Areas of expertise:
Ferd Johns has over 40 years of experience as a licensed architect and urban designer. His approach to every design project, whether garden house or city center, has been to attempt to capture the DNA – environmental, cultural, aesthetic – of that particular place, and derive a design from that essential character. His work is based on design principles rather than a fixed style, so it can respond to the unique qualities and needs of different cultures, places, communities and clients. Quality of life is the primary guiding principle, achieved by creating a pedestrian-oriented realm of human scale, variety and richness of human and environmental experience; by celebrating ordinary life events and responding to locational opportunities; by integration with/ enhancement of the natural environment and conservation of resources; and by achieving accessibility and/or affordability for a wide range of citizens. His work in community design and affordable housing has received a number of awards for design quality from a variety of institutions including national and regional chapters of the American Institute of Architects, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Sonoran Institute, the State of Maryland, the State of Montana, the City of San Rafael CA, the City of Greenwich CT, and the Town of Hilton Head SC. Completed long range planning and urban design projects range from a 122,000 acre Native American reservation to a university campus to an inner-city waterfront park to a California TOD to several resort hotels to several small town CBDs to a new pedestrian square in a college town. Built work ranges from mixed use retail centers to university and secondary educational facilities to inner-city affordable housing to pedestrian shopping “streets” to child-friendly fountains.
1. Workshops/charrettes: assembling a team and organizing a charrette and/or workshops designed to identify the underlying character, opportunities, needs and desires of a community.
2. Discovering the “DNA”: assembling a team to conduct an investigative analysis of the environment, culture and character of a community or place, in preparation for master planning or urban design.
3. Master planning/urban design: developing an overall plan, including design guidelines and pedestrian networks, for existing inner city or neighborhood mixed use centers, proposed mixed use neighborhood centers. This should be based on 1. and 2. above.
4. Architectural design: developing the schematic design for low-rise (up to +- 5 story) mixed use low-rise city or neighborhood center retail/ entertainment/ housing/ hotel/ educational buildings, and following through the construction with an associated architect.
To review Ferdinand Johns' Curriculum Vitae, please click here.