WAAC professors and students create visionary scenarios for Annapolis in the year 2060 at charrette to address economic, ecological, and demographic pressures

What will Annapolis look like in the year 2060?

A group of Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) faculty and students were among several universities to accept the challenge of imagining - - and designing - - the answer to that question when they participated in a recent design charrette sponsored by the enVISIONing Annapolis Foundation. The WAAC team worked on long-term strategies that address how Annapolis might adapt to the many economic, ecological, and demographic pressures it is already facing.

Participating from Virginia Tech were Architecture Professors Paul Emmons (who served as the team leader) and Marcia Feuerstein, Landscape Architecture Professor Laurel McSherry, and Adjunct Professors Steven Siebert and Leo Salom. Ellen Sullivan, a Ph.D. student, graduate architecture students Lesley Golenor, Matthew Valentine, Josh Housdan, and Beth Barrett, undergraduate architecture student Michael Ford and undergraduate landscape architecture student Ryan Catlett.

The charrette was one in a year long series of workshops and public presentations planned for the purpose of sharing relevant examples from around the world, exploring alternative conceptual futures for the city of Annapolis, and identifying areas that deserve further careful study. enVISIONing Annapolis will use all the results from these events to help the city envision and explore its many possible futures.

enVISIONing Annapolis is dedicated to exploring alternative futures and embraces the idea of thinking globally to define a vision of the future that preserves the best of the past while enhancing the quality of life for future generations.

Posted May 1, 2008