Clemson University and Design Workshop lead week-long Hilton Head planning effort

Published: August 24, 2011

CLEMSON — For six intense days, students and faculty from Clemson’s School of Planning, Development, Preservation and Landscape Architecture are partnering with professionals from Design Workshop, a planning and design firm, to develop planning proposals for one of the nation’s best-known resort communities: Hilton Head Island.

Some 150 students from Clemson’s programs in city and regional planning, real estate development and landscape architecture will participate in the studio design process known as a charrette.

“The opportunity to work with professionals at the top of their game to reimagine a community like Hilton Head is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our students,” said Thomas Schurch, chairman of the school.

Ten students, accompanied by faculty, visited Hilton Head early in August to gather information about the island town. The site analysis included interviews with town officials and community stakeholders, site mapping, photography and data collection that will serve as the raw materials for the Design Week process.

“Design Week is a chance for our students to collaborate with planners and designers in a real-world setting on a real-world challenge,” said Mary Beth McCubbin, director of Clemson’s a.LINE.ments studio and Design Week organizer. “Clemson stresses the importance of engaging students directly in the learning process. You can’t get any more engaged than this. Every student will have a voice in the process, and the end product of their work will be proposals that the Hilton Head community may use to chart their future.”

Design Week activities include exercises in issues identification, community development, studio sessions and design reviews. A keynote address from Vince Graham, founder and president of the I’On Group of Mount Pleasant, is set for 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 26, at the Strom Thurmond Institute’s Self Auditorium. Final presentations by student teams are set for 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, in the same location.

While the focus on Hilton Head arises as a design assignment, town stakeholders have been involved from the very beginning helping to frame the project in a way that embodies contemporary issues. The town manager, planning manager, representatives from city hall, local developers and experts in local history and ecology participated in crafting the assignment.

“Like many resort communities,” said McCubbin, “Hilton Head faces social, environmental and economic pressures as they look to the future.”

Clemson’s Design Week leaders, along with Schurch and McCubbin, include Cliff Ellis, director of the city and regional planning program; Robert Benedict, director of the real estate development program; and Cari Goetcheus, associate professor of landscape architecture. From the Design Workshop side, CEO Kurt Culbertson, partner Glenn Walters and Scott Baker will lead the effort.

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Design Workshop
Design Workshop, recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects Firm of the Year Award in 2008, is an international firm practicing landscape architecture, land planning, urban design and strategic services planning. Design Week is part of Design Workshop’s core commitment to establishing strong links between education and practice. Beginning with Louisiana State University in 2003, Design Workshop has now sponsored Design Week events at a dozen universities across the nation, including Penn State, California Polytechnic, North Carolina A&T, Florida A&M, Ball State and Mississippi State.

School of Planning, Development, Preservation and Landscape Architecture
The Clemson University School of Planning, Development, Preservation and Landscape Architecture offers a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, and masters’ degrees in city and regional planning, historic preservation, landscape architecture and real estate development.