Daniel Island
Daniel Island, South Carolina
4,000 acres

Community Master Plan

In 1992, when the original master plan for a four thousand acre island community at the confluence of the Wando and Cooper Rivers was drawn, a remarkable emphasis was placed on the creation of useable public and open spaces. Such open spaces were to protect wildlife habitat, provide areas for diverse forms of recreation and generally contribute to an improved quality of life for visitors and residents. Subsequent to the master plan, a development agreement with the City of Charleston further detailed the open space requirements, prescribing one acre minimum focal point parks for each neighborhood, informal and formal waterfront parks, recreational amenity centers, view corridors linking neighborhoods to coastal waterways and marshes, greenways, pedestrian foot paths and bikeways, a nature preserve and an extensive street tree program.

For Daniel Island, DesignWorks designed the public realm and open space components in a two-fold way. First, by providing each neighborhood with its own identity - derived from the neighborhoods carefully sited focal point park and then using the component open spaces to link each neighborhood and development parcel together, reinforcing an all-over island wide identity. Contributing importantly to this is the use of regional construction details and a palette of carefully selected construction and plant materials. Today, the result is a collective expression of a well-designed coastal community public realm that is respectful of, and responsive to its particular site conditions, and one that engenders community pride.