Practice

Even in the wake of recent terrorist activity here in the United States, the closure of national military bases and installations seems poised to continue. Since the late 1980s hundreds of major and minor military properties have been closed and are subsequently being given new life through redevelopment. Landscape architects are playing a variety of roles in the process, from large-scale planners to ecological advisors.

Ideally, an abandoned military base seems like an easy transformation to a multiuse community, with an existing infrastructure of roads, open spaces, and structures already in place that can often be adapted to new uses. However, once the fences and barricades come down, designers often go to great lengths to transform these intrinsically introverted bastions of national security into livable neighborhoods and business centers, dealing with removal of pollutants, logistics of building and infrastructure reuse, and circulation connections to the surrounding area.

Located on the coast of South Carolina, surrounded by the kitsch and glamour of a commercialized seashore with its waterfront community of hotels, condominiums, restaurants, and gift emporiums, the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base property became a hot commodity when it was decommissioned in 1993, valued by developers and citizens alike.

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