Aria – Sandy Springs

As Aria nears a decade of development, it is time to honor the admirable implementation that has been underway by our client homebuilder Ashton Woods, Builder magazine’s 2023 “Builder of the Year”. Begun in the spring of 2015, this 75-acre community in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs is in the vicinity of several employment centers near GA-400 and I-285. The village center features the 355-unit Alastair apartment complex that sits adjacent to the Mercedes-Benz US Headquarters. Consisting of 46,000 sf of commercial space and 1000 multi-family and townhome units, the community is notable for several successes, including an efficient master planning process that maximized the unit count by working with the existing topography.

The plan of Aria is composed of two parcels that straddle Abernathy Road NE. On the south side is the flatter terrain of the village center and across the road is a larger northern parcel comprising a sharply sloping hillside. A prior, preliminary design for the site would have completely flattened the topography of the northern site with a grid of streets. This plan would have required a 1-mile retaining wall. The alternate scheme that resulted from the charrette process kept the existing grade largely intact. This approach produced a more picturesque road network, yielded an increase in the unit count, and massively reduced the site work by eliminating most of the retaining walls.

A tour of DPZ’s Vickery Village in Cumming, GA, confirmed the viability of building townhouses on steeper topography. The Aria site averaged a 15% slope and the design team learned that 13% grade was the workable upper limit for an inclined alley. The key was to provide a sufficiently deep apron to allow a vehicle to negotiate the turn from the 13% alley to the flat surface of the garage.

Marrying a high percentage of townhomes and sloping terrain signaled the need for an architecture that could avoid being overly detailed but could simultaneously accommodate articulations to incorporate stairs and grade changes. The aesthetic explored at the charrette was primarily inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement, and especially the townhome design work of Raymond Unwin featured in Town Planning in Practice. Key signature buildings include a mixed-use entrance building with a graceful archway that spans over the entry drive. That the fire department allowed it to happen was no small achievement.

Equally impressive was the fast-track design process. A charrette was accomplished one month from the signing of the contract and PUD plans were produced 2-3 months later.

The 5-Minute Neighborhood, 15-Minute City, and 20-Minute Suburb

The above diagrams explaining the 15-minute city underscore the role of mobility options in enabling access to destinations and determining appropriate scales of development.

That measurement of time in which someone is more likely to walk or bike rather than drive a car to an errand has been the subject of much discussion among urbanists. Thirty years ago the New Urbanism first proposed a neighborhood of a quarter-mile radius. The five-minute walk “pedestrian shed” became the basis for an alternative to suburban sprawl by proposing a walkable scale (120-160 acres) for building or rebuilding community and a sense of place. More recently the “15-minute city” has been receiving much attention and it has given the concept of sustainable community design renewed vigor. It reinforces the importance of improved access within existing urbanism. DPZ has participated in the discussion, identifying the need to define the mode of mobility; fifteen minutes by car will take you to a destination five or more miles away; a 15-minute walk will cover ¾ of a mile – still a reasonable walk to a school, train station, or even shopping.

At either the 5 or 15 minute scale, the guiding principle of a walkable, diverse urban environment, remains a guidepost for amenable, sustainable, and resilient communities. The pandemic experience showed us that walkable proximity is more desirable than ever. As stay-at-home work became increasingly common the surrounding context took on a new importance. In walkable neighborhoods, retail thrived. The walking and biking that prevailed during the lockdown boosted outdoor activity and a sense of community by being on foot.

But what about the still-sprawling suburbs? Should their residents be excluded from the enjoyment and advantages of walking to destinations? Recently, the reality of suburban distances to retail and community amenities has inspired a new term: the “20-minute suburb”. The concept is an evolution of the 15-minute city, focusing on transportation reform, zoning reform, and strategic residential and commercial densification. DPZ’s “sprawl repair” projects acknowledge that the single-family residence, so prevalent in the built environment, and so important to American society, can be maintained and refocused by mixed-use, walkable redevelopment of commercial sites.

Retrofit/Infill of CSD (TNDs and TODs)
This illustration from the Sprawl Repair Manual illustrates how the regional patterns of urban infill and suburban expansion follow the evolution of transportation networks.

For many suburban communities reliant on automobiles, it will take time to accept a shift toward the possibility of walking, biking, and public transit, and to the advantages of some changes to the built reality. Transportation reform in particular remains a continuing challenge. Public transit is a key element: its efficiency requires focused destinations and supportive residential density, as well as an emphasis on all modes of mobility, with complete streets, last mile freebees, bike lanes and paths, and pedestrian passages.

