ADC
The Appalachian Design Center connects communities with volunteer architects, engineers, graphic designers, landscape designers, and planners. We partner place-based expertise with technical expertise, supporting local strengths and addressing local challenges with design.
Get Involved
Is your community figuring out how to approach rebuilding after Hurricane Helene? Are you a professional who wants to contribute to our region’s recovery? Connect with us.
How We Work
We only work in communities where we have been invited and we offer our program pro bono. Our design teams start by listening. We engage residents, business owners and leaders in a community-driven design process that yields plans reflecting their local values, aspirations, and capacity. ADC engages Southern Appalachian communities in locally led design and planning projects to promote healthy, thriving and equitable places.
Where We Work
Not everyone has easy access to a designer. ADC focuses our work in communities lacking the technical and administrative capacity to address their design challenges. You’ll usually find us working in small towns, underserved neighborhoods, and rural communities in Southern Appalachia. Some of our current partnerships include Bakersville, Hot Springs, Marshall, and Swannanoa.
Don’t see your community?
Want to work with us?
About
The Appalachian Design Center builds on two decades of experience that the Asheville Design Center brought to MountainTrue when the two organizations merged in 2017. After Hurricane Helene, MountainTrue launched the new ADC to develop Recovery and Resilience Plans with the most impacted Southern Appalachian communities.
Our Volunteers
Our design teams include architects, engineers, graphic designers, landscape architects, and planners who have pledged volunteer hours and are committed to regional recovery in Southern Appalachia. We bring a multi-disciplinary team of volunteers to every project to produce the most well-rounded solutions.
Have design/ facilitation/
other skills? Want to help?
Our Coordinating Team
MountainTrue staff will connect your community with our design volunteers. We will work with local leaders to coordinate community engagement, direct the design process, and deliver tailored, community-driven Recovery and Resilience Plans to guide implementation and attract investment. ADC is committed to working alongside communities through the implementation phase, assisting with identifying funding opportunities and building partnerships to realize the community’s vision.
David Bahena-Gutierrez
Student Intern
Fae Elkin
Student Intern
Abby Kopp
Student Intern
Autumn Welling
Student Intern
Advisory Council
Jane Margaret Bell AICP, Water Resources Planner at Land of Sky Regional Council
Emily Coleman-Wolf AIA, LFA, LEED APBD+C, Project Manager for Wolf & Associates
Duncan McPherson AIA, LEED AP, Principal at Altura Architects
Betsy del Monte AIA, LFA, LEED APBD+C, Architect and Consultant at Cameron Macallister, and Lecturer at Clemson School of Architecture
Joel Osgood RLA + ASLA, Founder and Principal at Osgood Landscape Architecture
Help our region recover
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