Students at the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design (CED) got a crash course in master planning through a unique opportunity facilitated by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Design professional Carmine Fischetti coordinated the engagement with Fort Benning for an immersive studio course this summer. The course was led by Donnie Longenecker, senior lecturer and coordinator of continuing education and undergraduate programs at CED, and Chris Hite, CED graduate and award-winning landscape architect.
The connection was made possible through the institute’s Defense Community Resilience Program (DCRP), which engages with military installations and their surrounding communities to sustain readiness and enhance community resilience.
“As a public service unit, we’re ideally suited to be that bridge between people with a vested interest in a project, whether it's military or academia,” Fischetti said. “We translate that into a vision for making improvements to help resiliency and public health while maintaining the military mission.”
Sharing expertise
The assignment to produce designs for Fort Benning’s historic Cuartels, or barracks, presented a unique opportunity for students to work with an internationally renowned practitioner. Hite is an American Society of Landscape Architects Fellow (FASLA) and founding partner of Florida-based Dix.Hite + Partners, a firm known for its work in mixed-use projects, parks and master-planned communities.
Hite is an active alumna, but this was her first time teaching at UGA.
“It’s really nice to be able to return to the CED and give back and be present for the students,” she said. “It was fun to share a professional perspective and take them through a project where they felt like they were working together in an office-like environment.”
Longenecker said offering the capstone course in a compressed timeframe as a three-week summer course presented an additional challenge, albeit not unlike real-world work.
Donnie Longenecker, UGA College of Environment and Design faculty, recruited renowned landscape architect Chris Hite (CED ’87) to co-teach the capstone course.
“These projects are critical to us being able to train and prepare students to go out and be productive in their professional lives from the get-go,” he said.
That sentiment resonated with UGA student Marren Powelson, a fourth-year student from Bogart, who appreciated Hite’s insight into client relations.
“Chris came in with so much knowledge to share, like how it is important to give clients opportunities to say yes and no to a design,” she said. “That was something I wasn’t aware of that I’ll take into my professional career.
Hite emphasized that understanding client goals and objectives is a key part of the process, whether designing for an individual or governmental agency.
“As a landscape architect, you’re often presented with different types of work and challenges,” she said. “Going through the analysis, establishing the program and resulting elements and developing that into a design is all a part of what the students learned and applied in this capstone.”
Reimagining a historic site
Built in 1930, the Fort Benning Cuartels are key structures in the installation’s history that serve as residences and training grounds for thousands of soldiers each year. The three blocks of C-shaped buildings each have a central yard used for training, leisure and ceremonial activities.
Although the Cuartels are undergoing major interior renovations, there weren’t formal plans for exterior landscape upgrades, which presented an ideal project for students, according to Fischetti.
“These are probably the most iconic buildings on the installation,” he said. “The idea was to elevate the landscape to address obvious needs such as parking and traffic circulation, tree canopy and stormwater issues.”
On a site visit, UGA students got a feel for how the space is used and its specific needs. They talked to installation leadership and soldiers who live and study in the barracks.
On a site visit to Fort Benning, UGA students including (L-R) Molly McLendon; Eli Garner and Monica Nguyen met with soldiers to learn more about their use of the Cuartels (or barracks).
The biggest takeaway was the need for shade to mitigate heat injury. From 2020 to 2024, the installation saw 1,839 heat injury cases, or 14.8% of all heat injuries recorded among the active-duty force, according to the Army Times.
Charged with developing ideas to enhance the grounds while maintaining military function and readiness, the students created designs to address stormwater and ecological concerns, historic preservation, building codes, military requirements, walkability and streetscape improvements.
It was the first time students like Bryce LeCates, a fourth year from Savannah, had planned for such a specific audience.
“Trying to take all of those functions and turn them into a well-designed space definitely required a mindset shift,” he said.
Preparing future leaders
Whitney Davis, master planning division branch chief for the installation’s Directorate of Public Works, praised the students for producing an extensive body of work under the compressed timeframe.
“We needed a distinct plan that will not only improve quality of life and amenities for our soldiers, but sustain operational effectiveness,” she said. “Now we can take this to our internal stakeholders and review further options.”
Longenecker hopes the course will set a new precedent for UGA students and alumni to engage with communities across the state.
“We’re in the business of producing practitioners,” he explained. “The more we engage in service-learning projects as a function of a land-grant institution, the more opportunity we give our students to learn how to practice landscape architecture in real environments.”
The effort also reflects the university’s commitment to supporting communities through resilience and strategic planning, according to Fischetti.
“The DCRP program is set up to link these different players to produce better results on the ground. In this case, we’re talking about adding trees, training troops and enhancing military readiness,” he said.
Built in 1930, the Fort Benning Cuartels, or barracks, are key structures in the installation’s
history that serve as residences and training grounds for thousands of soldiers each
year. (L-R) Chris Hite, an award-winning landscape architect and UGA College of Environment
and Design alum (’87) talks with student Eli Garner on a site visit to Fort Benning.
The three blocks of C-shaped buildings each have a central yard used for training,
leisure and ceremonial activities surrounded by parking lots. The landscape within each Cuartel serves a diversity of needs, including ceremonial
functions. 