Many suburban malls, office parks, and strip centers are coming to the end of their investment life and are being re-imagined as mixed-use nodes for surrounding communities. However, where ambitious retrofits are not likely in the short term much can be done with small scale infill and strategic improvements to enhance the pedestrian’s experience. Envisioning more direct pedestrian paths to destinations can encourage walking, as can adding sidewalks to streets that have none, trees to shade the walk or the bike ride, and crosswalks for pedestrian safety. Other improvements such as making new pedestrian paths through subdivision cul-de-sacs, may require a property purchase; and making the trajectory as convenient as possible may require opening a pedestrian passage from one walled community to another.

DPZ is dedicated to designing beautiful and diverse environments that support pedestrian-friendly community life. Bringing to suburban locations a new walkable mixed-use focus for existing residents is an important component of our work.

Mashpee Commons Before: A mid-20th century shopping center with an expansive parking lot that prioritized automobile mobility and access.

Mashpee Commons Today

1000 Friends of Florida Sprawl Repair Webinar

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a massive influx of migrants to Florida has prompted skyrocketing real estate prices and a rush on the already limited affordable housing. 330,000 people have moved to Florida in the past year, and this migration is only expected to continue and increase through 2025. In terms of real estate, home prices in Florida are up 58% from the start of the pandemic. Fortunately, DPZ’s Sprawl Repair initiative offers a wealth of ideas for repurposing stranded and underperforming real estate assets. These strategies can help make suburban communities more connected, more mixed-use, more walkable, and with a better sense of place. Most importantly, they identify creative opportunities for adding a broad menu of much-needed housing. For more information, check out Galina’s award-winning Sprawl Repair Manual.

On October 20th, Galina presented a webinar on sprawl repair with 1000 Friends of Florida. The presentation emphasized the critical state of sprawling cities and disconnected, incomplete communities around the country, and showed historical and recent examples in Florida illustrating sprawl repair. An overview of traditional urban design principles and current development trends, the discussion focuses on reinventing large suburban landscapes (e.g. shopping centers, office parks, etc.) into mixed-use communities with infill redevelopment tools. Highlighted in the presentation are two successful sprawl repair stories that benefitted from DPZ master planning input: South Florida’s Downtown Dadeland and Downtown Doral.

You can view the entire webinar here.

Downtown Doral

DPZ Fall 2022 Newsletter

As we enter the homestretch of 2022, DPZ is pleased to provide updates on a few projects that have moved into implementation and efforts in coding and master planning that have been adopted. The past few weeks also reminded us of the passage of time and nature’s strength.

The end of September witnessed the destructive impact of Hurricane Ian across the Southeast U.S., especially parts of Southwest Florida where DPZ has been working for decades. Hurricane Ian was a shocking reminder that how we occupy coastal areas needs to respect the speed and power of storms and the water and wind they generate. DPZ was recently visited by Beachtown Galveston town founder Tofigh Shirazi, and it brought to mind the way the City of Galveston, TX, reinvented itself after the cataclysmic Hurricane of 1900 that took 6,000 lives. The City’s grade was raised by 16 ft, more than 2,100 building were jacked up, and a new, higher seawall was erected. When our project for Mr. Shirazi was designed in 1997 on a stretch of beachfront just outside Galveston’s flood-fortified boundaries, it was a given that the first habitable floor of each structure would be a full level above grade, including the majority of commercial spaces. History keeps teaching us and Beachtown has been able to weather Hurricanes Ike and Harvey largely unscathed by learning from events like Rita and Katrina and upgrading its construction techniques.

Beachtown is an example that there is hope for a more resilient Southwest Florida. We send our heartfelt wishes to those affected by Hurricane Ian. Click here to read more.

Vista Field

The retrofit of a decommissioned airport, Vista Field represents an ambitious endeavor that aims to raise the bar in infrastructure re-purposing and creative place-making. This past summer saw progress with the phase one streets, sidewalks, utilities, and landscaping at the center of Vista Field continuing to take shape.

DPZ has worked on this project for over a decade with the help of Tim Arntzen (executive director for Port of Kennewick), Larry Peterson (director of planning and development for Port of Kenewick), ECONWest, Paul Crabtree, Parametrix, John Anderson, Tom Low, Michael Mehaffy, Laurence Qamar, and a host of other consultants.

Click here for an aerial tour of the progress.

Laval Code

Congratulations to the L’Atelier Urbain team! The famous Town Planning Code of the City of Laval, Quebec, was adopted on July 12 by the municipal council after 4 years of intensive work. We at DPZ had the honor of contributing to this process by sharing our knowledge on form-based codes.

Click here for more information.

OLF-8 Plan

The ongoing work DPZ has completed on the OLF-8 Master Plan in Pensacola, FL, has officially been adopted. The county is now busy trying to find the appropriate team to implement the project and has issued an RFP for developers.

Click here for more information.

