JOHN MERRITT

JACKSON HEALTHCARE - Alpharetta, GA 

Jackson Healthcare is a prominent provider in the Southeast U.S. Company growth necessitated an expansion of the administrative headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia. The owner’s vision called for an application of Italian vernacular design from Antiquity and the Renaissance to the expanded campus. In response, I attempted to solve grading and circulation challenges as well as programmatic needs by integrating several instruments of the Italian built landscape from these periods while trying to avoid relegating any of these landscape elements to mere decoration. Allees serve as wayfinding for visitors and ceremony for employees. A belvedere and stair connects an already existing building to the new campus by negotiating a drastic twenty-foot grade change. A piazza anchors the center of the campus, framed by three new feature buildings. A bosk or parterre provides the fourth edge completing this frame. In other schemes, a double row of Italian cypress trees marks entry, taking advantage of this species’ ability to persist in the North Georgia climate. An in-grade fountain creates spectacle and white noise during times when foot traffic is moderate. This fountain can be shut off so its footprint is occupiable and able to accommodate large numbers of people for the owner‘s many philanthropic events. The piazza incorporates shared streets principles, allowing for vehicular access yet appearing as a pedestrian plaza. All the piazza schemes anticipate the arrival of a fourth building that will complete the quadrangle in a future phase. 

The schemes included here center around the observation that the Italian piazza tends to be quite spare of ornament with open, continuous unit paving, the space activated primarily by the movement of people. They were presented to the architect -- who was our client -- in the early stages of the project but have since been abandoned. As the project progressed, the interpretation of the Italian built landscape manifested itself in a more object-oriented, manicured landscape of decorative seasonal plantings, ornate fountains, and topiary.

Office:  Site Solutions
Status of Building:  Completed
Status of Landscape:  Completed as a different scheme than those presented below
Project Management:  Joshua Thompson
Project Architect:  John Merritt
Project Assistant:  Sushmitha Sunder
Contractor:  Choate Construction