BY DENNIS TONSOR

For developers and owners, among the myriad of decisions to be made during the course of a project is whether or not the design team needs to be local to the project site. And just like many other choices, this one is not always clear cut. There are several considerations which may impact this decision – from the availability of local expertise to the context of the local political environment.

Our River Run Ranch project is a great example of all the challenges and rewards that come along with working on a long distance project. River Run Ranch is being developed by Sun Communities as a new, 367-acre destination RV resort in Granby, Colorado. It is an extreme example of a long distance team, with the project site located about 100 miles from Denver, the client (Sun Communities) and program manager (Atwell) located in Southfield, Michigan, RVi planning services provided out of Austin, Texas, and RVi landscape architecture services provided out of Tempe, Arizona. Civil and environmental services are also being provided by Atwell out of their Lakewood, Colorado office. The only local consultant on the team is the architect (Munn Architecture).

After a year-long design and entitlement effort, the Final Development Plan for River Run Ranch won unanimous approval from the Granby Board of Trustees this month. As our team celebrated this milestone, we decided to reflect on the process and what made it so successful. We believe the following three ingredients are key for any long-distance project.

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BY HALEY BARTLEY

We are proud to report that multiple RVi projects were recognized at this year’s MAX Awards put on by the Home Builder’s Association of Greater Austin. The annual awards presentation took place on April 7 at the JW Marriott Austin, where builders, developers, remodelers, and staff were honored for their achievements during the previous year.

Headwaters, an RVi master-planned community in nearby Dripping Springs, won many of the best in class awards for community design, but a number of other RVi projects were also honored as finalists in the same areas.

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BY HALEY BARTLEY

April is World Landscape Architecture Month (WLAM), and for the second year in a row the ASLA ran a very engaging “This is Landscape Architecture” campaign on Instagram.  Here at RVi, we decided to take advantage of this annual uptick in social media activity around the subject of landscape architecture and launch our official Instagram account.

WLAM is an international celebration of landscape architecture that seeks to introduce the profession to the public by highlighting spaces around the world that were designed by landscape architects. We love the idea of celebrating these special spaces and increasing awareness of the impact that landscape architects have on our daily lives.

We have peppered our introductory posts with the ASLA’s “This is Landscape Architecture” movement, showcasing imagery from Austin, Houston, and Tempe’s landscapes throughout the past month. We captured projects and staff as they made their spring debuts, and have made some fun and unexpected connections with local organizations in the process.

Instagram is an exciting opportunity for RVi to showcase our diverse and talented team, the insights of our corporate culture, and the every day workings of our three successful offices. We hope to also use the platform to highlight project milestones and connect with our clients, industry leaders, and future employees.

We’re launching into this new adventure with an open mind and a desire to connect people with the outdoors and with the community around them. In just three weeks of activity, RVi has gained 100 Instagram followers.

We invite you to join us on our Instagram adventure here.