A watercolor illustration of a residential neighborhood park with children playing soccer and adults walking dogs, surrounded by row houses and green trees under a blue sky.

Habitat for Humanity - East Helena, MT

Detailed map of a residential neighborhood with streets, buildings, green spaces, and a water feature, oriented with north at the top.

A colorful watercolor illustration of a modern city park with green grass, trees, and walking paths surrounded by contemporary buildings, with mountains in the background.

In 2024, I led a charrette team in East Helena, Montana for Habitat for Humanity and their test case for a 250 acre new urban development, blending their typical housing options with market-rate housing options and a small town center. The site had a state highway and a major gas line running through it, but we found that a welcomed challenge to create something unique for the city and development.

The plan accomodates a wide variety of housing, including cottage courts, single family detached, townhomes, 4 plexes, 6 plexes, multi-family, and mixed-use products. Town center was concentrated around an event lawn space. We incorporated many large greenways into the plan.

“The traditional neighborhood—represented by mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly communities of varied population, either standing free as villages or grouped into towns and cities—has proved to be a sustainable form of growth. It allowed us to settle the continent without bankrupting the country or destroying the countryside in the process.”

Andreas Duany

A watercolor illustration of a suburban neighborhood with row houses, large trees, cars parked along the street, and people walking and cycling on the sidewalk in a sunny day with blue sky and some rolling hills in the background.