Appomattox, Virginia

Richard Price led a design team in a study of opportunities for improving connections along the Old Courthouse Road corridor, which links the Town of Appomattox to the Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park and the newly constructed Museum of the Confederacy.  The study found that there is no distinct character to the corridor that respects the local heritage and significant historical events that make the Park a nationally recognized destination. Tourists typically visit the National Park and the Museum, and then depart the area.  As it currently exists, the Old Courthouse Road corridor does not draw tourists into the Town of Appomattox, where they would find additional tourism destinations and dining opportunities.

The corridor plan articulates through graphics and text a shared vision that will help attract new development, while regulating the appearance and design of newly constructed, and reconstructed buildings in the corridor. The plan provides a summary of the elements that should be present in the future, including an inviting walking and bicycling environment, landscaping, mix of tourism supportive commercial uses, and overall appearance of the corridor. The plan also provides an overview of potential funding sources and policy related actions that could help to facilitate implementation of the communities shared vision for the corridor.

The project was recently selected for implementation by the Virginia Department of Transportation, and is currently undergoing design refinement, with construction expected to follow by 2018.

Charlottesville, Virginia

This award-winning entry to Charlottesville’s Market Value competition demonstrated how a popular weekend farmers’ market could successfully become the focus of a large-scale urban infill project involving multiple developers and several phases.

The project integrates the variety of medium-density buildings needed for a successful development project with carefully designed public spaces that can be used for multiple events, including the market. The market itself becomes a year-round city market, serving the needs of the downtown community.

The project also demonstrated innovative techniques for the integration of sustainable design, including storm water management and a comprehensive district energy system.

Charlottesville, Virginia

ELEVEN:30 is a mixed-use condominium on a constricted site a short walk from Charlottesville’s popular downtown mall. To create a sense of privacy on a busy urban corridor, the project features ten residential lofts facing a landscaped court, and two office buildings facing East High Street.

The residences were designed to accommodate modern live/work living, and feature contemporary design, 10ft ceilings and abundant natural light. Many feature single-floor living. Commercial buildings feature flexible, contemporary office space, and can be easily subdivided for a subtenant.

Dearborn, Michigan

Once an icon of America’s industrial might, the Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Complex had in recent years become a symbol of industrial pollution and rust belt manufacturing when Ford Motor Company began a process to modernize the facilities and restore the degraded environment.

Richard Price, while Director of Community Design for William McDonough + Partners, led a multi-disciplinary team in the creation of a master plan for the environmental restoration of the complex. The plan is a comprehensive framework for 21st century manufacturing. It includes strategies for closed-loop manufacturing, renewable energy systems, ecosystem restoration and integrated storm water management.

The project includes a soil bioremediation program on the site of the abandoned coke ovens to detoxify and restore organic balance to the soil. Storm water is filtered and conveyed in a series of vegetated ‘hedgerows’, pervious pavement areas and a 10-acre vegetated roof. The Rouge River, channelized to control flooding, was redesigned as wetland habitat. The plan also highlights the history of the complex through conservation of historic structures and the creation of new employee facilities on the site of significant events from the history of the labor movement.

Awards

2003 ASLA Michigan Honor Award

Lynchburg, Virginia

Liberty University is in the midst of a tremendous building campaign and campus transformation valued at over $500 million that includes the construction of numerous new academic, athletic, performance, and residential buildings as well as site infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels, amphitheaters and transportation patterns. An estimated 75% of the core campus is being entirely redesigned. 

KWLS is integrally involved in the redesign effort. As the master plan landscape architect KWLS has been collaborating with VMDO Architects on a new master plan for Liberty University that will guide the campus reorganization. This involves a complete redesign of the Liberty campus, including vehicular and pedestrian circulation, sustainable storm water management and plantings, and the establishment of a cohesive identity throughout the campus landscape.

