22 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN Christine Ussler ’81, a professor of practice in architecture at Lehigh and president/principal of Artefact, Inc., an architectural firm near Lehigh’s Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, campus, was among the professors who taught Della Valle and remembers him as a dedicated, driven student with a bold aesthetic. Della Valle is a unique architect who successfully shifted into real estate development, she said. “Development can be a very risky endeavor, but he has managed to move up in scale from modest projects to his most current work,” Ussler says. “His other long-standing interest in sustainable design is also quite notable. … The Alloy Block will be a showcase of sustainable design for him.” After earning his degree in architecture and urban studies at Lehigh, Della Valle earned a postgraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis in architecture and construction management. Della Valle says his time at Lehigh shaped his career by contributing to his sense of curiosity about architecture and his entrepreneurial spirit. He created the thesis for his business while in graduate school at Washington University. “It’s always been on my mind that I’m interested in making buildings. What’s the best way for me to participate and engage in that?” Della Valle says he asked himself. “I’ve always considered myself to be entrepreneurial, and [Lehigh] afforded me that entrepreneurial spirit and provided me access to people to have more complex conversations.” Della Valle continues to give back to his profession through teaching and lecturing engagements for the American Institute of Architects, and the architecture and development programs at institutions that include Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Syracuse universities. He has hired several Lehigh architecture graduates over the years. A Changing Landscape Della Valle is contributing to Brooklyn’s changing landscape– from a former gritty industrial center to a thriving neighborhood with tech jobs, high-end shops, restaurants and housing. “We are proud of our work, and it’s work that’s enduring,” he says. “It has a 100-year-lifespan or more.” Della Valle designed a concrete and wood minimalist country home for his family in Hudson River Valley. It was most important to his children that the home be ‘off the grid.’
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