SDAT (Sustainable Design Assessment Team) is coming to town!

We are pleased to announce the preliminary visit for the AIA (American Institute of Architects) national grant is this Thursday, September 10 - Friday, September 11. We are hoping to find community partners to join us for tours of our neighborhood and perhaps even host a meal for the three visitors!

Although there are many parts of Downtown that are not specifically listed for this visit, we are going to do our best to visit as many of the great spots around town. If you have suggestions or recommendations, please let us know! We have enabled "comments" on this entry.

We also are looking for meal hosts - we are hoping to introduce the SDAT to the great restaurants and food options around the neighborhood. Suggestions thus far have included: The Pantry, Grand Central Market, and Dawna Nolan's home. We've got two more meals - breakfast and lunch (possibly) - what would you recommend?

The green indicates sites we hope to see on Thursday. The blue indicates sites we hope to see on Friday. Let us know if you want to meet us at a site by emailing sustainability@dlanc.com

View SDAT Preliminary Visit Locations in a larger map


Here's our proposed itinerary - details are still being worked out!

Who's coming and what do they want?
We have requested resumes for all visitors this week, including Joel Mills, Walter Sedovic, and Erin Simmons.

Walter Sedovic, AIA, LEED AP and SDAT Project Team Leader
Mr. Sedovic is principal and chief executive officer of Walter Sedovic Architects, founded in 1986 and dedicated to historic preservation and sustainable design. His work and firm are recognized as representing the vanguard of infusing preservation projects with green building approaches. Sedovic has lectured and published widely on preservation and sustainability. He received training in historic preservation from the University of Kansas and the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome, Italy.

Joel Mills, AIA Center for Communities by Design
Mr. Mills serves as director of the AIA Center for Communities by Design, the primary resource for architects and citizens interested in building healthy, sustainable, safe, and livable communities. His experience includes community-based technical assistance, process design, facilitation and training across a number of fields including juvenile justice reform, local government, education, family strengthening, civic media and emergency management. During the 1990s, Joel spent several years supporting international democratization initiatives by providing technical assistance to parliaments, political parties, local governments, and civic and international organizations. His scope of work included constitutional design and governing systems, voter and civic education, election monitoring and administration, human rights, and civil society capacity building.

Erin Simmons, AIA Center for Communities by Design
Ms. Simmons leads selected initiatives involving community outreach and facilitation to foster leadership opportunities for AIA members, AIA local components, and the public. She focuses on the relationship-building aspects of creating healthy, sustainable, safe, and livable communities. Erin manages the design assistance programs offered through the Center including the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) and Regional and Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT) programs. Erin holds a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia, College of Environment and Design. She earned her BA degree in history from Florida State University.