Triangle Modernist Houses To Host “ModStock ‘09″
October 19, 2009 at 5:12 pm | In architecture, historic preservation, leisure activity, mid-century architecture, modern architecture, news | Leave a CommentTags: modern architecture, modern houses, preserving modern houses, modern furniture, Young Architects Forum
October 19, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Triangle Modernist Houses, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle, is throwing a party. On Thursday, November 5, from 6-8 p.m. the non-profit and the AIA/Triangle’s Young Architects Forum (YAF) will present “ModStock ‘09” at Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture Gallery in Cary, and the public is invited.
ModStock is the brainchild of TMH founder and director George Smart, who sees the party as a way to introduce more people to modernist architecture while introducing the area’s brightest young architects to the community.
“The Triangle has rediscovered cool architecture through our website,” says Smart, “and now it’s time to bring that community together. Many people who love Modernist design feel they are alone, but we’re tapping into hundreds if not thousands of kindred spirits. If you have a coffee table book on Modernist architecture, we’re your tribe. Come join us!”
George Smart
Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture Gallery is one of the state’s largest modern furniture showrooms. The event will include free beer, wine, sodas and snacks, and door prizes from TMH and Nowell’s, including tickets to TMH’s next Modernist House Tour to be held in West Raleigh on November 7.
Smart will also debut a portion of a new presentation during ModStock spotlighting award-winning architects and Modernist residences from 1951 to today.
“During 2010, city agencies, historical societies, realtors, design schools, or any group interested in learning about North Carolina’s rich Modernist heritage can engage me to speak. This presentation will be part of those speaking engagements.”
Only 250 tickets are available to ModStock, so Smart suggests anyone interested should go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/register soon to make reservations.
Nowell’s is located at 900 East Chatham Street in Cary.
For more information on Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
About Triangle Modernist Houses 
Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle. Its primary public service is the website www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. The award-winning website, now the largest educational and historical archive for modernist residential design in America, continues to catalog, preserve, and advocate for North Carolina modernism. TMH also hosts popular modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these “works of art” for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
About Young Architects Forum:
The Young Architects Forum (YAF), a program of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the College of Fellows (COF), is organized to address issues of particular importance to recently licensed architects.
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Triangle Modernist Houses’ Director George Smart Receives Sir Walter Raleigh Award
October 8, 2009 at 5:35 pm | In architecture, historic preservation | Leave a CommentOctober 8, 2009 (DURHAM, NC) – George Smart, Jr., founder and executive director of
George Smart
Triangle Modernist Houses.com, has received a 2009 City of Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance. The awards ceremony was held October 7 at the Fletcher Opera Theater in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.
The award credits Smart as “a champion of the local Modernist architectural movement, raising public awareness through web-based resources, grants, and public tours.”
In 2007, George Smart launched www.trianglemodernisthouses.com, a website dedicated to preserving modernist homes in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina by increasing public awareness of their existence – especially when that existence is threatened by neglect or encroaching development.
“The more people who know about these extraordinary houses, the less likely they are to get torn down,” Smart told Dwell magazine earlier this year.
In 2008, Smart received the Carraway Award of Merit from Preservation North Carolina “for raising awareness of modernist architecture in the Triangle, including compiling a catalog of such works on his website.”
This year, he received the 2009 Paul E. Buchanan Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum, established in 1993 to recognize contributions to the study and preservation of vernacular architecture and the cultural landscape that do not take the form of books or published work.
Smart was nominated for the Sir Walter Raleigh Award in the “Individual” category. Awards in this category are given to individuals who have “consistently and over an extended period exhibited concern, leadership, and vision in preserving and improving the appearance and/or environment of the City.” An independent jury met in July to review the nominations.
Coordinated by the Raleigh Appearance Commission, the annual Sir Walter Raleigh Awards program was established in 1983 to commemorate exemplary achievement in enhancing Raleigh’s appearance. To date, more than 200 projects, sites, and individuals have been honored.
