TSW has invited five local organizations to participate in the firm’s first-ever Open Studio design workshop on Thursday, November 9. We are dividing our architects, planners, and landscape architects into multidisciplinary teams to work in partnership with each of the organizations on a particular design/planning challenge during an intensive, full-day session. The results will be provided to the organizations pro-bono at the end of the day.

The organizations participating in this year’s event are:

• Central Atlanta Progress (Auburn Ave. programming and site design)
• City of Decatur (Avary-Fulton House Historic renovation and site planning)
• Georgia Tech (Rich Complex renovation and space planning)
• Georgia Trust for Public Land (Chattahoochee River ecological project)
• Newport US RE, L.P. (Broad Street redesign and placemaking)

“We spent a lot of time researching potential design and planning projects that will have a positive impact on our city and region before we extended invitations to participate in the Open Studio,” said Bryan Bays, PLA and senior principal of TSW.  “We are very pleased that the groups we invited are just as excited about the day-long workshop as we are. TSW is known for its interdisciplinary approach to creative design and planning, and we wanted to amplify that strength through the Open Studio. We carefully created multidisciplinary project teams for each of the clients, making sure team members were positioned where their skill sets and passions could shine. I think this will spark a new kind of creative thinking and lead to some exciting results for our participating organizations.”

Prior to the Open Studio event, TSW staff will meet with the organizations and conduct site visits to learn as much as possible in advance about each of the design challenges. At the end of the workshop, each team will make a brief presentation to the entire group about the results of their sessions. Sponsors for the Open Studio include ABC Imaging, Kompan Playground Solutions, Cherokee Brick, Forms+Surfaces, Sesco Lighting, ForeverLawn, Ameristar Fence Products and USA Shades & Fabric Structures.