design, build, learn. repeat.

Biloxi’s draft Comprehensive Plan

This week, the City of Biloxi held a series of public meetings to solicit community input into the draft of the city’s new Comprehensive Plan (see an online version of the plan here). The plan, produced by Wallace Roberts & Todd, is nicely put together; but at 232 pages, it’s more than casual reading.  The draft plan: Focuses on the next 20-25 years. Will be revised to address public comments and a final Comprehensive Plan will be adopted by City Council. Will be implemented through the Land Development Ordinance, zoning adjustments, and city projects (roads, sidewalks, key buildings). So what …

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Moss Point Exhibit, 3

Last week’s Moss Point exhibit was a great success. It was well-attended by city officials and community leaders, designers, and interested citizens of Moss Point and neighboring communities. I took lots of photos, which you can see on Flickr (65 photos). WLOX News did a piece on the exhibit as well. Here’s a quick look at the exhibit and the events of the evening: See the rest of my photos on Flickr (65 photos).

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Moss Point Exhibit, 2

As part of the upcoming Moss Point exhibit, I’ve been working on five renderings highlighting various aspects of the plan for downtown Moss Point, Mississippi. It took about 50-60 hours to get them ready; I used color pencils combined computer renderings produced by Seth. There’s a lot of energy going into this exhibit, so we hope it will be well attended! See the Sun Herald article for more information. Without further ado, here are some of the images: A section-perspective cut through Moss Point’s downtown, through the waterfront and the new City Hall: A view of the proposed civic and …

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Moss Point Exhibit May 7 – June1

This is Your Downtown: The Future of Downtown Moss Point, Mississippi An exhibition from May 7th to June 1st, 2009 4836 Main Street, Moss Point, MS The vision for downtown is clear: a place where people can enjoy the beauty of the Escatawpa River, where locals and visitors can live, shop, and dine, and where modern facilities host the center of civic life and public services. The people of Moss Point, its leaders, and teams of architects, planners, and engineers have been working to make that vision a reality by improving waterfront parks, creating public buildings to make the city …

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Maurice Cox: ‘Design for All’

Coming rather late, here are my notes and thoughts from Maurice Cox’s October 13th lecture at the Tulane University School of Architecture. Maurice was my architecture studio professor in the spring of 4th year, and I’ve run into him since through his involvement with the City of Moss Point, Mississippi. He’s a brilliant guy, so there was no hesitation about heading over to New Orleans for the lecture. First, a little biographical information: Maurice Cox was appointed Director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts in October 2007 where he supervises the grant making process in design, oversees …

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The Trace, an Introduction

What has been your biggest project over the past month and a half, you ask? Why, I’ll tell you! It’s “The Trace”, a 28-house subdivision that Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast (HFHMGC) is developing in Long Beach, Mississippi. This is the first collaboration of this kind between the GCCDS and HFHMGC, and it’s been productive for both sides. Their goal is to develop a high-quality neighborhood that’s not bland and has more appeal than a “typical” Habitat development, and we’re providing them with some architectural and planning assistance. We have some great progress so far. Eleven different …

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Rezoning Oak Street?

Oak Street is one of the major commercial corridors in East Biloxi, and I’m part of a task force that’s looking at ways to revitalize the street and encourage residents and businesses to build back. We’re suggesting a zoning corridor along the street that would allow a greater mix of developments; to that end, we’re doing this survey to test people’s attitudes toward new types of development on their blocks. The responses are interesting; some people are tolerant of just about anything and eager to see any kind of rebuilding, while others are very specific about the kinds of activities …

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Friday Afternoon Refuses To End

As a way to pass the terribly dull hours of Friday afternoon, let’s wrap up what’s been going on this week: Compiled a spreadsheet of all the property on Oak Street (above) to help us determine what properties might need zoning changes or help rebuilding. Perversely, this was a lot of fun. Piles were driven for Hung’s house on Crawford Street (see previous post). Apparently, they ran into just about every obstacle under the sun, including a huge taproot about 6 feet down, but succeeded in the end. My floor plans for the Nguyen family (a four-bedroom house just across …

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Tax Day

It’s been quite a few days. The weekend was great — beautiful weather; haircut, bike shopping, Mockingbird Cafe and Rock Band in Bay St. Louis on Saturday; brunch at Jessie’s, football on the beach, and bad movie fest with Will and Jesse on Sunday. (Ninja Condors 13, Yor, the Hunter from the Future, and Fantasy Mission Force, if you’re curious). Now it’s cold – down to 48 tonight – and work is getting pretty intense as we prepare for the second Oak Street community meeting tonight. It should be a pretty good session as we get down and dirty with …

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Community Planning

Everything to do with community planning, including urban planning, community design, and activism.