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Raedeke Associates |
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Raedeke Associates, which specializes in environmental analysis, is branching out into landscape architecture. The firm last year hired Duane Dietz, who brings experience with park projects, including a stint as an “imagineer” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando, Fla. There, he helped design the park’s Kilimanjaro safari, which includes a planted savannah. He last worked at the multidisciplinary firm AHBL. LEED theme parks Dietz said he’s now looking ahead to working on a new theme park in China. He will also start soon on the first LEED-certified theme park, which is in the offing outside Houston. He is the lone landscape architect at the 15-person firm, but has the help of a landscape designer and an intern. Raedeke’s new focus on landscape architecture “is a nice outgrowth of what we had been doing,” said Rick Lundquist, a wildlife biologist and the firm’s vice president. The firm’s landscape activity previously focused on residential developments such as Trilogy at Redmond Ridge and Northwest Landing in DuPont, where it has done streetscaping and wetland mitigation. Lundquist said the firm’s environmental background, which includes restoration work, complements its landscape business because “we can tap both sides of that experience and make it work together.” Raedeke’s projects are about 70 percent private and 30 percent public, Lundquist said, but he thinks the firm can parlay its experience into more public work to broaden its base of clients. Much of the firm’s work is through contacts, repeat business and referrals. The local economy Regarding the softening economy, Lundquist is optimistic about the region’s prospects. “Seattle has fared better than most places in the country,” he said. Still, clients are seeking more creativity for less money, according to Dietz. A $300,000 Tacoma park project that will be built in the memory of 12-year-old murder victim Zina Linnik, for example, was designed with the input of two of her sisters. For the firm, the challenge amid the downturn, said Lundquist, “is to remain competitive, meet (clients’) needs and be there when they’re ready to roll.”
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