Our planning practice, which is led by Principal Jean Marie Gath, is comprehensive, involving projects in cities and communities, as well as college and university campuses across the country and abroad.
“Beginning my career as a city planner and landscape architect, I have always been fascinated by the built environment and the interplay between buildings, open space and infrastructure, believing that the cities, communities and college campuses we revel in are a result of a careful balance between the built and unbuilt environment." — Jean Marie Gath, Principal
Our programming work is conducted at a high level as part of feasibility studies, and also detailed building facility programs, often utilizing our client’s prescribed formats and standards. Master plans are prepared at the site level for individual buildings or complexes and on campuses, both at the precinct level and encompassing entire campuses. We have prepared master plan updates for existing colleges and universities, as well as plans for entirely new campuses for both established and brand new institutions. Pfeiffer’s cultural planning efforts frequently consider the creation or improvement of districts or zones focused on the arts, and combine our urban design, planning and arts facility design expertise.
"As planners and urban designers our mandate is to combine long range, often visionary planning with the desire for spontaneity, allowing flexibility to accommodate the unknown. The plans we create set a framework for development without dictates or mandates. "
We bring artful facilitation skills to our planning and programming efforts requiring the synthesis of extensive student and campus input from multiple constituencies, as well as community and public engagement utilizing a wide variety of information gathering tools and meeting formats.
"Finally, we believe that each building we design, whether in a downtown urban environment or in a pastoral campus setting has a dual responsibility – to both meet the needs of its users while also contributing to the public realm, shaping spaces for interaction, collaborations or quiet contemplation. It is in these public spaces that “creative collisions” occur and where people interact in both familiar and new ways."