi Road Riverside Development in Ningbo, Hangzhou Lakeshore Redevelopment in Hangzhou, a master plan concept for Longhua New Town, and integrated mixed-use rail developments in Shenzhen. He is currently working on multiple projects in India and a redevelopment project in Hempstead, New York. A British citizen, Berriman lived and worked in Hong Kong for 10 years prior to moving to the United States.

Alexander Desbulleux, director of planning, has been with the firm four years. Desbulleux conceptualizes and develops the firm's planning projects. Collaborating with the firm's architects, designers and landscape designers, he blends planning principles with Jerde's experiential design philosophy to create dynamic urban spaces. Desbulleux has worked on a 30,000-acre vision plan in South Korea; the 240-acre Railyards master plan in Sacramento, one of the largest urban infill sites in the United States; and a conceptual plan identifying accelerator sites for mixed-use incubator projects that would activate downtown Phoenix. He is currently working on projects in Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Dubai and Southern California. Desbulleux was born and educated in Brussels.

N. Thomas Jaggers, chief technology officer, has been with the firm 19 years. Jaggers builds and maintains the digital infrastructure needed to support the firm's increasingly complex projects. In addition to establishing an international network that facilitates firm-wide creativity and sharing of information, he authored the firm's digital office standards and leads internal seminars to teach professionals how to use various software applications. An architect by training, Jaggers created widely published digital models of the Sphinx and the Pyramids in Egypt's Giza Plateau for the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute and Harvard University's Semitic Museum. He has led architecture and urban design classes at the University of Southern California and California Polytechnic State University.

Eduardo Lopez, design principal, has been with the firm 12 years. Lopez applies his passion for fine arts and sculpting to Jerde's placemaking philosophy to create dynamic architectural forms that will enhance the communal spaces between the buildings. His past projects include the award-winning RiverWalk Kitakyushu (Kitakyushu, Japan, 2003), Kanyon (Istanbul, 2006), and World Market Center (Las Vegas, 2004). He is currently working on Star City, a mixed-use development in Seoul and a master plan for a mixed-use district adjacent to New Songdo City in Incheon, South Korea.

Jeri Oka, director of landscape design, has been with the firm four years. Prior to joining the firm, Oka collaborated with Jerde for nearly 20 years as a landscape design consultant. As a result, she played an integral role in many of the firm's award-winning projects, including Canal City Hakata (Fukuoka, Japan, 1996) and Namba Parks (Osaka, 2003). As the firm's lead landscape designer, she has worked on the master plan for the new World of Coca-Cola sited at Atlanta's Olympic Legacy Park; the pool expansion at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas; Dubai Festival City in Dubai; and Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California. She is currently working on projects in Macau, Dubai and Florida.

Todd Pilgreen, design principal, has been with the firm eight years. Designing projects that respond to their contextual environments, Pilgreen employs the site's orientation and natural forces, such as wind and light, as key elements in the design concept. His past projects include the award-winning Gateway (Salt Lake City, 2001), Glasgow Fort (Glasgow, Scotland, 2005), and Marinoa PierWalk (Fukuoka, Japan, 2000). He is currently designing high-rise residential towers in Las Vegas and Long Beach, California, an entertainment resort in Macau and a small-scale urban and cultural center that is integrated into a sloping park in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Jeff Walker, senior project manager, has been with the firm three years. Walker, who has an extensive background in the management and design of retail interiors and museum exhibits, oversees projects through all phases of design and construction. He has worked on City Santa Fe, a residential complex in Mexico City; Palms Casino Resort's expansion and condo hotel in Las Vegas; a master plan for the Tseun Wan district of Hong Kong; and World Market Center (Las Vegas, 2004). Walker's current projects include residential developments in Las Vegas and Long Beach, California, as well as multiple retail projects in India. He is also working on projects in Reykjavik, Berlin and the United Kingdom.

When Jerde was founded in 1977, the firm broke from conventional architecture's focus on advancing building forms to advance the creation of experiential and communal places that enhance people's lives. Its signature placemaking design philosophy employs a co-creative process, which invites the participation of the multiple design disciplines that are needed to create an experiential environment from the earliest conceptual phases.

About The Jerde Partnership

The Jerde Partnership is a visionary architecture and urban planning firm that designs unique places that deliver memorable experiences and attract 800 million people annually. Founded by Jon Jerde in 1977, the firm has pioneered "placemaking" and designed projects throughout the world that provide lasting social, cultural and economic value and promote further investment and revitalization. Based in a 120-person studio in Los Angeles with offices in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, Jerde takes a signature, co-creative approach to design and collaborates with private developers, city officials, specialty designers and local executive architects to realize the vision of their projects. The firm has received critical acclaim from organizations including the American Institute of Architects, Progressive Architecture, American Planning Association, and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. To date, nearly 100 Jerde-designed places have opened in diverse cities, such as Budapest, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Osaka, Rotterdam, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo and others. Projects are currently under construction in Dubai, Macau, Mexico City and Warsaw.