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Go Green
Sustainability • Recycling • Lifestyle
By Collin Kelley
A s of last month, the Wylde Center
has taken on the management
of Mulberry Fields Community
Garden and Greenspace in Candler
Park. The garden is the fifth green space
overseen by the Decatur-based Wylde Center,
whose staff and volunteers will manage all
aspects of the community garden including
maintenance, field trips, garden plot rentals
and special events. The garden has been
re-named Wylde Center-Mulberry Fields
Garden.
“Mulberry Fields is considered a sister
garden to the Wylde Centers Oakhurst Garden,
and its history is very similar to our gardens,”
said Stephanie Van Parys, executive director of
the Wylde Center. “In fact, Mulberry Fields’
co-founder, Jesse Bathrick, was a close friend of
our late co-founder, Sally Wylde.”
Van Parys’ said that like Oakhurst
Garden, Mulberry Fields came about because
a group of neighbors wanted to preserve a
special green space for the enjoyment of the
community. “They have done a remarkable
job creating and maintaining this one-acre
oasis in Candler Park, and now the Wylde
Center is excited to help take their garden to
the next level,” she said.
Mulberry Fields, located at 1301
Iverson St., was once part of a dairy
farm owned by the Talbot family. In the
early 1990s, one of the remaining Talbot
family members considered re-zoning the
property for multifamily and commercial
redevelopment. However, a group of
neighbors came together to buy the acre
of land, and in 1999 Jesse and Richard
Bathrick founded the community garden.
“Mulberry Fields is a preserved green
space in the midst of a rapidly developing
Intown neighborhood,” said Jesse Bathrick.
“Visitors enter down an old city alley, which
opens up to reveal a meadow, mulberry
grove, towering old pecan trees and
community garden plots. It’s a refuge for both
neighbors and wildlife. I’m proud of what
an extremely dedicated group of volunteers
has accomplished in the past 20 years. Now
it’s time to move forward, and we are thrilled
the Wylde Center has accepted our invitation
to become managers of the garden and its
programs.’ na
For more information, visitfacebook.coml
mulberryfields or wyldecenter.org.
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atlanta | cityside
INSIST ON
THE EXCEPTIONAL
Eco Living Room
Georgia Tech students envision green space at MARTA station
A rendering of the Eco Living Room at Midtown station.
Midtown Alliance and Georgia Tech
charged a team of architecture students to
explore the possibilities of sustainable design
for a publicly accessible gathering space in
Midtown.The outcome? A unique prototype
for an “eco living room” at the Midtown
MARTA station.
The students’ concept serves as a model
for sustainable public spaces that contribute to
advancing Midtown as an urban, innovative
and resource-efficient EcoDistrict.
The project served as one of Georgia
Tech’s first Architecture Incubator Workshops,
a new series of courses intended to test
new ideas and explore interdisciplinary,
collaborative forms of design and research.
The students concentrated their
conceptual design around the Midtown
MARTA station, and brainstormed ways
to improve the experience for riders by
transforming the station’s
walkway and waiting
zone into a gathering
space.
Among
recommended
enhancements, the team
proposed adding a lawn
area, seating and walls
made from recycled
sidewalk concrete,
and solar panels as a
power source for station
lighting.
Other imaginative,
tech-driven design
components could include TCD signage
with real-time transit information and a
wind-powered “veil” - a shade structure that
emulates a turbine. With the combination
of sunlight and wind, the veil’s panels cast
a pattern of shadows that “dance” along the
sidewalk when air flows.
While the eco living room concept is
preliminary, it highlights the possibilities of
sustainable design in urban environments.
Midtown Alliance will seek opportunities
to incorporate some of the ideas into a
broader set of enhancements for public spaces
throughout the district.
The project was taught by Russell
Gentry, W Jude TeBlanc, Scott Marble and
Jacob Tompkins, and participating students
included Ran An, Eric Goldstein, Zitong Ma,
Yifeng Sun, David Varner and Yue Zhao, DU
30 August 2016 \m
AtlantalNtownPaper.com