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About Us

Essential City is an evolving project with a range of expert contributors

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Our Story

Essential City was conceived by architect Don Albert (Sound Space Design) and project manager Ida Alwin (Desert Developments). After years of collaboration in the Mojave Desert together, Don and Ida grew frustrated with the paucity of innovation around creating more community-minded eco development in both the 'high' and 'low' deserts of California. In 2023 Don and Ida decided to take action by forming a well-researched, open-ended project that would seek to invite public participation, interrogate current town-planning norms and seek to create an inspirational set of new urban typologies that would spark a conversation at many levels and that would foster greater climate resilience for desert communities if implemented.

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Don and Ida are ably assisted by the following contributors in key areas:

Meet The Team

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    Don Albert  - M. Arch (UCLA)  Architect & Urban Designer
    SOUND SPACE DESIGN - Founder & Design Principal
    Sydney / Cape Town

    Don Albert is a Fulbright Scholar, Architect and Urban Design graduate of UCLA, and the founder of award-winning architecture firm SOUND SPACE DESIGN which has been operating globally since 1995. Don has designed and executed architecture, urban design and masterplanning projects in Australia, South Africa, California, Portugal, Bali and Turkey, and is renown for his innovative approaches to the contemporary challenges of tourism and climate change. The founder of Climate Change Cities, an online network of participants who seek urgent answers for the built environment, Don is also currently lecturing and teaching at institutions in Australia and South Africa.
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      Ida Alwin
      DESERT DEVELOPMENTS LLC - Founder
      Yucca Valley

      After moving to the Californian desert from London, Ida Alwin has been a sustainability advocate based in the High Desert since 2016.  Ida founded Baltic Sands, a company focused on developing and building self-powered and primarily off-grid homes in Joshua Tree and Pioneertown, and has since founded Desert Developments to continue the ideas of off-grid at a larger, more community scale.  She is the founder and organizer of The Sustainable Homes Tour which has been educating attendees on how to bring down their carbon footprint since 2019.  Her work has been covered by the LA Times, Dwell, Mwkly.com and Wallpaper Magazine among others.
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        Sandro Fabris - Hospitality & Hotelliing Consultant
        Former Group GM Orient-Express Hotels
        Lisbon

        Sandro Fabris is a highly experienced hotel manager and hospitality consultant with over 30 years of experience around the globe. Sandro has managed several luxury hotel properties for the Orient Express Hotels Group in Italy, Africa, and Portugal, including Belmond’s Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, and two hotels in the Caribbean. Sandro’s experience with technology in Food & Beverage applications and general experience with hospitality trends and management of staff and resources brings valuable resort and hoteling input to the team.
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          Robert Malczyk
          Structural Engineer - TIMBER ENGINEERING
          Vancouver

          Robert Malczyk, MaSc, P.Eng., Struct.Eng, MIStructE, MBA, Principal of Timber Engineering Inc., has over 25 years of experience. Robert is a long-standing member of the O86 "Engineering Design in Wood" code committee, and an original member of the recently formed ANSI/APA PRG 320: Standard for Performance Rated Cross-Laminated Timber code committee and NRC’s Task Force in Mid-Rise Design. Robert has designed numerous award-winning, architecturally oriented building structures in all major building material, with a particular expertise in timber engineering. 
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            Amélie de Bonnierres
            Senior Architect - SOUND SPACE DESIGN
            Cape Town

            Amélie studied architecture at Paris-La Villette and relocated to Cape Town in 2015 where she has been lecturing at the University of Cape Town for three years and working part-time for various firms before joining Sound Space Design as a Senior Architect. Amélie is a published author and has a sensitivity for public spaces, museums and galleries.
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              Reece Carlin Green
              Researcher & Design Assistant - SOUND SPACE DESIGN
              Cape Town

              Reece is a born researcher with an eye for detail and a journalistic attention to the full picture, leaving no stone unturned in his quest for knowledge.  Reece is an avid illustrator, painter, and a budding fantasy literature critic.
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