A Unique, Purposeful Design Strategy for Frederick Living
The Meadows at Frederick Living is an award-winning independent living community with 55 cottages spread across its 65-acre campus. In partnering with RGS, the community was designed as a ‘pocket neighborhood’ – a small-scale development designed to bring residents together and foster a strong sense of community.
Before designing the Meadows at Frederick Living neighborhood, RGS worked with the local municipality to craft a text amendment to the Township’s zoning ordinance for the development of the pocket neighborhood, which was a new, innovative concept for the region.
Social Connections
RGS strategically placed cottages around the community’s central greens, allowing Frederick Living to offer a unique living experience and provide a sense of place for its residents. Our team focused on this creative design strategy as it’s been shown to aid in the health and wellbeing of communities by facilitating and encouraging social interaction among neighbors.
Environmental Advantages
In addition to the social benefits, the pocket neighborhood concept offers many environmental benefits. For instance, the cottages feature geothermal heating and cooling along with spacious, open floor plans.
The pocket neighborhood design reduces suburban sprawl by purposefully locating homes closer together while preserving surrounding open space. The RGS team worked with Frederick Living to design sustainable site features including rain gardens and bio-swales. Our team also incorporated a regenerative stormwater step pool into the site plan to improve water quality and provide groundwater recharge.
Supporting the Frederick Living neighborhood design approach, RGS designed other site amenities including paved walking trails to connect the new cottage community to the main campus.