Map of Southeast Mountain Province States including:
Northwest Arkansas
Southern Missouri
Northern Alabama
Northern Georgia
Western South Carolina
Western North Carolina
Tennessee
Kentucky
Virginia
West Virginia
Maryland
OVERVIEW: CHARACTER OF THE SOUTHEAST MOUNTAIN PROVINCE BUILT AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS
Southeast Mountain Province
The Southeast Mountain Province contains every
type of building and structure, from quite simple
to very grand. There are frontier cabins, Native
American huts, elegant brick townhomes, metal
sheds, and the rustic structures built by the CCC.
The best of these structures provide intelligent
design responses to such factors as culture,
climate, topography, and ecology.
Building in the Southeast Mountain Province has
historically been attuned to climate, and climate
continues to be a key to designing for sustainability.
In a province with hot, muggy summers and cool,
wet winters, the climate presents maintenance
challenges. Buildings oriented to catch breezes
not only save energy but are more comfortable
for visitors and employees. Structures can be
placed to avoid or sit sensitively within
wetlands. This will preserve natural areas
while allowing visitors to enjoy them.
As summer visitation is very high in this
province, cooling and ventilation remain primary
concerns. Rustic-style structures that feature
unhewn logs and heavy stone foundations are
cooler. Siting and designing to capture vistas
is crucial, as is tucking structures into the
edges of forests (or off the crests of mountains)
to prevent silhouettes and preserve the view
from other points. Designing for durability is
vital because of the climate and because
of concerns about vandalism in these
heavily visited forests.