Project Description
Albemarle County Offices at Fifth Street
Charlottesville, Virginia
Originally constructed as a bank operations center in 1995, the County purchased the property twelve years later and converted the building into office space. Redevelopment of the campus will significantly enhance the pedestrian and landscape realm, creating a natural park setting that weaves together new circulation patterns, natural systems ecologies, cultural history, and compelling open spaces.
A geometric arrangement of walks, orchards, fence rows, cedar groves, and pollinator pastures prominently anchor the site entrance. Parking medians are converted into parking fencerow habitats using resilient, native pioneer specie plantings. An interconnected series of compelling pedestrian spaces create an organizational framework around the perimeter of the property and engage the surrounding neighborhood. Woodlands, meadows, dells, and evergreen overlooks, reference the areas rich natural resources and support local biodiversity.
Hydrology systems and ecologies are restored by capturing surface water and redirecting it into native grass filters, intermittent stream courses, braided stream rain gardens, vernal pools, and planting trenches. Landscape maintenance will transition from traditional mowing, fertilizing, and spraying to a natural soil building strategy that creates a more resilient landscape requiring no chemical inputs and irrigation water.