Loudoun County Design Cabinet Honored With Board of Supervisors Resolution
Today 10 years of service by the Loudoun County Design Cabinet was recognized with a Loudoun County Board of Supervisors resolution of commendation. The cabinet is composed of 13 architects, engineers, planners and landscape architects who volunteer through the Loudoun County Department of Economic Development, and the members average 20 years of experience working or living in Loudoun. Their design-related projects include community-focused charrettes and the annual Signatures of Loudoun Design Excellence awards competition.
“The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors wishes to express their deepest appreciation to all members of the Loudoun County Design Cabinet, for their gracious and devoted service to the county, and for their skilled advice, mentorship and overall contributions towards making Loudoun a community of high quality design,” stated the conclusion of the resolution, which was presented by Chairman Scott K. York at a special 10-year anniversary meeting.
For the Design Cabinet, the anniversary marks a decade of their work to recognize the links between great communities and high quality design.
“It’s what we’ve been about for years; great communities don’t just happen,” said Design Cabinet Chairman Alan Hansen of DBI Architects. “Skilled design professionals, preferably stakeholders, need to take the time to understand what a community wants to be ‘when it grows up’ and stay out in front of the continuous but changing economic pressures.
“Loudoun is an exceptional community for business and for living, in part because of the emphasis on and attention to, design excellence. We’re fortunate that the leadership of Loudoun County Government understood this a decade ago when we were founded, and we appreciate their continued support today.”
During the past 10 years, the cabinet has completed 25 charrettes in communities throughout Loudoun County. These three-hour sessions involve community members, often working together for the first time, discussing their design-related issues and then working with the cabinet members and other participants to begin creating solutions. Some of the concepts developed have addressed using design to enhance community business corridors in Loudoun’s towns, creating a community skate park in Purcellville, and improving complex traffic issues in eastern Loudoun developments.
The Signatures of Loudoun Design Excellence awards program has recognized 83 of Loudoun’s commercial, residential, public and private structures and design features since its inception in 2005. The program’s annual nominations process will begin again in January.
More information on the Design Cabinet is available online at biz.loudoun.gov/designcabinet.