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Georgia Institute of Technology EcoCommons
Georgia Institute of Technology EcoCommons
Atlanta, GA, United States
Finalist, 2025 A+Awards, Concepts - Architecture +Learning
Project Featured on Jan 13, 2026
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Other Projects by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
Georgia Institute of Technology EcoCommons
Atlanta, GA, United States
Finalist, 2025 A+Awards, Concepts - Architecture +Learning
Project Featured on Jan 13, 2026
The seven-acre EcoCommons is the largest standalone landscape architecture project ever undertaken by the Georgia Institute of Technology. The EcoCommons is an ecologically and socially conscious pedagogical site, presenting native regional ecologies while daylighting a pioneering and nearly forgotten site-specific history.
The design reintegrates functional topography, native ecologies, and water flows to the site to support three living landscape typologies that meet Georgia Tech's goals of Learn, Engage and Reflect – a learning deck for classes and research, an area for play and relaxation, and a contemplative grove. The EcoCommons supports the research pedagogy of the university through environmental monitoring of habitat, air quality, water quality, and soil percolation, fostering Georgia Tech's sustainability initiatives and providing research opportunities for students and faculty. The stormwater is captured on site for reuse and infiltration. This capture and reuse reduces stormwater flows into the city sewer system by 50% from the previous conditions.
In addition to its ecological and scientific purpose, the EcoCommons highlights a significant story of the site. During the research and discovery phase, the design team learned that the site had been home to the Pickrick Diner, an important place in civil rights history. On July 3, 1964, one day after the passing of the landmark Civil Rights Act, George Willis Jr, Albert Lee Dunn, and Woodrow T. Lewis, three local Black students, asked to be seated in the Pickrick Diner. The owner of the diner, Lester Maddox, incited a mob and threatened violence against the students, who then departed peaceably. This event led to the first federal lawsuit which upheld by the Civil Rights Act. Unity Plaza is a commemorative space dedicated to the agency and bravery of Willis, Dunn, and Lewis, acknowledging the history of racial injustice on-site and providing space for reflection, commemoration, and inspiration.
The design reintegrates functional topography, native ecologies, and water flows to the site to support three living landscape typologies that meet Georgia Tech's goals of Learn, Engage and Reflect – a learning deck for classes and research, an area for play and relaxation, and a contemplative grove. The EcoCommons supports the research pedagogy of the university through environmental monitoring of habitat, air quality, water quality, and soil percolation, fostering Georgia Tech's sustainability initiatives and providing research opportunities for students and faculty. The stormwater is captured on site for reuse and infiltration. This capture and reuse reduces stormwater flows into the city sewer system by 50% from the previous conditions.
In addition to its ecological and scientific purpose, the EcoCommons highlights a significant story of the site. During the research and discovery phase, the design team learned that the site had been home to the Pickrick Diner, an important place in civil rights history. On July 3, 1964, one day after the passing of the landmark Civil Rights Act, George Willis Jr, Albert Lee Dunn, and Woodrow T. Lewis, three local Black students, asked to be seated in the Pickrick Diner. The owner of the diner, Lester Maddox, incited a mob and threatened violence against the students, who then departed peaceably. This event led to the first federal lawsuit which upheld by the Civil Rights Act. Unity Plaza is a commemorative space dedicated to the agency and bravery of Willis, Dunn, and Lewis, acknowledging the history of racial injustice on-site and providing space for reflection, commemoration, and inspiration.
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