Rundell Ernstberger Associates Landscape Architectural Drawings Collection

Rundell Ernstberger Associates, Inc., a leading site planning and design firm in the Midwest, was established by co-owners Deane Rundell and Eric Ernstberger.

Deane Rundell was born on February 2, 1945, in Albany, New York. In 1967, he obtained an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from Iowa State University. In 1969, he received his master of landscape architecture degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. After his graduate studies, Rundell accepted a teaching position in the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. While there, Rundell and three other professors founded Designers Collaborative, Inc. Rundell became the principal in charge of the office. They completed significant planning works in the North Georgia Mountains including master planning for what is now UNICOI State Park in Helen, GA. During that time, he also consulted for Ed Pinckney in Clemson, SC. Rundell then accepted an associate position with Currier, Anderson & Geda (CAG) in W. Hartford, CT. There he worked on master planning for a new corporate headquarters for Xerox, and Robert Crown Memorial Park at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. When Ed Pinckney moved his firm to Hilton Head Island, SC, he invited Rundell to join him. While with Pinckney, Rundell was in charge of multiple projects of importance; including the expansion and master planning of Cowpens National Battlefield, and master planning for the renovation and expansion of Middleton Place Gardens, the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States. In January of 1977, Rundell left Hilton Head Island and moved to Muncie, Indiana as a partner in the firm LandPlus West.

Eric L. Ernstberger was born in New Albany, Indiana, in 1955. He graduated from Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning in 1978 with degrees in environmental design and landscape architecture. Upon graduation, Ernstberger accepted a job at LandPlus West, a firm in Yorktown, Indiana started by landscape architect and former Ball State University professor, Stan Geda. It is here that Ernstberger would meet Rundell.

At LandPlus West, Ernstberger worked with his partner, Deane Rundell, who in 1979, based on his previous project experiences and client contacts, would establish Rundell Associates (RA). The firm was located at 413 Tillotson Avenue in Muncie, Indiana. In 1980, Rundell invited Ernstberger to join Rundell Associates. During his first year at Rundell Associates, Ernstberger passed the Uniform National Exam in Lexington, Kentucky, receiving his first professional license; he would later also hold licenses in Indiana and Michigan.

In 1983, Ernstberger purchased a fifty percent interest in Rundell Associates and became a co-owner of the newly renamed firm, Rundell Ernstberger & Associates, the name of the firm was also later changed to Rundell Ernstberger Associates, LLC (REA), and more recently, Rundell Ernstberger Associates, Inc. In 1987, as it was growing, the firm moved from its Tillotson Avenue location to a remodeled two-story building at 315 S. Jefferson Street in downtown Muncie, IN. With the death of long-time partner Mike Sommer and Rundell’s move to Baltimore, MD, the Muncie office closed in 2014, with personnel moving to the Indianapolis office.

Additional locations for REA included a temporary office space located inside the Indianapolis-based firm Mid-states Engineering, leased space in the Circle Tower Building on Indianapolis’s Monument Circle, and another Indianapolis location at 618 Market Street. This currently serves as the home office of the firm. REA also has a second office in Louisville, Kentucky.

In 2010, Rundell sold his remaining ownership of the firm to other partners. He officially retired in 2012, though he remains a consultant to REA for special projects. Ernstberger sold his ownership in 2015. The current partners and principals of the firm are Kevin Osburn, Carl Kincaid, Peter Androit, Tricia McClellan, and Cecil Penland.

Today, REA is one of the Midwest’s leading site planning and design firms, having received 75 local, national, and international design awards for their work on university campuses, public green spaces, urban parks, healthcare facilities, corporate environments, trails and greenways, and specialty landscapes (museums, zoos, and cultural centers).