Development History
Southern Village is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina approximately 32-miles from the city of Raleigh. Chapel Hill is a small southern town that encompasses approximately 21 square miles and has a population of approximately 52,000 residents.
Chapel Hill is home of the main campus of the University of North Carolina and its predominant development pattern is in the form of single-family detached homes.
Bryan Properties originally developed southern Village’s residential development and the Montgomery Development Carolina Corporation developed the mixed-use core. The development covers an area of approximately 312-acres and features 1,175 residential units in the form of 550 single-family detached homes, 375 townhomes and condominiums and 250 apartments resulting in an overall density yield of 3.8 units per acre.
Within the mixed-use core, over 350,000 square feet of retail and commercial space is occupied by businesses that range from a cinema to medical offices. In addition to the mixed-use core there is a church located within the development as well as a public school.
Design Analysis
The design strategy for Southern Village employed principles of New Urbanism in its planning and implementation. The design created a mixed-use core that would be accessible via pedestrian movement from any location within the development.
The mixed-use core serves as the cultural center for the community and features a wide variety of retail shops, professional offices and civic open spaces. The main open space in the mixed-use core has a hardscaped performance space that is utilized for a variety of events and activities throughout the year.
The residential portions of the development offer a diverse range of housing-types to meet the needs of every segment of the population. The design has sited the apartments and townhomes in close proximity to the mixed-use core, as well as providing residential options in the upper floors of the buildings that comprise the core.
The single-family detached homes are sited farther from the mixed-use core and feature a wide-range of home sizes and locations. All portions of the development are linked through an extensive pedestrian circulation that utilizes greenways in addition to traditional roadside walks that course through the development.
The greenway system links the large number of pocket-parks and major open spaces that are accessible in the development. The final component of the overall design of the development is the siting of an elementary school within the boundaries of Southern Village.
The obsession with performance left no room for the development of the intuitive or spiritual impact of space and form other than the aesthetic of the machine itself. -Arthur Erickson
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