As the core of Atlanta becomes more and more dense, options for new single-family homes are often limited to building unsustainably through demolition of existing homes. However, scattered around the city core are undeveloped sites considered “unbuildable", often because of jurisdictionally imposed restraints i.e. zoning setbacks, riparian stream buffers, peculiar lot configurations and difficult site features.

Comparably, for this 12,401 sq. ft. site, zoning setbacks and riparian buffer restraints imposed on the lot's status as an undeveloped, legal, residential lot-of-record, rendered the property “unbuildable”. Not a single square foot of the site met jurisdictional requirements for “buildable”. Furthermore, the stream along the front of the site precluded construction access and the steep terrain was foreboding.

The McLendon Av. house demonstrates how jurisdictionally imposed restraints can create hardships which (no matter how intimidating) cannot, however, deny a property owner their legally established right-to-build and, subsequently, the corten. house demonstrates how those hardships, through proper planning and perseverance, can be overcome. For the McLendon Av. house, the true challenge became how to build responsibly, economically and sustainably on an extremely difficult site.