2025 Class of Fellows: Rodrigo Abela, FASLA, Washington State Chapter

GGN, Seattle, WA and Washington, D.C.

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Rodrigo Abela's work exemplifies a profound dedication to creating spaces that have a significant social, cultural, and environmental impact. With a portfolio of embassies, consulates, and museums, Rodrigo is renowned for his collaborative approach to each project, aligning art, architecture, and engineering in sophisticated ways that skillfully integrate landscapes into sites and cities. His unique ability to craft immersive spaces that invite reflection and ground visitors within their surroundings is unmistakable. At the US New Embassy Compound in Ankara, Turkey, he organized the landscape and architecture around a sequence of interior and exterior courtyards, each characterized by locally sourced Travertine clad site walls and paving, combined with a diverse plant palette reflective of Turkish garden traditions. At the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture the landscape design is brought to life through the site's composition: symbolic thresholds of stone and water crossed by broad sweeping paths that draw visitors in through a landscape that is both continuous and sequential, layered with trees native to the Southeast. These trees are part of a diverse planting palette chosen and composed to reinforce the broad themes of the museum: resiliency, spirituality, hope, and optimism. CityCenterDC is a connected network of distributed open spaces via the park, plaza, and alleyways that supports a vibrant people-centered neighborhood. Masterfully manipulating the former superblock's relatively flat topography, Rodrigo used every inch to lift and lower pathways, platforms, and planes to add complexity and interest with water features in key locations. Rodrigo is also a tireless advocate for the profession with leadership roles in organizations like the Mayors' Institute on City Design.