Our Mission:
“shaping our environment to make room for life”
Our Vision:
A community that champions responsible developments that create lasting value through inspired design.
WHAT WE DO
LSI is a multi-disciplinary design and development consulting firm that uses a collaborative process to create spaces for our clients and communities to thrive. LSI is an ward winning firm offering a comprehensive array of services in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Land Planning. We have a very diverse portfolio of successful projects that have helped foster thriving communities throughout central Texas and beyond.
Planning:
with over 36 years experience in central Texas, we are experts in the development process for even the most unique and challenging projects. We offer superior design strategies for all development, from small urban infill, to large scale master plans.
Architecture:
We approach architecture as a response to the environment, engaging the surroundings and community to provide comprehensive, invigorating design solutions. From single family residences to mid rise commercial developments we offer design focused architecture at all scales
Landscape Architecture:
From concept to reality, we turn ideas into experiences through landscape design. Having a vast knowledge of native and adapted plant materials as well as innovative techniques and processes, we enhance the users interaction with their environment through design intervention.
Our mission at LSI is to shape our environment to make room for life. We do this by designing spaces and environments that are catalysts for our community and our clients to live more positive, productive and desirable lifestyles. This mission of ours is accomplished at all scales of design, weather it is through consulting with municipalities to plan transit corridors that will reduce traffic and allow commuters more time with their families, designing work spaces that foster a more collaborative atmosphere, or designing a home that is your ideal space for relaxation. We create environments that allow you to do what is important to you.
At LSI we recognize that our condition is the result of design choices. Our diverse team of designers and analysts integrate social and environmental contexts to create unique places that realize our clients’ goals.
WHY WE DO IT
OUR VALUES
We at LSI are champions of responsible developments that create lasting value through inspired design. To often we see developments that are “blind folded”, meaning that they do not see beyond their boundaries, and do not sufficiently address the greater context of the site, or adequately plan for future growth. With our wide range of expertise, we are able to realize the opportunities each project presents from a regional perspective down to site specific details. We accomplish the goals of the present while designing for the future.
What is “responsible” development?
We define Responsible development as a project that creates sustainable value in three areas.
Social Value:
Responsible development creates social value by providing new opportunities for the surrounding community. A development that provides social value thinks beyond its boundaries and its direct users, and capitalizes on opportunities to engage and give back to the surrounding community.
Environmental Value:
Responsible development considers its ecological impact, and takes measures to reduce the environmental footprint and enhance the ecological heath of the site over the life cycle of the development.
Financial Value:
Simply put responsible development makes money. This does not mean that development needs to be greedy to be successful, only that development needs to be financial sound and have the ability generate economy over time. A development cannot provide lasting social or environmental value it does not have the ability to sustain financial value over time.
Our holistic design process looks at development through multiple lenses, exploring multiple solutions to discover the most responsible and impactful solutions to promote prosperous living.
cULTURE
We are a boutique design firm with deliberately controlled growth, so that we can maintain excellence in our design that has become synonymous with our reputation. We hire diverse designers with open minds , and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.
At LSI we expect a lot of ourselves and from each other, but we also know how to unwind and have a good time. We foster a work hard, play hard atmosphere, that is encouraged by our leadership by example and office sponsored events.
We encourage our team members to be bold and challenge themselves and others, recognizing that the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. Our design process is inclusive and iterative, to discover the best solutions for each challenge.
