FAQ

Antioch College is considering developing multigenerational housing on its campus, called the Antioch College Village. Its goals for this neighborhood are to:

• enable the most environmentally sustainable lifestyle possible through design;
• create walkable and bikable places — connected to nature and accessible to students and residents;
• include a variety of housing types and tenancies to increase options for Yellow Springs living;
• increase the number of families who will use our schools and help spread our tax burdens;
• leverage Yellow Springs’ natural strengths as a destination for those who want to live in an intimate environment of arts and education;
• add new residents that help support the College and nearby downtown businesses;
• build a diverse community of life-long learners.

Charrette is a French word that in English translates to “little cart.” At the École des Beaux-Arts, a famous architecture school in 19th century Paris, students would continue sketching as little carts carried their drawing boards away to be judged and graded.

Today, charrette has come to describe a rapid, intensive, and creative work session in which a design team focuses on a particular design problem and arrives at a collaborative solution. Charrettes are formatted to encourage the exchange of dialogue, allowing residents, stakeholders, and designers to brainstorm on new ideas and evaluate multiple options.

If you want to learn more about Antioch College Village and shape the form of this new development, plan to attend some or all of the charrette events. Students, alumni, faculty, Yellow Springs residents and property owners, and anyone interested in sustainable development practices are invited!

Living Community Challenge is an exciting new program that helps planners and developers rethink how they design community-scale projects. It defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today. The criteria — which address Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty — will be goals for new development at Antioch College Village.

From March 1-5, 2015, a team of sustainable design experts will be working with Antioch College and the Yellow Springs community to refine the above goals and develop a plan for Antioch College Village.

The charrette will kick off with an interactive, public hands-on design workshop, where participants will discuss and draw their ideas. The design team will then set up a studio on site where they will work rapidly to synthesize input, draw ideas and create a draft vision and plan. The studio will be open to the public throughout the week for drop-in discussions. Another public session will occur at the close of the charrette where participants review the draft ideas and give their feedback.

Yes! Periodic updates will be posted at antiochcollege.org.

In addition to the charrette meetings, interested community members can also participate and continue the conversation online at antiochcollege.mindmixer.com Opens a New Window. . In this “virtual town hall”, stakeholders and community members can generate ideas, help others evolve their ideas, and ultimately prioritize the best ideas for the Antioch College Village.