TORNAGRAIN, SCOTLAND (Photo Courtesy of Tornagrain; tornagrain.com)

Royal Advocacy

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Great Britain lost a much-admired figure and entered a period of heartfelt mourning. The country also welcomed a new monarch with an uncommon resume. Unable to ignore the former Prince of Wales’ patronage of the built environment, several news outlets are pondering over his legacy and its impact on the future of architecture and planning in the UK. DPZ has been witness to the hard work and stunning achievements by the Prince of Wales Foundation, often in the face of the harshest criticism. His influence on the development of numerous towns and villages throughout the UK, including several by DPZ, cannot be underestimated. Click to read more.

Summer Interns

This past Summer, DPZ continued a long and cherished tradition of taking on eager and promising interns as part of the team. These outstanding individuals from a variety of backgrounds came together with the common mission of shaping the future of New Urbanism. Click to read more.

The Long Road Ahead in the Wake of Hurricane Ian

Last month, wind, rain, and a powerful storm surge from Hurricane Ian cut a swath of destruction across the Florida peninsula. Particularly devastated were many of the cities and neighborhoods along the gulf coast that DPZ has been advising for over 30 years. DPZ wants to voice its concern for the well-being of our clients in that region, and wish a speedy recovery as they clean up, rebuild, and move forward. We realize it will be a long road.

Recovery and Support

While DPZ stands in solidarity with all the communities affected by this event as they recover, our hearts especially go out to our friends in Naples, Bonita Springs, and Ft. Myers. We know the immediate focus will continue to be the monumental clearing of debris and the restoration of services. This will be an involved process for many, especially the displaced and those whose livelihoods have been impacted.

Looking Ahead

The municipal teams we have advised are a smart and resourceful group and we have every confidence that they will provide the assistance and leadership their citizens need. When the time is right, DPZ stands ready to assist in the conversation that will no doubt follow on rebuilding strategies that strengthen infrastructure and improve resilience for the future.

In the meantime, we have already put our clients in touch with individuals familiar with the federal public assistance program. We have learned that it is very important to manage the early communication with FEMA carefully. The way applications are submitted can disqualify certain emergency expenditures from federal reimbursements. The proper application wording could also qualify communities for additional funding that could go beyond just replacing damaged assets. They can also enable more resilient, visionary projects and services down the line.

The initiatives that DPZ helped organize in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Katrina in 2005 yielded many other lessons. DPZ is committed to sharing these ideas to address the ever-intensifying environmental challenges while reinforcing the qualities that make great, nurturing places to live.

Royal Advocate for the Natural and Built World

DPZ’s connection with Britain’s new king began when the Prince of Wales mentioned Seaside in his 1988 book and documentary, A Vision of Britain, praising its sociable, interconnected plan and walkable urban scale. He made his vision a reality in 1989 when he commissioned the plan for the village of Poundbury – an extension of Dorchester – on land owned by his Duchy of Cornwall.

The master plan was drawn by Leon Krier and DPZ was subsequently engaged to draft a model urban code for the first phase. Since construction began in 1993, Poundbury has been a testament to Charles’ commitment to traditional town planning principles and classical architecture as viable tools with which to craft real 21 ^st century communities.

Despite the constant barrage of criticism from the modern architectural media for what it derided as historicist aesthetics, the success of Poundbury has been undeniable. Though not yet complete, today it is a truly mixed-use community. Home to 4600 residents and employing 2400 workers, Poundbury features a broad range of housing where a third is considered affordable or low-cost.

Charles’ support for New Urbanism has inspired numerous traditional new towns across the UK, including two in Scotland that were master planned by DPZ. Tornagrain in Inverness, and Chapelton of Elsick in Aberdeenshire are emblematic of the Scottish government’s support for sustainable urban growth patterns in the form of complete towns and villages. These two projects are illustrative of the goal the King once ascribed to Poundbury, “this should not be yet another soulless housing estate with a business park tacked on.”

In addition to its sponsorship of beautiful and well-organized settlements, The Prince’s Foundation has also long been engaged in enabling solutions to difficult urban situations. DPZ has been fortunate to participate in two such projects, both located in the Americas.

When an earthquake rocked Haiti in 2010, the Haitian government commissioned The Prince’s Foundation and DPZ to develop the Plan Centreville to reconstruct the historic city of Port-au-Prince with a better urban environment than existed prior to the devastating earthquake. The plan envisioned a rebuilt government center around the presidential palace and an array of civic buildings and formal spaces. A form-based code ensured that new buildings were designed with pedestrian-friendly frontages. A signature feature of the plan was a flexible block redevelopment strategy offering a range of options for each location that accommodated varying degrees of property owner collaboration and municipal infrastructure restoration.

