All of the home designs have been inspired by the local architecture of East Tennessee. Stevens says, “The beauty of using the local architecture is the homes immediately blend into the community and instantly give a person that comfortable feeling of being at home.” Stevens also explains one of their techniques in building on a small footprint and still providing privacy. Each of the homes has its own courtyard. He refers to the wall from the home that opens up to the courtyard as a “light wall”. The light wall is a quite literal name. This wall of the house gets its primary outdoor light from a “wall” of doors, large windows, etc. that open to a courtyard. He calls the neighboring structure’s wall that is adjacent to the aforementioned courtyard the “dark wall”. This wall has transient windows set high (above eye level) to allow light into the adjacent home, while lending the courtyard privacy. Stevens also explains one of the more popular known facts of a Traditional Neighborhood Development is it must be designed to be a walking community. With this goal in mind, Stevens has required the design of all of the homes to situate the less attractive aspects of home, such as the garages, trash receptacles and utilities, in the back alleyways - thus keeping the front of the homes neat, clean, and beautiful.







