Design Services

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DCA's Design Services Unit in the Office of Downtown Development serves local governments throughout Georgia with a wide range of conceptual design assistance. Priority is given to Main Street, Better Hometown, and Urban Georgia Network cities. However, time and budget permitting, DCA's design staff also supports county governments, special requests from the Office of Regional Services and DCA special initiatives such as Quality Growth Resource Teams.

Design services are greatly enhanced by DCA's partnerships with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the University of Georgia's School of Environmental Design. To optimize these partnerships, DCA Design Services staff, student designers, and the Georgia Trust's designer are all located at the Broad Street Studio on the UGA campus in Athens. Included are landscape architects, city planners, graphic designers and historic preservation specialists. The activities listed below are typical of the unit's technical assistance. However, other design-related activities are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Architectural and Historic Preservation Services:

• Façade rehabilitation drawings and specifications
  
• Paint colors and signage recommendations
  
• Presentations to local governments, planning commissions, etc. on downtown historic preservation opportunities and issues
  
• "Brick and mortar" training workshops teaching hands-on techniques for restoring and preserving old buildings
  

Urban Design Services:

• Review and assistance in drafting of landscape, parking, and sign ordinances
  
• Schematic streetscape design
  
• Intown and historic neighborhood infill design assistance
  
• Corridor management and traffic planning assistance
  
• Conceptual design assistance for communities considering redevelopment of "white elephant" and brownfield sites, neighborhood commercial areas, and mixed use sites.
  
• Landscape horticultural assistance for public and community buildings
  
• Park, recreation and trail system planning and design

Downtown Marketing Assistance:

• Designs and specifications for wayfinding system graphics and welcome signs
  
• Limited design assistance with preparation of brochures, websites and other marketing/promotional products supporting downtown revitalization and tourism

Design services are available by completing a Design Services request form. For more information or referrals contact your DCA regional office or call Steve Storey at 706-583-2734.

View/Download Design Services request form [pdf]

Designing Downtown (the website) [offsite]
Member site for downloads and uploads with regards to design services.

Designing Downtown (the manual - 12MB) [pdf]
A forty-page guide to good design downtown.

Intensive Assistance through Community Design Charrettes:
Each year, UGA's School of Environmental Design conducts several design charrettes. The charrette process involves bringing a team of university faculty and students to a community for several days to give the community a "design makeover." Typically the visit begins with team members interviewing local leaders and citizens and surveying the project area. The charrette team then works intensively to prepare sketches, concept plans and maps for a public presentation that occurs on the final day of the visit. The goal of a charrette is to help local actors articulate their vision into focused plans for action. To assist the community once the team leaves, a follow-up written report is delivered a few weeks after the visit. This document summarizes team recommendations, provides a suggested timeline and funding strategy and identifies additional resources to accomplish charrette goals. For more information, contact UGA's Center for Community Design and Preservation. [offsite]

View/download past charrette reports.