Urban Design Placemaking Events & Charrettes

Excursion: Classical Architecture in Atlanta

If you visit the Millennium Gate monument in Atlanta, GA, you will see the name of Opticos Principal Daniel Parolek carved into its base as one of the original designers. In 2000, Dan was one of 10 winners of an international design competition sponsored by Richard Driehaus to design a gateway for Washington, D.C. The jurors who selected the winning designs included Leon Krier, Robert AM Stern, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Dan and the other winners participated in a five-day design charrette held at the National Cathedral to develop the plans for the gate.

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The 10 winners of the Millennium Gate design competition are carved into the base of the monument.

A monument based on this design was ultimately built in Atlanta’s Atlantic Station neighborhood. Completed in July 2008, the Millennium Gate was the largest classical monument to be built in the U.S. since the Jefferson Memorial opened in Washington, D.C., in 1943. Atlantic Station is the former brownfield site of the Atlantic Steel mill, which was finally closed in 1998. Developer Jim Jacoby championed the energy-efficient, mixed-use project, a goal of which was to mitigate urban sprawl in Atlanta; Atlantic Station has won several awards and certificates for environmental design.

Atlanta will play host to the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference this month. Dan will be at the conference to talk about Form-Based Codes on Sat., April 26 and Missing Middle housing on Sun., April 27. He will also host an informal discussion about best practices in Form-Based Coding on Mon., April 28, at the Omni Hotel.

Click here to download the full schedule of official conference events, but be sure to save some time to visit the Millennium Gate monument and take a look at the surrounding Atlantic Station neighborhood, which is a great example of brownfield redevelopment and Missing Middle housing.

Visit the Millennium Gate’s website for directions and more information.

Featured image courtesy of Brendan Lim.