After seeing one of his drawings, Mike Stoneking’s seventh grade art teacher predicted that someday, the boy would become an architect. The rest is history.
Stoneking has been a practicing architect in Charlottesville since 1992. He has a lot of ideas to improve the quality of central Virginia’s “built environment” — the buildings, sidewalks, roadways and other components that make up our infrastructure. He thinks neighborhoods should be designed as a system of connected, interrelated parts, rather than individual, isolated units.
“Somebody could design the cutest little thinga-ma-bob on that empty lot, and get an award for it,” said Stoneking. “But if it doesn’t understand its relationship to the street and the other buildings there, then it’s not a success.”…