Athens Resource Center for the Homeless

Koons Environmental Design, Inc. was chosen by Athens Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) to determine the total acreage needed to accommodate the resource center’s diverse community development program. The program included a variety of emergency and transitional shelter types, a childcare center, a health care and supportive services center and open green space.

The approach used to analyze the size of the potential development was multi-tiered. First, it was decided to work backwards to determine the potential size of the development by analyzing the area required to build a community that would include the various program requirements and preferences.

Second, the client’s desire that the development resemble a neighborhood suggested the use of Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) as a template for the initial layout of the program elements.

Third, the program requirements and TND principles were combined with local zoning standards to create an ideal neighborhood from which a target parcel size could be extracted.

The resulting site needs assessment included a series of concepts that were schematic in nature and served as visual tools in analyzing the potential size of the parcel(s) required to accommodate this important community development.