Noel Shamble
Noel enjoys working hand-in-hand with the community to develop creative designs that uniquely reflect their individuality.
Noel is a Registered Architect with a background in structural engineering and specific experience as Lead Bridge Architect of signature bridges. He has participated in hundreds of project teams all over the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. From billion-dollar mega-projects to small pedestrian overcrossings, his focus on context-sensitive design ensures that bridges of all sizes and budgets can be unique civic icons.
As the Director of TYLin’s Architecture and Visualization Group, he leads a team of elite bridge designers who specialize in conceiving of and delivering unique structures. In addition to his traditional hand drawing skills, Noel and his group utilize the latest state-of-the-art tools, such as parametric 3D modeling, augmented reality, and 3D printing. Noel is a licensed architect in many US states and holds a national NCARB certificate allowing him to quickly gain further licensures in other jurisdictions.
Noel’s grass-roots design philosophy puts users and the environment first, ensuring that every project is tailor-made for its client and setting. He especially excels at partnering with communities to discover and communicate their design vision together, whether it’s presenting to key stakeholders, leading workshops of hundreds of neighbors, or speaking with the press. From the 20-mile long Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge across the Manila Bay in the Philippines, to the I-395 highway elevated over downtown Miami, FL, and from the multi-modal lifting arch revitalizing Sacramento’s waterfront, to the humble, sweeping concrete spine-girder pedestrian bridge in Aurora, IL, Noel revels in the challenges and statement-making opportunities of designing all types of bridges.
Noel is a prominent member of the bridge architecture community and has presented papers on bridge aesthetics at the International Bridge Conference and the Western Bridge Engineers’ Seminar in recent years. He has been interviewed for publications such as Bridge Design & Engineering Magazine, and the Sacramento Business Journal, and his work has appeared in countless publications throughout the world, including the New York Times (“A Bridge From Queens to Manhattan, but No Cars Allowed” 6/2020). Noel has authored an article in ASPIRE Bridge Magazine about his designs for I-10 Citrus and Cherry Avenue Overcrossings (Winter 2015 issue). And, from 2013 to 2019, he was a member of the national Transportation Research Board’s aesthetics subcommittee for structures.
In 2011, Noel won the Cavin Design Competition and was awarded the Cavin Research Fellowship for which he spent three months in Europe and China studying bridges and infrastructure systems. Prior to joining TYLin, he lived in Stuttgart, Germany where he worked for the world-famous environmental design firm, Behnisch Architekten. As an architecture graduate student, he focused on sustainable, structurally expressive design. Prior to that, while studying structural engineering at UCSD, he worked as a research assistant at the Powell Research Labs and shake-tables where he helped test innovative bridge designs, such as the self-anchored-suspension tower for the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Professional affiliations:
- National Council of Architectural Registration Boards Certificate (NCARB)
- American Institute of Architects (AIA)
- EIT Designation, National Council of Examiners for Engineering
- TRB Aesthetics Subcommittee AFF10(2), Communications Coordinator 2017-2019
- Cavin Travelling Fellow 2011
Areas of expertise:
- Bridge Architecture
- Context Sensitive Design
- Landscape & Urban Design
- Sustainable Design
- Visualization
- Community Workshops & Public Presentations
Publications and presentations:
- T.Y. Lin's Noel Shamble looks to make I Street Bridge an icon, Sacramento Business Journal
- Western Bridge Engineers’ Seminar presentation
- International Bridge Conference presentation
- I-10/Citrus Avenue and Cherry Avenue Overcrossings, ASPIRE Magazine