For more information on George Smart and Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
For more information on the Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Community Appearance, visit www.raleigh-nc.org and click on “Government” then “Boards & Commissions” then “Appearance Commission.”
About Triangle Modernist Houses:
Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle. Its primary public service is the website www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. The award-winning website, now the largest educational and historical archive for modernist residential design in America, continues to catalog, preserve, and advocate for North Carolina modernism. TMH also hosts popular modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these “works of art” for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
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Triangle Modernist Houses’ Raleigh Tour To Spotlight Architects’ Personal Residences
October 1, 2009 at 6:34 pm | In architecture, historic preservation, mid-century architecture, modern architecture | Leave a CommentTags: modernist homes tour, Raleigh modernism, Triangle Modernist Houses
The Crowder residence
October 1, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Three Modernist houses that architects designed for their own families in West Raleigh will be the focus of Triangle Modernist Houses’ (TMH) Homes Tour to be held Saturday, November 7, from 1-4 p.m.
The tour will spotlight the private residences of architects Thomas Crowder, Raymond Sawyer and Brian Shawcroft.
Thomas Crowder is founder and principal of ARCHITEKTUR and currently serves as a Raleigh City Councilman. His 2400-square-foot residence at 1409 Ashburton Road was completed in 2000, replacing an earlier, more traditional ranch home that burned in 1998. A prime example of fitting modernist design into an established community, it was given an AIA Honor Award in 2004.
“It was almost therapy for me to deal with the loss by absorbing myself in the rebuilding and starting over,” says Crowder.
The house basically doubled in size with an addition on the back, and includes an art gallery at the front to display pieces that have replaced those that were lost. The house has a Japanese-inspired feel and includes large clerestory windows that provide ample light throughout the day.
The Sawyer house.
Raymond Sawyer, the first recipient of the American Society of Beaux Arts medal, designed his house at 1300 Lorimer Road in 1958. Exemplary of mid-century Modernist design, it features extensive glazing that blurs the line between indoors and out. Retired now and living in Brevard, NC, Sawyer lived in the house with his family until 2006. The current owner, Adrienne Joergensen, has done some renovation work, and the house’s Modernist “bones” remain very much intact.
One of Raleigh’s true “deans” of Modern architecture, Brian Shawcroft,
The Shawcroft residence
FAIA, designed almost all of the Modernist home inventory in the Triangle area from the 1970s through the late 1990s. He completed his current 2215-square-foot residence at 5215 Melbourne Road in 2002. In 1991, Shawcroft was awarded the prestigious Henry Kamphoefner Prize for achievement in Modernist architecture.
The November tour will begin at the Western Boulevard Presbyterian Church, 4900 Kaplan Drive, where a free shuttle service will take participants to the three houses.
Advance tickets are $9.95 and are on sale now via the TMH website: www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. TMH director George Smart recommends securing tickets early since TMH homes tours typically sell out quickly. Proceeds benefit future tours, TMH’s cataloging program and research grants, and provide infrastructure as the non-profit organization works to create public awareness for the preservation of modernist design.
Sponsors for the November tour include Element Lighting, Rock & Shop, Humphrey Homes, Bowman Designs, Alphin Design/Build, and Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture.
For more information on Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
About Triangle Modernist Houses
Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle. Its primary public service is the website www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. The award-winning website, now the largest educational and historical archive for modernist residential design in America, continues to catalog, preserve, and advocate for North Carolina modernism. TMH also hosts popular modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these “works of art” for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
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Local Advocate Hopes Good News for Housing Market Means Good News for Modernist Houses
August 25, 2009 at 8:31 pm | In architecture, business, historic preservation, mid-century architecture, modern architecture, news | Leave a CommentTags: modernist houses NC, NC real estate, Triangle housing, Triangle real estate
August 25, 2009 (DURHAM, NC) — After the Associated Press reported last week that “the U.S. housing market is rebounding faster than expected” (News & Observer), George Smart of Durham, NC, the founder and director of Triangle Modernist Archives Inc, (TMA) is hoping some of that momentum will help preserve some of the modern houses currently on the market in the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill region of North Carolina.
