Better Communities By Design
Created in 1970, the East Tennessee Community Design Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that works with community groups in urban and rural East Tennessee. The Community Design Center organizes people, ideas and resources to facilitate positive change in economically distressed and isolated communities in the region. The sixteen Tennessee counties served by the Community Design Center are: Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Hamblen, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Monroe, Morgan, Roane, Scott, Sevier and Union.
On the Boards
Here are the projects that the East Tennessee Community Design Center has “on the boards” at present. Recently we have had a number of requests for help on land planning and landscape projects that have kept our landscape architectural students and volunteers very busy.
James White Parkway Landscape Plan
As you merge from James White Parkway to Neyland Drive, on your right is a large white wall. Our client, the Dogwood
Arts Festival, asked the Design Center to develop some site planning options to address the 84-foot kudzu-covered retaining
wall and the barren green space. The design team is considering some flowering trees for the green areas, attractive new
fencing and may want to borrow those kudzu eating goats.
Open Doors of Tennessee
Open Doors of Tennessee, Anderson County, (a service provider to children with disabilities) has procured 6.5 acres of
wooded property to be used as part of their camp program. The Design Center is developing a site plan to include a playground,
splashpad, barn, pond for fishing and canoeing, a camping area in teepees with bathhouse and walking trails.
http://www.opendoorstn.com/index.php?page=camp
17th Street Enhancements
This project is beginning developed for the Historical Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association. The group has located the
actual site of the historic fort and wants to create an educational walking tour about the former fort location. The Design
Center is developing a site plan that locates the footprint of the fort, visitor signage near the Redeemer Church on 17th St,
and medallions that will be placed into the sidewalk throughout the walking tour.
Island Home Park and Boulevard
The beautiful Island Home neighborhood is rich in mature shade trees, some of which have reached the end of their lives.
The Design Center has been asked by the neighborhood association to help develop a 20-year plan for the replacement of
these trees as needed within the park and along the boulevard to ensure that this quality of life remains in the community.
In addition we are addressing the need for accessible access to the playground for strollers and improving the fishing docks.
http://ihpna.net/
City of Knoxville Façade Program
This program has been a contributing partner for the facelifts that can be seen throughout the city within many of the empowerment zones. The Design Center provides ideas for the restoration of existing buildings that face Broadway, Central, Magnolia and other city streets that include replacement of altered windows, canopies, paint colors, doors, lighting and signage. See guidelines at http://archive.knoxmpc.org/plans/dguides/facades.pdf. Below you will see some of the façade projects that are currently under redesign.
Ideal Cleaners occupies a former 1920’s gas station at 2742 Martin Luther King Blvd. The design team is developing drawings to return this Mediterranean style stucco and brick building with tile roof to its former glory.
2742 Martin Luther King Blvd. (existing)
Goodstein & Hahn’s architecture firm previously occupied the building at 825 N. Central Ave, which is now a lawyer’s office. This circa 1920s building had undergone a modernist remodel in the early 60s. The design team is looking at options to return the building to its roots.
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Just Completed!!
These projects have recently been finished by the design team and been delivered to the clients to start their public awareness and fundraising.
TPA Learning & Resource Center
Triangle Park Association (TPA) in Harriman asked the Design Center to develop a new facility for them to be placed on the foundation
of a dilapidated existing structure that must be demolished. The proposed Learning and Resource Center, adjacent to F.R. Davis Park,
would be a base from which to facilitate and organize educational programs, community events, homecomings, and help churches and other
community based service organizations. TPA enthusiastically received the contemporary design as a catalyst for both physical and
social improvements throughout the community.
Fairview Recreation Center
The project, which is located in the historic neighborhood of Mechanicsville, was to upgrade the existing facility with an expanded
children’s waiting area, accessible bathrooms and a refreshing redesign of the front façade. We also added an open-air
porch with benches and an outdoor picnic area.
New Salem Baptist Church
This small brick church was built in 1886 along Middle Creek in Sevierville by Issac Dockery and the local community craftsmen and
served the African American community there. The Dockery Association, which is trying to restore the building, asked the Design
Center for restoration planning assistance and to create a cultural heritage center inside the church. The building, which sits
in a floodplain, has sustained extensive water damage over the years. Before the restoration and renovation can be done, preventing
future water damage must be addressed. Knox Heritage has taken the work completed by the Design Center and has funded a study to
determine what steps need to be taken to protect the structure from Middle Creek.
Recent News
February 8, 2010 - Download the 2009 ETCDC Annual Report
ETCDC held is annual 500 Block of Gay Street Fundraiser and Tour on Thursday, June 17, 2010. The event has become a Knoxville tradition and an eagerly anticipated fundraiser for the Design Center.