Recent Awards
Barranco Award for Architecture, 2012
Southlands: Agricultural Urbanism, 2010 Charter Award (Steve was charrette team member)
Planning Abaco, 2009 Charter Award (Steve was charrette team member)
Hertfordshire Guide to Growth - 2021, 2009 Charter Award (Steve was charrette team member)
SmartCode, 2009 Charter Award (Steve is contributor)
A Living Tradition [Architecture of the Bahamas], 2008 Charter Award
City of Leander, Texas Code, 2007 Driehaus Form-Based Codes Award
Katrina Cottage VIII, 2007 Charter Award
Mississippi Renewal Forum, 2006 Arthur Ross Award
Selected Projects
Alys Beach
Steve was commissioned to photograph the architecture of Bermuda and Antigua Guatemala, which became the basis for the architecture of Alys Beach. He then participated in DPZ’s charrette to develop the land plan. Later, a dozen New Urban Guild members designed the first houses there at what was the first “modern-day” Guild charrette. Several of Steve’s designs are built there.
Lost Rabbit
Steve worked on DPZ’s original planning charrette for the Town of Lost Rabbit, and later led the New Urban Guild architecture charrette. It was at the end of this charrette that the Transmission Device of Living Traditions was finally discovered; Steve had been searching for it since 1980. This breakthrough became the foundation for many advances since, including the Living Tradition series of books. Steve is not the only beneficiary of this breakthrough, as others are now building on its worth.
The Waters
Steve led the planning team that designed the Waters, near Montgomery, Alabama. He is also Town Architect there. The Waters has served as the most extensive laboratory to date for testing Steve’s ideas about living traditions, and refining his Town Architect methods. The Waters was recently included on the Magical Mystery Tour leading up to Congress for the New Urbanism 18 with such illustrious places as Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach, Hampstead, Mount Laurel, and Serenbe.
Mississippi Renewal Forum
The Mississippi Renewal Forum, likely the largest planning event in human history with a team of nearly 200 professionals working in the same massive room to redesign the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, began with a phone call from Mississippi to Steve. Realizing the enormity of the project, he enlisted the help of his friend Andrés Duany, who enlisted the help of the Congress for the New Urbanism. The Architecture Team at the Forum was composed almost entirely of New Urban Guild members. Numerous other Guild members worked as planners on other teams.
Sky
Steve has been involved with Sky since the original DPZ planning charrette, which was the site of several notable advances in New Urbanist thinking. The seeds of what was to become Agrarian Urbanism were planted here, thanks in large part to Steve’s work on self-sufficient homesteads and hamlets. More recently, Steve developed the Sky Method, which is re-structures the entire development process in a more organic manner so as to bypass America’s broken development financing system. Steve serves on the board of the Sky Institute. Sky’s Town Founder is New Urban Guild member Julie Sanford.
Schooner Bay
Steve was commissioned to write A Living Tradition [Architecture of the Bahamas] by Orjan Lindroth, the Town Founder of Schooner Bay. He was at DPZ’s planning charrette for Schooner Bay, and led two New Urban Guild charrettes for architecture at Schooner Bay, in addition to designing numerous building schematics outside of the charrettes to test various aspects of the architecture there.
Southlands
Steve was one of several New Urban Guild members who worked on DPZ’s Southlands charrette. Steve’s work focused heavily on agriculture, including the Agricultural Precinct. It was at Southlands that Steve was finally able to put together his long-sought “moral imperative for agriculture,” whereby a developer would see that it was both in the interest of the project and also in his own best interest to include the lands that feed the people as part of the project.
Rose Town
Steve has worked on two charrettes sponsored by the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment in Rose Town, a desperately poor neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica. He developed a highly innovative “proverb code,” which was adopted by the people in a most surprising way, as you can read in this account.
Recent Activities
Gorham’s Bluff Town Architect & Town Planner: 2001 - present
New Urban Guild Founder: 2001 - present
Providence Town Architect: 2002 - present
Moss Rock Preserve Town Architect: 2002 - present
The Waters Town Architect & Town Planner: 2003 - 2008
Form-Based Codes Institute Board of Directors: 2004 - 2005
University of Miami School of Architecture Lecturer: 2004 - present
Guild Foundation Board of Directors: 2005 - present
Katrina Cottage Initiative: 2005 - present
Original Green Initiative: 2005 - present
South Main Town Architect: 2006 - 2007
Sky Institute Board of Directors: 2007 - present
INTBAU - USA Board of Directors: 2008 - present
US Green Building Council Technical Advisory Group: 2008 - present
Project:SmartDwelling Initiative: 2009 - present
New Urban Bloggers Founder: 2009 - present
Transect Codes Council: 2009 - present
