Mauricio Castro is an architect/urban designer whose particular expertise encompasses traditional town planning and urban design for infill redevelopment and greenfield sites of all sizes, mixes of uses and price points; architectural prototype design and implementation; the formulation of architectural design guidelines and land development codes; and leadership roles in visioning and design charrettes with significant public participation.
Originally trained as an architect in Colombia, Mauricio combines his significant experience with an uncanny ability to build consensus between development interests and public aspirations. Mauricio’s strength as a designer springs from his strong commitment to the collaborative process, and his superior technical capability allows him to serve as a critical liaison between the necessary, larger-scale planning decisions and the finer-grained architectural detail required for project implementation. His approach to design is hands-on, preferring to work closely with all stakeholders throughout the design process to diffuse conflicts between various competing interests and to help engender a sense of joint ownership and collective investment among participants.
Mauricio’s skill in navigating the public process while simultaneously engaging with creative experts from across different design disciplines and steering their collective efforts toward practical, yet beautiful, design solutions has made Mauricio one of the most highly regarded architects/urban designers in the United States.
Mauricio spent eight years as an urban designer, project manager and Information Technology Director for Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) in Miami before leaving to become the head of the New Urban Studio for HoK, one of the largest architectural firms in the United States. In 2003, Mauricio became a Principal and the Vice President of Planning for Canin and Associates in Orlando, Florida before joining Looney Ricks Kiss in 2005. At LRK, Mauricio led the Planning Studio in the firm’s corporate headquarters in Memphis until 2007 before relocating to LRK’s office in Celebration, Florida, where he served as Director of the Florida Planning Group through 2009.