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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
