Master Planned Community Site Assessment

overview

Real estate development and management company Howard Hughes Corporation has invested in the rejuvenation of Columbia, Maryland, one of the first master planned communities in the U.S. Founded by developer James W. Rouse in 1966, Columbia comprises ten residential villages and three walkable urban districts that will offer more than 14 million square feet of mixed-use development.

We provided a site assessment of the master planned community for sustainability, climate resilience and integrity in terms of structure, façade and site. The goal was to help improve the portfolio performance and support the creation of guidelines that respond to regional climatic risks and opportunities. The owner intends to use the efforts at Columbia as a model roadmap for sustainability, resilience, and structural integrity for all Howard Hughes Master Plan Communities.

highlights

• Our scope included researching and providing guidance on targeted improvements that would maintain or increase the value of the property.
• We performed assessments through document and data review of existing information and through visual assessments, and we developed a targeted façade pilot study on one representative building.
• We facilitated several work sessions with key leaders and decision makers to understand opportunities to enhance the overall potential for the MPC, with a particular eye toward upcoming developments.
• We developed a roadmap for sustainability and resilience organized around design, construction and operations – all with an eye toward continuous improvement.
• On one representative building, using drones to capture image data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) assessment tools such as T2D2 to perform autonomous detection of conditions, we identified potential areas of risk in the façades and roofs that require repairs or maintenance. T2D2, a company launched by Thornton Tomasetti. is a self-learning software platform that detects and classifies visible damage to structures and materials applying the latest advances in AI – specifically, deep learning for computer vision.