serene + be = serenbe

Nov 2014 Beat

On a recent Atlanta trip, a source suggested that camelpolitan check out a development 45 minutes outside the city. It was described as a sustainable community still somewhat under the radar. We were intrigued and excited to go.

Driving miles down a rural highway through lots of nothing, where ordinary houses were spaced acres apart, we thought we were lost. Could this possibly lead to a place?

Out of nowhere, a quaint, revamped farmhouse on our left announced Serenbe. A left turn appeared suddenly. Whoever envisioned this place had a knack for surprise and a taste for understated drama.

The farmhouse was among a cluster of buildings that make up Serenbe Inn and The Farmhouse Restaurant. With a social club feel, this serves as hospitality and visitor center. The main threshold.

Less than a mile down a meandering dirt road, bordered by wildflower pastures, a vision of a modern Arcadia materialized.

Forget everything you’ve ever thought of a masterplanned community. With fresh eyes and artistic intuition, Serenbe bends rules about how a town should be developed. This is Arcosanti for a new generation of sophisticated suburbanites. Mayberry meets Playa Vista. The only visible downsides are its insular design and lack of connectivity.

With 400+ residents and growing, Serenbe covers 1,000 acres, surrounded by preserved land and organic farms. Reed Hilderbrand were the primary landscape architects, Phil Tabb the planner and architect, Mark "Puck" Mykleby the scholar-in-residence. It was designed to appear organically grown, old and new styles side by side. Vegetated parkways provide stormwater management. Graywater for irrigation. Insurgent was filmed here.

The visionary? Steve Nygren, an affable man with a background in restaurants, could be called restauranteur-turned-enlightened developer. But why categorize? When camelpolitan asked how Serenbe came to be, Mr. Nygren answered with bright eyes, “Outside the box thinking.”

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