Smart is the founder and director of Triangle Modernist Archives, Inc., a non-profit entity that archives and advocates modernist residential design. It’s website, www.trianglemodernisthouses.com, includes a free “For Sale” section that spotlights modernist houses on the market solely for the purpose of helping them find new owners. TMA does not receive a percentage of the sale.
At present, the list includes 45 residences, from a 1949 house in Chapel Hill designed by Jim Webb to Dwell Magazine’s “Next House” in Hillsborough, designed by Joel Turkel and completed in 2007.
“Any Triangle modernist homeowner or real estate agent can participate,” Smart explained. “All they have to do is send an email with the house address, city, owner’s name, year built, square feet, and architect, if known; photos of the front, back, kitchen, and living room; and a link to where readers can get more information. Typically this is a real estate company website or MLS. Submissions, if approved, are generally reviewed, edited, and posted within 48 hours.”
(MLS, or the Multiple Listing Service, is a real estate service that combines listings for all available properties in an area, except For-Sale-By-Owner properties, in one directory or database.)
TriangleModernistHouses.com has helped many homeowners and realtors sell new and mid-century modern residences in the Triangle area and, in some cases, as far away as Charlotte to the west and Rocky Mount to the east, thanks to a growing data base of modernist enthusiasts who sign up for Smart’s email updates or visit the site frequently.
“Our historical content and detail is unrivaled,” Smart said, “which is why devoted modernist-oriented visitors return again and again.”
According to Raleigh realtor Ann-Cabell Baum Anderson, the website listing and tour sponsored of the dramatically modern, 3900-square-foot home overlooking Lake Boone Trail in Raleigh helped her sell that property. The house was designed by Jessica Johnson Moore.
TMH.com helped drive interest in the Johnson House overlooking Lake Boone Trial in Raleigh.
“From a realtor’s standpoint, TMH absolutely drives more eyes toward, and more conversation around, the modernist houses we list,” she said. “It is extremely helpful, and George and his board are just dynamic people. I applaud them for their advocacy and thank them for their efforts.”
Smart noted that he frequently receives calls from modern home enthusiasts as far away as California and Maine who have found his website online and seek out his help in matching them with an existing home or connecting them with a local architect who can design one for them. The website also maintains information on modern architects working in the Triangle today as well as an archive of past modernists who contributed to the area’s built environment.
A Raleigh native and the son of an architect, George Smart loves to point out a little known fact: that the Triangle area “is the third largest concentration of modernist houses in America. We have more than anywhere except LA and Chicago,” he said.
He’s hoping the part of that concentration that’s currently for sale will find enthusiastic new owners as buyers return to the housing market.
For more information on Triangle Modernist Houses and to view the list of homes for sale, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com and click on “For Sale.”
About Triangle Modernist Houses:
Triangle Modernist Archive, Inc. (TMA) is a North Carolina nonprofit organization. Established in 2007 by George Smart, the organization became a formal nonprofit in 2009. TMA is committed to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle. Our primary public service is managing Triangle Modernist Houses.com (TMH), an award-winning nonprofit educational archive for cataloguing, preserving, and advocating modernist residential design. TMH also hosts popular modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these works of art for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
Charleston Architect Serves On AIA/Tennessee Awards Jury
August 24, 2009 at 5:49 pm | In architecture, green architecture, historic preservation, land planning | Leave a CommentTags: AIA/Tennessee, Charleston architects, green architects, LEED
Whitney Powers, AIA
August 24, 2009 (MEMPHIS, TN) — South Carolina architect Whitney Powers, AIA, principal and president of the award-winning firm Studio A, Inc., in Charleston, was among the jurors who recently selected nine award winners out of 97 entries during the American Institute of Architects/Tennessee’s 2009 Design Awards program.
