Presidio native retires after 35-year career with National Park Service

PRESIDIO, DENVER, Colorado – Presidio native Ed Nieto retired December 31, 2011 following 35 years with the National Park Service. He was an architect and illumination specialist for the Denver Service Center’s Design and Construction Technical Branch.

As senior architect and technical specialist he has provided state of the art technical and professional skills and knowledge on a wide range of assigned projects and special assignments throughout the national park system. He is a sustaining member of the Illuminating Engineering Society.

He is the son of Edmundo Nieto and the late Socorro Nieto of Presidio.

He began his career at the Denver Service Center in 1975 and after eight years took a position with United Airlines as a project architect at their executive offices in Chicago. After a year, he resigned from that position to return to the NPS because of his passion and love for national parks and the privilege of designing facilities that would be enjoyed by millions of visitors.

During his career, he designed a variety of visitor centers, environmental learning centers, the new gatehouse at the White House, and administration facilities throughout the national park system. He also designed the interior lighting for Independence Hall, the Lyndon B. Johnson Visitor Center Museum, the FDR Historical Park, and numerous park facilities.

He addressed lighting issues at Big Bend National Park several years ago as well.

Major lighting retrofit projects include the Museum of Westward Expansion at the Jefferson Expansion Memorial, the museum at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, the museum at Women’s Rights National Historical Park, the Rose Garden, and the exterior of the White House.

Nieto’s design philosophy has always been “climate-sensitive design achieved within a minimalist aesthetic and with timeless building solutions. Park facilities must be of simple design, highest quality, durable, energy-efficient, and easy and cost effective to maintain – simple elegance!”

Nieto has been involved with numerous planning efforts, including the comprehensive design plan for President’s Park, and has provided international park planning assistance to officials in Panama, Nicaragua, Chile, and Tanzania. He is proudest of his international accomplishments, instilling pride of culture and awareness of sustainability in the communities he’s assisted.

He is grateful to have worked for the Denver Service Center all of these years because of the opportunities it has given him to work in parks coast-to-coast and beyond – some of the projects he has enjoyed most have been in Tanzania, Guam, Saipan, and American Samoa.

He received many awards throughout his career, most recently a Star Award from Pacific West Region for his work in helping with the interior and lighting design for their new office building.

“The people I’ve gotten to work with have been some of the most fantastic professionals and people I’ve ever met,” Nieto said. “It’s been wonderful to build relationships and collaborate with colleagues in the field.”

In his retirement, Nieto plans to stay in Denver and continue to pursue lightning design. He is looking forward to this season of his life and the adventures it holds.