A view of the stage at Heritage Park
Another month has gone by and that means another month of ETCDC project work has progressed. Below you'll find a list of where our current projects stand as of the middle of May, 2023.
- Our project in Union County to design a music wall of fame morphed over the previous year to include the designs for an entire park! Heritage Park, located next to Union County High School, will feature the originally-planned music wall honoring local artists such a Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins, but will now include several additional features. The park design also features an expansion of the existing farmers market building, a performance stage, ample parking, a zone for food trucks and dining, and a space in front of the stage that can be partitioned off to become pedestrian-only. The design volunteer was Oren Yarborough, AIA, of Design Innovation Architects. The construction volunteer was Randy Merritt of The Christman Company, who provided a schematic budget for the work.
Heritage Park Music Wall of Fame
- Family Promise of Knoxville, which helps families on the verge of experiencing homelessness, met with us recently to have a final review of designs before we create a final presentation package for them. They are seeking a redesign of their existing office space as well as a site plan for family housing on the property they currently own. Our final presentation meeting with them will be sometime at the end of this month. Our design volunteer is Adam Buchanan, AIA, with MHM Architects
Family Promise design review meeting.
Adam Buchanan, AIA, is on the left.
- After a brief hiatus, our work with SEEED and volunteer Don Horton, AIA, of Horton Sustainability is back in action. SEEED stands for Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development, and they requested our help in designing a large, mixed-use building to house their offices along Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue here in Knoxville. Our first design review meeting of the project will be coming sometime this month!
- The Burlington Lighthouse is moving to the design phase after the completion of a structural analysis by volunteer Bobby Haines of Haines Structural Group and Doug Kennedy of Johnson & Galyon Construction. The analysis looked at the existing conditions of the former Greater Warner sanctuary and education building in Burlington, which the Lighthouse hopes to convert into a multi-use community center. After the large stakeholder meeting, seen below, where design volunteer Gregor Smee, AIA, of Smee + Busby Architects reviewed the assessment, the gathered locals had a Q&A with the volunteers. The Board of Directors for the Lighthouse will have to decide whether to demolish or renovate the existing buildings, and once that is complete we will move forward with the programming and design.
Burlington Lighthouse meeting
- Faith N’ Friends, a horse rescue and sanctuary in Knox County, met us for their first programming meeting a few weeks ago. The project is now in the early stages of design thanks to our volunteer is Suzanne Holbrook, who has previous experience in equestrian design.
- The Fountain City Recreation Commission recently met at our office with our volunteers, Allison Montgomery, AIA, and Aaron Miller, AIA, of MHM Architects, to review the first iterations of the designs for the Fountain City Ballfields. The volunteers provided nearly two-dozen potential layouts for the redesign of the ballfields and the Commission discussed strategy and priorities for the eventual master plan. With the new information in hand, Allsion and Aaron will refine the designs and we will meet again with the Commission in a few months.
Fountain City Ballfields meeting
Finally, we have a three other projects about to begin: an urban garden and building design for SHORA (with volunteer Brandon Pace, AIA, of Sanders Pace Architects), a public input process for a park in Maryville with Foothills Conservancy, and the design for a park pavilion in Gatlinburg with the Gatlinburg Heritage Foundation. Make sure you're signed up for our volunteer list so that when the call for future volunteers goes out for the Maryville and Gatlinburg projects, you'll know!