NEW Works
Scottish Rite/Egleston Childrens Hospitals Organic Gardens – 2010-2011 – Atlanta, Georiga
I am just now starting this project. I will be working for Daron ‘Farmer D’ Joffe to design several unique and interactive children’s healing organic vegetable gardens at the major hospitals in Atlanta. I will provide more information as the project develops.
Disc Golf Course – 2010-2011 – Suwanee, Georgia
In the fall of 2010 the city of Suwanne asked us to provide ideas for improving the system of parks in the City. One such suggestion was well received by the Mayor and Council and they have asked me to look into the possibility of implementing a high quality disk golf course at one of their parks. Our initial work included walking the potential site to determine the rough layout of the course. We have recently provided a summary of the expected costs and location of the holes and tees. We expect to begin design work this winter. Look for more to come soon.
Longleaf Preserve – 2009-current – Walton County, Florida
Late in 2009 my colleague Daron ‘Farmer D’ Joffe asked me to assist him with a design for a 30 acre organic farm he had been asked to design and implement in the panhandle of Florida. The developer had initially designed a 2000 acre equestrian subdivision which had not been well received in the current economy. The developers had decided that they needed a new theme and new direction to increase interest in the community. They had turned to Farmer D to help them. During the course of the initial visioning session with the client it became clear that the community for which the farm was to be designed was not properly planned to support the new directions that Farmer D, the clients, and stakeholders were envisioning. I suggested to Farmer D that we be given a opportunity to re-design the areas including a number of lots around the farm.
The client agreed and we began our work. The most challenging part was the client’s requirement that we retain a large number of the estate lots despite the fact that typical conservation and new urbanist communities clustered lots on small parcels and reserved greater areas of uninterrupted green space. We moved forward with our plan to reduce the number of large lots to the greatest extent possible and to create a sense of community based around the farm. The resulting plan included a large community center with a market square, a main street, retail and live-work units focused on the farm and other adjacent amenities. The plan was so well recieved that the clients and lenders agreed to have us re-masterplan the entire community.
To date, we have master planned three villages and three hamlets inside a 2000 acre community with only 750 total units. (For the uninitiated that is a very low density considering they could have built thousands of units on this land.) The plan includes several community gardens, a 30 acre CSA farm, multiple lagoons, ponds, pools, amenity areas, miles of trails, lodge, spa retreat area, cottages, athletic fields, a dog park and much more. In addition to the planning we have been responsible for the branding, marketing and direction of the community and even coined the name “Longleaf Preserve” to replace the old name (Emerald Glenn). The site sets adjacent to the 50,000 acre Nukose Plantation, purported to be the largest privately held preservation southeast of the Mississippi River. In addition, the site will play host to a grand plan to both preserve and restore the original longleaf pine canopy and other ecological associations.
This has been one of the most exciting projects to work on in many years and I look forward to the next phases. The first sales are scheduled to begin this winter.
Harvest Farm at White Street Park – 2009 – 2010 – Suwanee, Georgia
In 2009 we began a public park project with the City of Suwanee. The park design was to include a large community garden. To help with this effort I employed my colleague Daron ‘Farmer D’ Joffe as our expert sub-consultant. Although I had never designed a public community garden prior to this project, I had designed several UVG’s (a term coined by Post Properties landscape staff to describe Urban Vegetable Gardens which were essentially raised beds for the residents to use as gardens).
To start the project we hosted a public information meeting to gauge community interest and identify potential steering committee members. This meeting was followed by a site visit that included staff and all the steering committee members. In the weeks following we also chartered a bus and visited most of the respected local community gardens of Atlanta. Finally we hosted two design charrettes with the steering committee members.
The resulting plan and construction was very well received and the park opened to local acclaim and positive press. The garden contains over 50 plots ranging in size from 5×6 to 5×14. Although we have never confirmed it, we have been told that the community garden is the largest in the State with both individual plots and a large CSA pasture available for future development. Our master plan calls for the pasture to be used for seasonal crops of U-Pick strawberries and pumpkins.
The garden is open to the public during regular park hours and is well visited. The existing barn was renovated as part of our plan to include indoor/outdoor classroom space, bathroom, storage and more. I encourage anyone wanting to learn more about gardening to visit the City’s website and the garden. A visit to the park makes a nice day-trip from Atlanta and the parks and downtown area are also worth a visit. Be sure to stop by in the summer and take the kids to the splash fountain in Suwanee Town Center Park.
Thrasher, Mauldin, and Heritage Parks – 2009-2010 – Norcross, Georgia
City parks for Norcross.
McLinden Ave
In 2007, with my wife’s gracious blessing I set out to renovate our 1950′s era post war 2 bedroom 1 bath home in Smyrna, Georgia. We decided to make Smyrna our home and with a new daughter and lots of entertaining we needed more room. The plan was to double the size of the house while keeping the scale of the house in proportion with other existing homes. The renovation was complete in just about a year. Acting as the architect, planner and general contractor was not easy while holding down a full time job but I enjoyed the experience immensely. You can see more by visiting our family blog that documented the history in great detail.
Before the renovation
After the renovation