Nina Comiskey is an associate at VMDO Architects, where she contributes to the design work of the firm’s Community and Athletics studio. Her design practice explores the intersections of building, landscape, sustainability, and the urban environment in a range of community-focused projects. Nina is a natural at working with and listening to diverse user-groups during community engagement and project visioning phases where she thrives as a creative mediator and workshop facilitator.
Nina was a core contributor to the award-winning design of Lubber Run Community Center, a net-zero recreational facility located in Arlington, Virginia. From concept throughout completion, Nina and the design team integrated the community’s collective aspirations – the resulting design drivers ultimately and directly shaped the project’s outcomes.
The project is a dynamic response to a distinctly urban challenge. With a desire to maintain open space despite its constrained site, building and landscape are integrated by locating parking and some programming underground to allow for increased outdoor amenities. Nina helped lead all phases of the project, from a robust community engagement process to its successful construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lubber Run was a winner of an AIA DC Design Award and was featured in Metropolis Magazine.
Most recently, Nina contributed to the development of the DC Parks and Recreation Master Plan, entitled “Ready2Play,” on behalf of the Mayor’s office and the DC Department of Parks and Recreation. The plan sets a bold strategic plan for the future of the District’s park system in the planning, design, programming, and operations of capital projects over the next twenty years. The Master Plan reflects Nina’s own focused interest in the relationships between public health and wellness, urban parks, and sustainable design
