THE HIGHLANDS - A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND HOMECOMING

The Pocket Neighborhoods designed by Ross Chapin and first built here in Langley, Washington are now famous on the west coast. Recently this concept has spread east as far as the shore of Lake Michigan. With the viability of these small communities well established, The Highlands at Langley has engaged Ross Chapin Architects to venture on to the next step in neighborhood design: bringing several pocket neighborhoods together to create a hamlet, complete with village green, quiet work and art spaces, and accommodations for guests.

The Highlands neighborhood will have a variety of housing types, including the popular garden cottages, town homes, accessory dwelling units and individual single family homes on fee-simple lots.

The neighborhood is designed as a tapestry of interwoven public spaces. Many of the buildings are intentionally placed to reinforce a room-like quality to the courtyards, greens and gardens. The edges of these rooms are the faces of the buildings, the groves of trees, additional landscaping and fences. At the center of the neighborhood is a large commons bordered by several multi-use buildings.

• The neighborhood living room, with an outdoor covered porch used as a get-together space for community potlucks, meetings, parties etc.
• The community’s central landmark is a tower of three short term rentals for visitors.
• Small studio residences.
• Low impact, residential zone business spaces.