Featured Charrettes
Lexington Downtown Charrette | Lexington, GA | October 26-28, 2012
Students and faculty from the University of Georgia, in partnership with the Lexington Downtown Development Authority, spent the weekend of October 26-28, 2012, exploring design improvements for the town of Lexington, Georgia. The result of the weekend is a series of recommendations for downtown improvements, including: new handicap-accessible sidewalk designs, condition assessments for historic buildings, façade drawings, way-finding signage, parking identification, and marketing suggestions. Residents of Lexington who attended the final presentation welcomed the ideas for the town’s revitalization, particularly concepts for restriping of the current city hall parking lot for public parking, adding an accessible ramp along the Downtown’s raised sidewalks, and use of the chevron technique—an innovative traffic calming measure—to slow traffic through Downtown.
Presentation Boards | Presentation | Facebook Album
Porterdale Charrette | Porterdale GA | November 9-11, 2012
Making a historic mill village into a contemporary and popular destination for living, working and playing is no easy task. But that is exactly the task given to fifteen UGA students and their faculty sponsors by the City of Porterdale in Newton County. The UGA team built upon earlier work done by Fanning Institute, the Newton County Leadership Collaborative and “The Center”. Some of the visions for change included: recommendations regarding sidewalk and landscape improvements, a parking assessment, a municipal complex and commercial infill; community-building initiatives such as artist-relocation programs and textile-related heritage promotion; and multiple solutions for transforming an existing public parking lot into a lively and exciting river park and trailhead.
Presentation Boards | Presentation | Facebook Album
Southern Mill Charrette | Athens GA | February 24-26, 2012
On February 24-26, 2012, a team of students and faculty from the College of Environment and Design partnered with the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation (ACHF) and Atlanta-based Aderhold Properties to explore the redevelopment possibilities of the Southern Manufacturing Company (aka Southern Mill) property located on Oneta Street in Athens. The multi-day collaborative design workshop was designed to help create a new vision for one of Athens’ most unique industrial properties. The charrette built upon an earlier ACHF Symposium held on February 4, 2012. The charrette team conducted inventory and analysis on best management practices, funding opportunities and site considerations, which led to site analysis maps and illustrations based on three altrnative concepts for mixed-use development. Finally, the team put forward a suggestion of Immediate Actions that need to be addressed and/or resolved for the redevelopment of the Southern Mill property to move forward. The charrette team’s suggestions and results were developed into a website: www.achfonline.org/southernmill.
Jack R. Wells Affordable Housing Charrette | Athens GA | October 13-15, 2011
On October 13th - 15th, 2011, a team of students and faculty from the College of Environment and Design partnered with the Athens Housing Authority and Atlanta-based residential developer Columbia Residential and JHP Architecture & Urban Design for a design charrette focused on the transformation of the Jack R. Wells public housing neighborhood, located at Hawthorne Avenue and Pauldoe Street. The goal was to create a plan for the wholesale redevelopment of the existing 36.57-acre public housing site into a mixed-income, affordable, energy-efficient and sustainable housing development focused on site design, stormwater management, transportation-oriented design, green building practices, family needs and play spaces, and socio-economic considerations. The development team has developed a website for the project. See http://newpauldoe.com/updates for more information.
North Oconee River Charrette | Athens GA | October 27-30, 2011
The North Oconee River exists as a hidden treasure in the heart of Athens. It is a quiet ribbon within a corridor of green where visitors can truly feel they have gone someplace else—where one can “get out of the city.” The design charrette aimed to answer: How to better involve the public in the use, access and decision-making process related to the North Oconee River; How to better use the river by the public, the constituent landowners and the indigenous residents (nature); and how to better protect the river from institutional/governmental, residential and industrial encroachment. In short, how do you improve and enhance use of the river while decreasing or better-managing its abuse.
The charrette team envisioned well-designed improvements to public access—a light touch that brings the community to the river while foremost preserving its ecology and its history. The blueway also will encourage ecological conservation, promote historic preservation, and inform future land use broadly in the green and historic corridor of the city through which the North Oconee River runs.
Pictures from the charrette team’s canoe trip and the design charrette on our Facebook page.