A LEED-certified practitioner, Powers brought her expertise in sustainable architecture to bear on the jury proceedings, as well as her experience in adaptive reuse of existing buildings and restoration/preservation of historic structures.
AIA/Tennessee includes over 1000 members from small to large architectural firms and working within university, government and industry settings. The annual design awards program recognizes Tennessee architects’ design contributions and promotes awareness of the value of architecture in the state.
Projects submitted represented new construction, renovation/restoration, and architectural interior design.
All of the judges for the 2009 program are based in Charleston, SC. Joining Powers on the jury were Ray Huff, Thompson Penney, FAIA, and Brian T. Hurst. The judging took place in Charleston.
For more information on the AIA/Tennessee award winners, go to www.aia/tn.org.
For more information on Whitney Powers, visit www.studioa-architecture.com.
About Studio A, Inc.
Founded by Whitney Powers, AIA, Studio A, Inc., is an award-winning, full-service architecture firm located in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, specializing in sustainable, “green” architecture and historic preservation/adaptive re-use. From cutting-edge, contemporary architecture to the preservation and restoration of historic homes and sites, Studio A is committed to an interactive relationship between the natural and built environments. The firm includes Heritage Strategy Group, a planning initiative headed by Edwin Gardner that develops recreational areas and scenic byways so that local businesses prosper while the natural, historical and cultural heritage of the effected area are preserved and enhanced.
Durham Modernist House Tour: Jewel In The Woods
August 8, 2009 at 10:09 pm | In architecture, green architecture, historic preservation, modern architecture | Leave a CommentTags: mid-century houses NC, modern architecture, modernism, Triangle Modernist Houses
August 7, 2009 (DURHAM, NC) – Triangle Modernist Houses.com (TMH), the educational archive for modernist residential design in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of NC, will host tours of the Christine and Michael Coates residence in Rougemont, NC, on Saturday, October 3, from 1-3:30 p.m.
Tucked away on a 10-acre site just north of Durham, the house was designed by Michael Coates, AIA, who serves as director of design for Little Diversified Architectural Consulting in Charlotte, NC. He graduated in 1994 from UNC-Charlotte. From 1994 to 1999, he worked for the firm Blake & Vagone in Charlotte.
Clearly modern in line and volume, the house’s floor plan is actually based on the 
foursquare pattern prevalent in early 20th century houses: main living spaces (kitchen, living, dining, study) are on the first floor, sans hallways, with bedrooms directly above. Unlike the traditional foursquare, Michael Coates removed the walls between the kitchen and dining room to create an openness that makes the 2500-square-foot house feel larger. A steel and wood stair rises to the second floor where the landing becomes a library/reading room.
The owners designed and built the house’s maple cabinetry themselves to complement the hardwood floor and living room ceiling.
The exterior of the Coates house features Corten steel panels, cedar siding and abundant glazing for natural lighting. A “light chimney” in the center of the three-bedroom, three-bath residence brings more light into the core of the house and even moonlight on clear evenings. The house was completed in 2007.
Advance tickets for the October 3 tour are $5.95 and are available on the website: www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. Tickets are not mailed but are picked up onsite at the event. TMH tours sell out quickly, so those interested in attending should secure tickets and time slots as soon as possible. Tours are conducted at 15-minute intervals.
Hampstead Lighting (www.earplighting.com) is a sponsor. For more information on the Coates house and the tour, go to www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/register.htm.
