Atlanta, Where Urbanism and Suburb-ism Collide

Atlanta is arguably an elongated, suburban version of a dense US city making it different amongst cities like New York, Boston and DC. And as an architect and designer, we take on many Atlanta projects that have the goals of a residential home one might picture in "Stepford", Connecticut, yet we are placing it in dense, complex environments which create unique challenges.

There are three major sky scraper clusters in Atlanta that have a significant presence of high and mid-rise building:

1. Downtown – mostly businesses;

2. Midtown – highly concentrated with residential;

3. and Buckhead – a mix of business and residential.

In between each of these clusters of high-rises which connect Atlanta are residential neighborhoods containing single and multi-family structures, strip malls, malls, small and large restaurants, mom and pop shops, various entertainment venues and so on.  Atlanta's neighborhoods are so diverse: you can have a large single family home with the amity of a quaint small town neighborhood setting and the wit and warmth of a Norman Rockwell scene, overlooking several skylines littered with high-rises. 

Taking on larger single-family home projects in a city that embraces urbanism and small neighborhood ideals presents many challenges that we lovingly try to solve for our clients.

In a series of new blog posts, we will explore the principles of urbanism in Atlanta and how we harmonize the goals of our clients that need larger scale residential homes in people and retail rich areas.

As it relates to design (architecture, interior design, and building), we’ll explore the following principles in our series:

1. Sustainability

2. Connectivity

3. Walkability

4. Mixed-Use & Diversity

5. Mixed Housing

6. Quality Architecture & Urban Design

7. Traditional Neighborhood Structure

8. Increased Density

9. Green Transportation

10. Quality of Life