Over the past six months I have worked with Elena Scott of Norris Design, Joel Price of JVA and the Nederland Community Center Site Plan Steering Committee to create a master site plan to guide the development of their Community Center into the future. We sketched and discussed multiple schemes with the Steering Committee and the residents of Nederland.
As we prepared for a community wide design presentation we wanted to communicate the idea that the different elements of the site: buildings, roads, parking, gardens and storm water systems could be thought of as a “kit of parts”, recombinable into a number of different designs. To express this we presented the idea of the site and its elements as being like Mr. Potato Head. Elements combined in different ways could change the character of the site:
The overall scope of work for the development of the Nederland Community Center is divided into seventeen phases to be undertaken over the next twenty five years. The phases include: changes to storm water flow and retention systems; reconfiguring traffic flow; creating new landscape elements; changing vehicular circulation; updating buildings; and adding community gathering space.
We believe that the final scheme balances the needs of the community, reflects the character of the town, and will create a strong sense of place that will resonate with the community to engender the appreciation, care, and support of the site far into the future.