About Triangle Modernist Houses:
Triangle Modernist Archive, Inc. (TMA) is a North Carolina nonprofit organization. Established in 2007 by George Smart, the organization became a formal nonprofit in 2009. TMA is committed to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle. Our primary public service is managing Triangle Modernist Houses.com (TMH), an award-winning nonprofit educational archive for cataloguing, preserving, and advocating modernist residential design. TMH also hosts popular modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these works of art for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
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Putting The Ease in Easements: How To Save Modernist Houses From Future Bulldozers
July 22, 2009 at 9:15 pm | In architecture, education, historic preservation, mid-century architecture, modern architecture, news | Leave a CommentTags: historic preservation, mid-century houses NC, modern architecture, Preservation NC, Triangle Modernist Archives
July 22, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) — Property easements aren’t sexy, but they are important, especially when they concern property with historic value. Easements protect historic structures by assuring that the property’s intrinsic values will be preserved through subsequent ownership.
To help the general public understand how easements work, what they protect, their advantages and disadvantages, Triangle Modernist Houses.com (TMH) will present a workshop and panel discussion in the new addition to Pullen Memorial Church, 1801 Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh, on Saturday, August 15, from 10-11:30 a.m.
Members of the panel will include TMH founder and executive director George Smart; Elizabeth Sappenfield, director of Urban Issues for Preservation North Carolina and the National Trust for Historic Preservation; J. Myrick Howard, executive director, Preservation North Carolina; and Sig Hutchinson, a Wake County insurance agent who is best known for his work in protecting and preserving open space and expanding Raleigh’s greenway system.
TMH’s George Smart is particularly interested in how preservation easements can save mid-century Modernist houses from being razed in the Triangle.
“Many people have a deep personal connection to their house or property,” he said. “It is a part of their family legacy or the cherished result of a life’s work. A preservation easement assures a beloved property will be preserved forever.”
Panelist Elizabeth Sappenfield explained that a preservation easement is “a legal agreement filed with the county register of deeds that protects buildings. Easements are flexible tools and can be custom-designed to meet the personal and financial needs of the property owner. In some cases, the owner may choose only to protect the exterior of the building, but a preservation easement may also protect a building’s interior and important landscape elements.”
Through the panel discussion, Smart hope to make “easements easier!” he said. The group will discuss the role of easements in local historic districts and the National Register of Historic Places, along with the length of easement protection, parties involved and costs required.
"Green" addition, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh.
Special guest Ellen Weinstein of the architectural firm Dixon Weinstein Friedlein in Chapel Hill will also be on hand to discuss her firm’s design of the new modern hall at the historic Pullen Memorial Church, which was built using recycled materials and features a “green” roof, rainwater cistern, geothermal heating/cooling, and natural lighting. The church campus is located at the corner of Hillsborough Street and Cox Avenue.
Advance tickets are $5.95 per person and can be obtained at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/register.htm.
About Elizabeth Sappenfield:
A Raleigh native, Elizabeth Sappenfield is working on preservation issues in the City of Raleigh, including protecting historic neighborhoods, advocating for preservation in city planning, and working directly to preserve historic properties. She is particularly interested in the preservation of Raleigh’s Modernist architecture, working with owners of Modern homes on their preservation options, including easements, and educating the public on Raleigh’s Modernist architecture legacy.
About J. Myrick Howard:
Myrick Howard and Preservation North Carolina’s revolving fund has protected more than 270 historic properties in 60 counties since 1977. Howard has written numerous articles, including a chapter for an international book on American preservation. Each year he teaches a course on historic preservation planning at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is the 2006 winner of the AIA Triangle Isosceles Award.
About Sig Hutchinson:
Sig Hutchingson has worked to promote not only Raleigh’s world-class greenway sytem but also multi-modal transportation options such as connecting sidewalks, bike lanes and greenways to an expanded bus and light rail system. Hutchinson successfully led four bond referendums totaling more than $140 million in Wake County for open space and in the City of Raleigh for parks and greenways.
