Gresham Smith Promotes Luca Carraro to Aviation Market Design Leader

Gresham Smith has named Luca Carraro, RIBA, as Market Design Leader for its Aviation practice. Based in Fort Lauderdale, Carraro will help guide the firm’s strategic design direction, support project teams in delivering impactful solutions, and foster a culture of design excellence across the aviation sector.

“Our market design leaders play a key role in creating the value we deliver to our clients through excellence in design,” said Aviation Executive Vice President Wilson Rayfield, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP. “Luca is not only an accomplished architect, but also a thoughtful mentor and respected leader within our firm and the broader design community.”

Carraro joined Gresham Smith in 2021 and has been a design leader on several major aviation projects, including work at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and Norfolk International Airport. Known for his process-oriented approach, he focuses on challenging assumptions and prioritizing the user experience throughout the design process.

Before joining Gresham Smith, Carraro spent more than 15 years in senior design roles with global firms. At Foster + Partners in London and New York, he contributed to projects such as the Imperial War Museum renovation and Apple’s flagship retail spaces. He later served as an associate at Grimshaw in New York, where he led enclosure design for Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal 1 and supported mass transit infrastructure projects nationwide.

“I see my role as elevating design excellence by encouraging critical thinking and making space for diverse perspectives,” Carraro said. “If design brings order to conflicting requirements, let’s expand those to include beauty, delight, a sense of place, and community needs. By creating a dynamic forum for diverse voices, we often arrive at richer, more human-centered solutions.”