A POST-DISCIPLINARY STUDIO BRIDGING PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT & ARCHITECTURE TO REIMAGINE THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT.
LOVETT is a design, planning and development strategy studio.
We’re built for high-friction, high-value opportunities where the path forward is unclear or the project itself has not yet been defined.
We work with developers, landowners, institutions, and public agencies to transform complex sites into projects that can be financed, approved, and built.
The challenge is rarely design alone. It is deciding what the project actually is, and making it work across economics, entitlements, and stakeholders.
LOVETT defines the project, its physical form, and its economic logic at the same time. We develop the physical plan and the argument for it in parallel, working through program, density, layout, and phasing until it holds together and the case can be made to capital, government authorities and the general public.
Our work spans master plans, development strategies, entitlement frameworks, and architectural design, carrying the project from definition through execution.
IMPACTFUL VALUE CREATION
We make the decisions that matter, together, at the start.
The result is a fully resolved project strategy, one that can be financed, approved, and built.
SERVICES
We operate across strategy, design, and execution simultaneously because each informs the other.
I
Opportunity Discovery
Acquisitions & Due Diligence
Product-Market Fit Analysis
Development Feasibility
Entitlement Strategy
II
Site Planning & Design
Master Planning
Architectural Design
Public Realm Design
III
- Project Mobilization
RFP Development & Team Assembly
Project Management
Design Advisory
Project Frameworks + Best Practice
CLIENTS
EXPERTISE
THE TEAM
Founder + CEO
At LOVETT, he leads the creation of master plans, development strategies, and entitlement efforts for universities, developers, resort operators, nonprofits, and public agencies.
His work has been cited in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Architect's Newspaper, and Architecture Magazine. He is a registered architect in New York, a Certified Urban Planner (AICP), an active member of the Urban Land Institute serving on the Innovation Council and NEXT in Los Angeles, and a Lecturer in Real Estate Development at UCLA. He advises a number of proptech companies and AEC technology startups.
Ryan previously served as Head of Design at Lendlease, where he provided strategy and design leadership across the Americas development portfolio. He led projects from origination through construction, including Habitat in Los Angeles, Hayes Point in San Francisco, Southbank in Chicago, The Riverie in New York City, and Forum, a life science building in Boston. He also served as Regional Head of Practices, Lendlease's internal innovation group, leading initiatives in office-to-residential conversions, new asset classes, and cross laminated timber.
Prior to Lendlease, Ryan was Director of Urban Design and Development at SHoP Architects, where he led the firm's large-scale projects. His work at SHoP includes the Ion District for Rice University in Houston, the Berkeley Global Campus for UC Berkeley, the Essex Crossing master plan in New York City, and the Schuylkill Yards master plan in Philadelphia for Drexel University and Brandywine Realty Trust. He also contributed to the design of Collins Arch in Melbourne and 111 W 57th St in New York City.
Ryan holds a dual Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Real Estate Development from the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation where he received an Honor Award for Excellence in Design and the 2012 AIA Heritage Ball Scholarship. He also holds a B.A. in Architecture and Ecological Design with High Honors from the University of California Berkeley where he was awarded the Raymond L. Watson Prize and the Alpha Rho Chi award.
Vanessa Espaillat Lovett
Vice President
Vanessa is an interdisciplinary architect and urbanist who designs innovative strategies that promote community and build the broad and often complex coalitions required for their realization. She works in partnership with private developers, governments, and institutions to design both the social and physical infrastructure required for sustainable transformation.
For the last decade, she was the Founding Principal at Ella, a global design consultancy dedicated to the adaptation of the built environment to meet the challenges caused by climate change. Vanessa has significant work experience as an urban planner and designer for city governments. She served the City of New York as Senior Urban Designer at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Prior to her position at HPD, she worked at the NYC Department of City Planning as a city planner and urban designer for Brooklyn. She also worked for the Dominican Government’s Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development where she contributed to the country’s first land use law.
Vanessa has dedicated a significant portion of her career to academic research and teaching, having worked alongside Professor Richard Plunz as a research associate at the Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute, as well as an Associate in Architecture, at the GSAPP at Columbia University, where she co-taught the Urban Ecology Studio and Sustainable Urbanization.
Vanessa served as Project Manager and Special Advisor on a Columbia University initiative that aims to strengthen Dominican Republic’s ability to confront natural disasters. As a key leader of the initiative, she helped define the strategy for developing a network of community resilience centers across the region.She is a licensed architect in Dominican Republic, where she collaborates as an associate architect at Constructora AE, a full-service construction and engineering company based in Santo Domingo.
Vanessa holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, where she received the Lowenfish Memorial Prize. She also earned a Master of Arts in Housing and Urbanism from the Architectural Association in London and Bachelor of Architecture from UNIBE in the Dominican Republic.