To help address the dire needs of Rose Town, an inner-city neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica, The Prince’s Foundation lent its support to assist a community plagued by unemployment, political gang violence, and the demolition of Rose Town’s center. A DPZ charrette team engaged the community stakeholders to design new housing types, create a neighborhood master plan and generate proposals to knit together the then-disjointed urban environment. The intention was to blend a finer grain of new, one-story housing into the existing urban fabric and offer a stark contrast to the larger and socially isolating apartment block-style housing projects recently built in the area.

It is worth noting that the former Prince of Wales’ interests in the environment and how land is preserved, farmed, and built upon date well before such issues were in the mainstream conversation. Upon becoming the Prince of Wales in 1969, the then 20-yr old wrote a letter to the Prime Minister expressing concern for the decline in the salmon population in Scottish rivers. In 2011, Charles’ concerns for sustainable agriculture and local food production, and his interest in “improving people’s health, well-being and happiness” through the built environment, intersected. That year The Prince’s Foundation published Andres Duany’s Garden Cities: Theory & Practice of Agrarian Urbanism.

While the legacy of his work will no doubt be discussed throughout his reign, Charles’ support of past initiatives was expected to no longer be voiced publicly. However, early reports from the BBC indicate that at least on the subject of global warming he will not remain silent. Indeed, at the COP26 Global Climate Summit in Glasgow last year, he delivered a speech at the opening ceremony that stressed how the salvation of the planet depended on mutual collaboration by the world’s leaders. It is DPZ’s hope that his royal support of best urban development practices will also continue.

Upon Charles’ accession to the throne, several news outlets have touched upon his interests in the natural and built environment with mentions of the continued influence of DPZ and New Urbanism in the UK. The following links represent a sampling of the many articles:

• https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccu3C1mOA80/
• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-09/king-charles-iii-was-once-a-prince-with-a-passion-for-urban-planning?cmpid=BBD090922_CITYLAB
• https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/people/tone-on-tuesday-141-king-charles-iii
• https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/09/12/new-urbanist-developer-king
• https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/people/tone-on-tuesday-141-king-charles-iii

The Next Generation of New Urbanism: DPZ Interns 2022

This Summer DPZ continued a long and cherished tradition of taking on eager and promising interns as part of the team. These outstanding designers from a variety of backgrounds came together with the common mission of shaping the future of New Urbanism. They are now back in school working to complete their degrees. Two of the four continue interning at DPZ Miami this fall. DPZ wanted to highlight and honor the efforts of all four individuals:

Jonathan Roberts (University of Notre Dame)

Jonathan is from Bryan, Ohio and is currently finishing his fifth year at the University of Notre Dame studying architecture with concentrations in furniture and sustainability. He has been interested in New Urbanism for some time now and is the president of the Students for New Urbanism club at his university.

At DPZ, Jonathan spent most of the summer working on the illustrations for a Montana resort and a vision plan for the main square in Downtown Bonita Springs. He found the experience to be informative and inspiring, providing him with creative input as well as the space to learn new graphic techniques, time management and office organization skills.

Morgan Bland (Andrews University)

After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture this past year, Morgan is embarking on her Master’s journey at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI. Morgan is originally from Texas and grew up 30 minutes from the Kimbell Art Museum, resulting in a lifelong passion for art, architecture, and the forming of public spaces.

During her time with DPZ, she has strengthened her skills with the SketchUp and Adobe programs, focusing especially on rendering the landscaping in the Downtown Bonita Springs project that gave her a chance to explore her love of nature.

Erik Olliges (University of Miami)

Erik is a Swedish-american fourth year undergraduate student of architecture at the University of Miami. His interest and admiration for architecture lies in its ability to transform and transcend our environments. He ultimately hopes to use architecture to advocate for conscious-based consumption in a world that has grown comfortable and reliant on excessive consumption.

He has spent his internship at DPZ assisting with various projects and is currently implementing a digital fabrication for use in charettes and other projects. The ultimate goal is to create a more intuitive designer/client experience.

Soran Rostami (University of Miami)

Soran is currently finishing up his Master’s Degree in architecture at the University of Miami. He currently holds a bachelor’s Degree in architectural engineering. Soran is an accomplished artist who brings a sophisticated design sensibility to the projects he takes on.

Throughout the summer, Soran obtained invaluable practical experience in planning methods and strategies of architectural design and administration. He appreciated participating in DPZ’s open-minded and collaborative setting where he was able to fine-tune his skills and experience working on two resort projects in very different locations, one in Montana and another in the Bahamas.

Another related tradition returned at the end of the summer when Lizz resumed her “afternoon with the interns”. This year, she showed them around the Miami Design District, highlighting the features of the DPZ Master Plan and SAP Amendment that guided and enabled this urban redevelopment project. Other DPZ employees and partners joined the tour to experience the number of new buildings and environmental installations that have recently been added.