About Triangle Modernist Houses:
TMH is the website for Triangle Modernist Archives, Inc., an award-winning nonprofit founded by George Smart in 2007 that preserves, advocates, and builds community around modernist residential design in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Through its online archive and frequent tours of modernist houses in the area, TMA spotlights the beauty and value of modernist residential design and the need for celebrating and preserving the area’s finest examples. www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
Blueplate PR Goes Modern with Triangle Modernist Houses.com
July 8, 2009 at 1:45 am | In architecture, green architecture, historic preservation, mid-century architecture, modern architecture, news, public relations | Leave a CommentTags: Raleigh public relations agency
July 7, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) - The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill “Triangle” region of North Carolina has the third-largest concentration of modernist houses in the nation, bested only by Los Angeles and Chicago. This fact surprises most people, even those who live in the Triangle. But not TriangleModernistHouses.com (TMH), an award-winning nonprofit which
preserves, advocates, and builds community around modernist residential
design in the Triangle area of North Carolina, from mid-century to the
present. To leverage the area’s uniqueness regionally and nationally, TMH has contracted with Blueplate PR in downtown Raleigh.
Blueplate PR is a boutique public relations agency owned and operated by
award-winning journalist Kim Weiss. Blueplate specializes in message
development, media relations, communications, online presence, and website
text development.
Weiss is also a modern architecture enthusiast. For nearly two decades, she
wrote about architecture and historic preservation for the former Spectator
Magazine and North Carolina Architect magazine, and founded the Triangle
Architecture Awards Program through Spectator.
“So I couldn’t have been happier when TMH founder George Smart asked me if I’d be interested in working with TMH,” Weiss said. “Modern architecture is a passion of mine, from Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s groundbreaking work in Scotland in the late 19th century, through the ‘heroic’ period of the 1920s and ’30s, to what we now call mid-century, and on to the cutting-edge “green” architecture of today. And I intend to bring every bit of that
passion to bear on my work with TMH.”
George Smart launched TMH in 2007 to catalog, preserve, and advocate
modernist residential design in the Triangle area. The TMH website maintains
a vast gallery of images and biographies of modernist architects who have
had an impact on residential design in the area, both in the past and
currently. TMH also keeps an up-to-date listing of modernist houses for sale
and sponsors frequent tours of modernist houses throughout the Triangle.
Says Smart, “Kim is the most knowledgeable design marketing professional in
North Carolina. With her drive and expertise, we’re going to put the
Triangle’s extraordinary design on the national radar, right up there with
basketball, barbecue,and Clay Aiken.”
For more information on blueplate pr, visit www.blueplatepr.com.
Triangle Modernist Houses is also available on Facebook and Twitter.
Expanding Broadband Could Be Tourist Boon For Rural Regions
May 4, 2009 at 9:53 pm | In environmentalism, environmentalist, green architecture, historic preservation | Leave a CommentTags: heritage planning, natural resources, parks and recreation, planning, rural planning, tourism
May 4, 2009 (CHARLESTON, SC) – The new economic Stimulus Package’s proposed spending on broadband Internet access could prove to be a huge boon for recreational tourism and economic development in rural regions that could greatly benefit from tourists’ dollars, according to recreation planner Edwin Gardner of Heritage Strategy Group in Charleston, South Carolina.
In a recent article posted to his blog “Heritage Strategies” (heritagestrategy.wordpress.com) Gardner applauds the fact that expanding the base of broadband into rural areas is a priority in the President’s package.
“The Internet is by far the most cost-effective way to reach the traveling public,” he writes, “and it allows a location’s message to reach a target audience far more effectively than the traditional shotgun approach of printed brochures, tourism guides, and other print media.”
That’s especially significant for undiscovered rural locations that are rich in natural, historic or culture opportunities the general public simply doesn’t know about.
“Once these regions figure out how to use the Internet effectively, they will be found by a growing visitor market,” Gardner writes. “If a desire to stay closer to home and save gas returns as a prime motivator, scenic rural counties within two hours of a big city will be more and more in demand.”
Assuming that could happen, Gardner warns that decision-makers in rural areas must learn “the principles and practices of sustainable tourism and quality growth planning before they get flooded with visitors. Otherwise, as in so many other ‘discovered’ areas, they end up killing the goose.”
