The village of I’On, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was the product of a collaboration between Dover, Kohl & Partners, DPZ, our clients from the Graham family, and Seamon Whiteside Associates. Seamon Whiteside learned this year that I’On had been selected for the American Society of Landscape Architects’ prestigious Landmark Award, “in recognition of lasting achievement and significant contribution to the public realm.”
Victor Dover said, “As both civil engineers and landscape architects, Seamon Whiteside contributed to the successful design at I’On in some very memorable ways. At one point in the design charrette, it came to light that the engineers needed to even out the water levels between two lakes a few hundred feet apart in the heart of the neighborhood. The conventional engineering solution would be to place an underground pipe or culvert between the two. I suggested sheepishly, How about a canal, with houses facing it? I fully expected such a grandiose idea to get shot down, but that’s not what happened. The engineers readily embraced the concept and began working out affordable ways to construct it. The client said, Why not have two canals? And that’s exactly what got built, artfully. Now the canal houses are among the most valuable addresses in the neighborhood, and the canal trails are the most beloved places for neighborhood walks.”
One of the canal walks at I’On. Learn more about I’On and canal streets in the Second Edition of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns (Wiley, February 2025)