Placemaking: The Anson Community

Boone County, Indiana
Client: Duke Realty Corporation

This ambitious 1,700-acre, master-planned community, when fully developed, will provide single-family homes, apartments and condominiums for more than 6,000 new residents and will effectively multiply the local Whitestown, Indiana population by more than thirteen times. Duke Realty has stated its goal to make Anson a distinctive and vibrant community where people can live, work, shop, play and even enjoy the safety and health benefits provided by local emergency medical facilities and physicians’ offices. More than 4,000 jobs are already coming to Anson’s commerce district with even more created by the retailers and service providers located in the retail/mixed-use districts.

As project landscape architect, Andy Albright was instrumental in the detailed development of all streetscapes, signage, civic spaces, greenways and parks that are woven into the fabric of Anson as a foundation for quality of life. The forms, colors and materials of these spaces and monuments create the vocabulary of Anson’s identity.

Between 2004 and 2009, Andy developed planting plans, trail alignments, monument signage and paving pattern & color specifications for 33 miles of new roads and streetscape enhancements, 13 miles of which have already been built. During that time he helped plan more than 200 acres of dedicated open space with the charge of ensuring that these spaces are easily accessible, respond to the land’s natural systems, soften the impact of development on the land, provide a balance of active and passive recreational opportunities, and celebrate the history upon which this community is being built. In 2006, Andy helped develop and compile the Anson Community Standards, including guidelines for the development of all future roads, streetscapes and signage.

Prime site consultant: CONTEXT, LLC.
Select photography by Chris Bucher.
All images used with permission.