UA architecture design program achieves national prominence
Edward Humphrys
Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: News
Situated inconspicuously in a low silver structure on East Avenue in downtown Fayetteville, the UA Community Design Center, operated by a team of architecture students and professionals, landscape architects and ecological engineers, is the epicenter of an attempt to change neighborhood design in Northwest Arkansas and perhaps the nation.
The Design Center, the community-planning arm of the UA School of Architecture, has been developing a project in conjunction with the Washington County branch of Habitat for Humanity under the working title "Porchscapes" since early 2007. The project, which is to be the first Habitat community in Washington County, has garnered an impressive amount of national attention and awards already, even though the design is not finalized and construction has yet to begin. The design has even started receiving support and a large portion of funding from key players in the sustainability movement.
"We're usually supported through grants and the UA, but most of our design work for this project is being funded through the Environmental Protection Agency, and that's partly why we are incorporating the Low Impact Development portion of the project," said Katie Breshears, project designer at the UACDC.
All of this attention is primarily because of a series of design features that could radically alter the idea of planned neighborhoods, transforming what might have been a traditional Habitat community into a example of a new school of neighborhood design, where sustainability, low environmental impact and the pedestrian experience are key.
Foremost among these features is an innovative method for harnessing, managing and protecting the natural wetland environment of the site through the application of "a contiguous network of rainwater gardens, bioswales, infiltration trenches, sediment filter strips, tree box filters and wet meadows," which will "clean water using biological processes. Thus, neighborhood sectors are developed as subwatersheds, combining hydrologic performance with open space design," according to a UACDC press release.
The Design Center, the community-planning arm of the UA School of Architecture, has been developing a project in conjunction with the Washington County branch of Habitat for Humanity under the working title "Porchscapes" since early 2007. The project, which is to be the first Habitat community in Washington County, has garnered an impressive amount of national attention and awards already, even though the design is not finalized and construction has yet to begin. The design has even started receiving support and a large portion of funding from key players in the sustainability movement.
"We're usually supported through grants and the UA, but most of our design work for this project is being funded through the Environmental Protection Agency, and that's partly why we are incorporating the Low Impact Development portion of the project," said Katie Breshears, project designer at the UACDC.
All of this attention is primarily because of a series of design features that could radically alter the idea of planned neighborhoods, transforming what might have been a traditional Habitat community into a example of a new school of neighborhood design, where sustainability, low environmental impact and the pedestrian experience are key.
Foremost among these features is an innovative method for harnessing, managing and protecting the natural wetland environment of the site through the application of "a contiguous network of rainwater gardens, bioswales, infiltration trenches, sediment filter strips, tree box filters and wet meadows," which will "clean water using biological processes. Thus, neighborhood sectors are developed as subwatersheds, combining hydrologic performance with open space design," according to a UACDC press release.
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