VergesRome Architects teamed with the developers at St. Joe Land Company, and MSI Landscape Architects of Ohio, to develop a master plan and residential design guidelines for a sustainable rural farmstead community located near Tallahassee, Florida. The natural characteristics of the site, which includes protected wetlands, open pasture, gently rolling meadowland and heavily wooded landscapes, were carefully considered in planning for the community and each individual farmstead homesite.

Envisioned as a modern farming community embracing sustainable practices from farmstead site planning to crops and cultivation, the wide open spaces along roads typical to a working farm community were maintained, and as much of the natural topography and vegetation protected as possible.  Wetland buffers on many farmstead sites protect water quality throughout the community, and setbacks preserve the feeling of open farmland while minimizing the impacts, both visual and ecological, of building in the unique natural environment.