To read Edwin Gardner’s complete article on broadband and rural economic development, visit heritagestrategy.wordpress.com.
Heritage Strategy Group is a planning initiative to develop recreational areas and scenic byways in a manner that allows local businesses and other stakeholders to enjoy growth and prosperity while the natural, historical and cultural heritage of the effected areas are preserved and enhanced.
“A heritage planner’s central mission is to enable local businesses to prosper,” Gardner says. “A strong entrepreneurial focus yields the best justifications for conservation and preservation of a place’s natural, historical, and cultural heritage. And a good heritage planner never gets between a people and their heritage.”
Heritage Strategy Group is a subsidiary of Studio A, Inc., a full-service architecture firm based in Charleston, SC. For more information visit www.studioa-architecture.com.
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Recreation Planners Use Technology To Get Public Participation
April 9, 2009 at 8:54 pm | In environmentalism, environmentalist, historic preservation, land planning, news | Leave a CommentTags: conservation, development, heritage, planning, preservation, recreation
April 9, 2009 (CHARLESTON, SC) — “A 21st century way to engage the public directly in recreation and conservation decisions” – that’s how planner Edwin S. Gardner of Heritage Strategy Group describes the approach he and his team are taking to make sure the public is keenly involved in the 2010-2020 Tennessee State Recreation Plan.
“Using the new website SurveyMonkey.com, we’re now able to reach the public in ways that were impossible five years ago,” Gardner said, “and it isn’t costing the State a dime to do it.”
Heritage Strategy Group, a subsidiary of the architectural firm Studio A, Inc., in Charleston, South Carolina, recently received the contract for the state of Tennessee’s new Recreation Plan that will identify needs and issues and guide recreation and conservation policies in Tennessee for the next decade.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is holding a series of public meetings this month to get input into the plan that will guide the State’s recreation and conservation policies for the next 10 years.
To bring 21st century technology into the process, Gardner and Dr. Mark Fly, director of the University of Tennessee Human Dimensions Lab, are posting the same public-opinion survey online that meeting attendees will receive.
The survey will be available soon on the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Environment website (www.tennessee.gov/environment/recreation/plan) “so we can hear from people all over the state, not just those who make it to one of the meetings,” Gardner said. “This should generate a far greater response than we’ve ever had before.”
Making the survey available online is “a big first for Tennessee,” noted Gardner, who served as conservation and preservation planner for that state’s 2003 Recreation Plan, which the National Park Service cited as one of the nation’s best and “a model for other states to follow.”
Using technology to reach more people “is part of our firm’s intention to use every available method to generate as much public participation in this planning process as possible,” Gardner said. “We’re certain that the more Tennesseans we get involved in the decision-making process, the more accurate, responsive, and effective the eventual plan is going to be.”
The new Recreation Plan will include the state’s 2020 Land and Water “Vision Plan” as well as the five-year Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). The SCORP is a federally mandated program that makes states eligible to receive federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grants through the National Park Service for acquiring, developing, and renovating outdoor recreation facilities.
Gardner and his team intend to publicize the survey throughout the state, to ask meeting attendees to send the link to their friends, and to ask recreation-related organizations to send the link to their members. They hope to get over 5000 responses.
Consultants on the Tennessee State Recreation Plan include Barge Waggoner of Sumner & Cannon in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the Human Dimensions Research Lab at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
The public meetings are being held in Farragut, Chattanooga, Jackson, and Murfreesboro. The new Recreation Plan should be completed by August 2009, Gardner said. The National Park Service’s approval is expected by the end of the year.
Edwin Gardner recently created a blog — http://heritagestrategy.wordpress.com — as an addendum to Studio A’s website (www.studioa-architecture) to more fully describe the work of a heritage planner and the impact such planning has on all forms of conservation.
The 2003-2008 plan is currently available at www.tennessee.gov/environment/recreation/plan. The survey for the 2010-2020 plan will be available at that site soon.
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