CULTURE
OUR Team
Paul Linehan
Principal / Founder
Paul founded Land Strategies, Inc. in 1983. Over his 36 years in land-use design, community planning, and landscape architecture, Paul has accumulated a vast and varied portfolio of more than 1,800 development projects. He has worked in every aspect of land use planning and design from advocating for his clients at city council to project leadership of interdisciplinary design teams. An active member in the public realm, Paul’s civic leadership accomplishments include serving on the RECA executive board, giving expert witness testimony on urban issues, and lecturing on site plan design at the University of Texas. In 2009, he won RECA’s Gary S Farmer Commendation for Excellence. Paul has a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design
Michael Linehan
Managing Partner / Architect
Michael’s joining forces with his dad in 2018 immediately opened up new horizons for Land Strategies, Inc. His experience as a licensed architect, coupled with his Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin, offer LSI’s clients a seamless and comprehensive approach to the planning, design, and ultimate realization of their development projects. Building on Paul’s deep knowledge and widely respected expertise, Michael is extending LSI’s scope of services and growing its stable of designers to achieve his vision for the firm’s future. By combining new ideas with a seasoned approach to the client’s needs, Michael plans on a smooth transition to ensure many more years of success at LSI.
Erin Welch
Senior Project Manager
With 16 years of professional experience in the areas of entitlement issues and governmental procedures, Erin leads LSI’s work on development-related projects, including due diligence and feasibility/yield analysis, annexation and zoning, master planning, subdivision processing, site development permitting, and before-and-after take analysis. She has taken the lead in presenting clients’ projects before Planning Commissions, Zoning and Platting Commissions, and City Councils across the Central Texas region. Erin has a degree in political science from the University of Texas at Austin.
Danuta Dias
Senior Project Designer, PLA
Danuta highly values the need for thoughtful integration between environmental and social systems to generate site specific responses that create meaningful, lasting communities for people. Her Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin expands on her background in Architecture and Interior Design. Danuta hails from Dubai, and brings with her a wealth of international, professional design experience on numerous projects in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Germany. Since joining LSI in 2015, Danuta focuses on site planning, landscape architecture, and presentation graphics.
Kyle Butta
Project Designer
Kyle focuses on environmental, social, and cultural interactions in understanding how well-designed public spaces can create healthy and sustainable landscapes for their users. His knowledge of these factors is critical in creating experiences that fosters authentic community interactions. Kyle earned his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a minor in Horticulture from Virginia Tech in 2013. Kyle joined LSI’s team in 2014 where he uses his vast knowledge of native plants and careful analysis of a site’s natural, social, and cultural features to create unique places across Central Texas.
John Laycock
Planner
John has worked in a range of planning fields, including transportation consulting, higher education consulting, and economic development. He brings a planner’s eye for the big picture and creative problem solving to feasibility and yield analyses and project research. A native of Austin, John has an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, and a Masters Degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin.
Erica Millard
Business Manager
Erica has been with LSI for 17 years with a wide spectrum of knowledge of all things LSI. The past 14 years she has served as LSI’s Business Manager encompassing financial, business administration, human resources and office organizational duties. A native Texan, Erica grew up as an Air Force brat and moved to Austin in 1980.
Tracy Brown
Receptionist
For many of our clients, the first impression they have of LSI is Tracy’s friendly voice when she answers the phone. For others, it’s her smile when they walk through our front door. She’s a natural at her job because she genuinely enjoys meeting new people. Tracy assists her teammates with an assortment of tasks throughout every workday. She’s a family-oriented Austin native who loves being outdoors and surrounded by nature.
David Guerrero
IT Manager
David keeps his LSI teammates connected, productive, and equipped to efficiently accomplish their daily tasks. David currently manages the IT network, troubleshoots computer glitches, and keeps the software licenses up to date. In particular, he is LSI’s resource for all things AutoCAD, the state-of-the-art suite of design and engineering apps.
John Adams
Senior Planner
Having assisted in feasibility studies and site planning for more than a thousand development projects over 30-plus years, John’s experience ranges from small sites of less than one acre to master planned communities encompassing 4,000 acres. His specialty at LSI is calculating numerical yield analyses, and working with the design of site plans and residential subdivision layouts from the initial concept phase through project completion. He is a veteran and holds a Master’s in Environmental Studies from Baylor.
Jim graduated with a master degree in architecture from University of Texas at Austin, and joined LSI early 2020 shortly after his graduation. Jim's experience previous to LSI ranges from single family residences to big scale public projects, from West coast to East coast. Since joining LSI, Jim has been focusing on providing architectural services.