Santa Rosa, California

As part of the regional planning process for a new regional light rail system (SMART), a coalition of designers and environmental activists, working with the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, solicited proposals for the redevelopment of the Northwestern section of the city. The award-winning proposal by Richard Price and William Grimm envisions an evolutionary planning process that will result in the gradual transformation of the suburban environment into a more sustainable settlement.

The proposal includes appropriate renovation, re-use and development around neighborhood centers, streetscape renovations to make streets linking centers more bike and pedestrian-friendly, a neighborhood transportation system and phased implementation of other transformational strategies, such as energy efficiency upgrades, bioremediation of storm water and water conservation.

A primary focus of the proposal is the siting and conceptual design of the new light rail station. The proposed site is at the nexus of residential, business, retail and light industrial areas, offering easy connections to surrounding neighborhoods via pedestrian-scaled streets and potential future neighborhood transit.

The phased redevelopment of the new light rail station starts with the creation of a new Station Square,  with associated parking, commercial space and a pedestrian / transit crossing of the railroad tracks. The station will then act as the catalyst for significant additional redevelopment over time.

Charlottesville, Virginia

Riverbluff and RiversEdge are two small, award-winning new communities overlooking the Rivanna River in the Woolen Mills neighborhood of Charlottesville.  The projects include Low-Impact Development techniques, including a series of bioswales to retain and clean storm water, an extensive landscape restoration program and native plant landscaping. The houses are designed to demonstrate appropriate green building techniques in a range of house sizes and styles. Houses exceed Energy Star standards, and include state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems, energy recovery ventilators and solar hot water. The houses also feature vegetated roofs, rainwater harvesting and intimate native plant gardens.

Sarasota, Florida

Siesta Promenade is a new pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use infill project adjacent to Siesta Key, the primary beach resort area of Sarasota, Florida. The project includes a mix of a high-density housing, retail, office, a food market and a new hotel.

Richard Price of KWLS was a key member of the design team led by Moule & Polyzoides Architects. The project was organized around a series of public plazas, visible from primary roads, but sheltered by surrounding buildings. Special emphasis was placed on integrating sustainable design into the overall project:, including pedestrian oriented streets and mixed-use buildings, incorporating vegetated roofs and bioretention-based storm water management.

The project is designed to encourage the construction of green buildings through solar orientation and daylighting in the buildings, while design guidelines require the use of energy efficient construction and integrated alternative energy systems.

Charlottesville, Virginia

Richard Price of KWLS was the designer and planner for this new infill development. The project was undertaken in collaboration with students from Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia

The project provides a road map for the redevelopment of a long-vacant parcel of land in a key redevelopment corridor in the city. To facilitate redevelopment in a challenging market, the plan called for starting with the renovation of an existing one story industrial building, followed by phased development of high density, low rise buildings. The final phase, to be undertaken if and when market conditions change, is to replace the renovated industrial building with a larger building.

Sarasota, Florida

Richard Price of KWLS was the principal planner and designer for Innovation Green, a mixed-use campus designed to stimulate collaboration for intellectual, ecological and economic prosperity. The project takes advantage of its highly visible location adjacent to regional transportation facilities and cultural institutions to bring together businesses and educators in a campus-like setting. Designed as a 21st century urban village, the project groups a variety of uses around a landscaped commons at the center of the project.

The project will include offices, training facilities, a conference center, restaurants and complementary retail shops. The buildings exemplify innovation in sustainable design, including energy efficiency, the restoration of native habitat, natural hydrology, daylighting and the use of innovative materials and resources.

Lexington, Virginia

Richard Price of KWLS was the planner and development consultant for this new neighborhood of 24 affordable homes in historic Lexington, VA. The project was undertaken as a public / private partnership between the City of Lexington, a private developer, and multiple affordable housing development agencies.

The project started with an extensive public process, bringing together stakeholders in a multi-day charrette. The resulting design incorporates a wide-range of housing types in a new, walkable neighborhood. The project includes extensive use of green building techniques, including an integrated bioremediation storm water system.

The project subsequently received funding from the Virginia Housing Development Authority, and is currently under construction.