Community and Design

I grew up in the small-town atmosphere of the rural region of northern Greenville County in South Carolina, a place today that is experiencing rapid growth. From my childhood, memories of farmland, pasture, and empty fields with the painted backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains behind them still exist in my mind. I remember days of watching summer storm clouds billow up in front of the hills and march across the sky towards my home. Seeing the sheets of rain fall like blankets, a wall of water and mist, the smell of rain still lingering in my nostrils. Today, those same fields and pastures have hundreds of cookie-cutter homes with sodded yards, stick-like ornamental trees, black asphalt streets, and rarely used concrete sidewalks baking in the southern sun. Mass developments with storm drains, catch basins, and huge berms of earth from the poorly planned grading. The rolling hills and terraces from two centuries of farm work molded into flat parcels with steep divisions between lots, symbolizing the harsh climb away from the lands heritage.

From that young age, I knew I wanted to do something that involved drawing. I can recall memories of sketches of buildings from my imagination. I drew floor plans of homes, laid out new ideas, and thought about ways to improve my childhood home. Though looking back, the poorly developed precedents might have had no merit in design or stellar improvements, I see the beginnings of what would fuel my passion for design today. A desire to create.

Now after completing an education in architecture and having worked in the design and construction industry, I now see my place in my community.