Legacy Weeks

During the past three years, the full staff of Design Workshop has come together to explore the foundations of DW Legacy Design®. Through a series of firm-wide and smaller breakout sessions, we have focused on articulating and building understanding of the philosophy, principles and language of Legacy, as well as the methodological approach, tools and best practices for driving Legacy Design into our work. Guest speakers with expertise in particular Legacy Design circles have participated in the curriculum to expand knowledge and partner with the firm to pursue design solutions.

• In 2005 in Las Vegas, we focused on building a culture of design reviews to frequently engage others in sessions to critique and advance the work. We call this process of iteration Rapid Cycling.
• In 2006 in Portland, we focused on the Legacy Design circles of Environment and Art, introducing metrics for these categories with which we evaluated precedent projects. The event featured keynote speaker, Virginia Postrel, author of The Substance of Style and host of the Dynamist.com blog. Environment Day was introduced by noted sustainability thinker and author David Orr.
• In 2007 in Chicago, we focused on the Legacy circles of Community and Economics. Metrics for these Legacy Design circles were tested on a project with breakout groups pursuing research, establishing baselines and developing design solutions for relevant areas of measurement. Keynote speakers were Bill Hudnut, former Mayor of Indianapolis, for Community Day and David Pearce Snyder, futurist and strategic business consultant, for Economics Day.
• In 2008, we have connected the firm remotely through a series of Legacy Leadership Forums hosted by our Forum Leaders that introduced Legacy practice models for key areas of our practice, including stormwater design, carbon budgeting, strategic sustainability planning, and examples of the value added to projects where synthesis of the four Legacy Design rings has occurred.