A turning point in Alabama’s history is the 1965 Selma...
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Recognized as Alabama’s oldest bank, the Bank of Brewton opened...
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Discovering the best Alabama has to offer takes time, effort...
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Want a close-hand look at rock formation and a lesson...
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It took 18 years for owner and amateur designer Nathan...
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Since 1992, the Forever Wild Land Trust has secured more...
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Before the wide use of railroads, Gainesville thrived as a...
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Standard Deluxe is both a graphic design shop that promotes...
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Designed by Williams Blackstock Architects in association with CannonDesign, the...
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“Architecture and landscape design…can give a community clarity, coherence, and order, as well as beauty and delight, and can help define a community’s identity and values. We can celebrate places that nurture our living together.”
Author Alice Meriwether Bowsher, Community in Alabama
Design Influencer
Alabama was not yet a state when the Leroy Pope...
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Inside the historic Lyric and Alabama theaters in downtown Birmingham’s...
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Talk about adaptive reuse. Decatur’s Princess Theatre was originally built...
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A delight for every kid at heart (and who isn’t?)...
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Standing tall at the main entrance of Alabama Power’s early...
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The former Guaranty Federal Savings and Loan was housed not...
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Reviews for the Chief Ladiga Trail, Alabama’s first rails-to-trails project,...
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There’s plenty to do and see along Mobile’s Eastern Shore...
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“We demand the very best from our clients!” This quote,...
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An issue of GQ magazine features a photo of actor...
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While Auburn University’s Rural Studio gets plenty of attention, its...
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“Good design, smart planning, creative place-making are all pillars of progressive growth that occurs as part of creative problem solving, taking advantage of opportunities and having an elevated vision for the present and future.”
Al Head, retired Executive Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Alabama Native
Design Influencer
For three generations the Yeager family has been doing their...
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Stone carving might be the world’s oldest three-dimensional art form...
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Part of Birmingham’s flourishing beer scene is Steel City Taps,...
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Whether traditional or modern, the best designed sacred spaces evoke...
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Though best known for its musical legacy, Florence is becoming...
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It’s been proven: well designed schools improve learning and that’s...
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Bankhead Tunnel is a road tunnel in Mobile that carries...
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In her studio adapted from a 100-year-old shotgun house in...
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Though Silicon Valley may be the epicenter of tech companies today, one of...
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Bib & Tucker Sew-Op in Birmingham is keeping the longtime...
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Eufaula has one of the state’s largest historic districts with...
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As any Tuskegee University alum knows, “Strollin’ down the Ave”...
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Architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are synonymous with New...
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One of the most hauntingly beautiful cemeteries found anywhere is...
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For years considered the “face of industrial design in Alabama,”...
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Alabama is home to the remains of one of the...
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The longest hiking trail in Alabama and Georgia is the...
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The wide overhanging roof of the new two-story Birmingham-Jefferson County...
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Birmingham lays claim to the largest urban park in the...
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After decades of decline, many historic downtown districts across Alabama...
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Simplicity is often best in graphic design. That certainly proved...
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“Someone else can use these things again, I feel like I’m giving them back their purpose.”
Garlan Gudger, referring to doorknobs
Design Influencer
Concerning architecture, Tuskegee University is best known for its Booker...
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The 250-acre Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park offers three venues...
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Eighteenth Street South is a traditional main street shopping district...
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Auburn University industrial design graduate Hunter Foy has made a...
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According to Guinness World Records, the nonprofit Barber Vintage Motorsports...
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Indigo dye is an organic compound that creates some of...
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Alabama has many movie palaces remaining from their golden age...
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Ever been curious to try woodworking, welding, ceramics or screen...
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Ruffner Mountain Nature Center is the centerpiece of the 1,011-acre...
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With her experience in design and development for major brands,...
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Sloss Furnaces was once the largest manufacturer of pig iron...
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Built in Tuscaloosa in the 1850s, Bryce Hospital opened in...
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Apple recently became the first company in the United States...
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“Great cities have great parks!”
Frank Setzer, architect and Auburn University Professor
Design Influencer
Among Birmingham’s many attributes are its city parks and one...
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Sounds like something out of Dickens. Twickenham Historic District gets...
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Alabama’s thriving brewery scene gets creative with logos found on...
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Alabama graphic designers make a lasting imprint (no pun intended),...
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No place fits the proverb “necessity is the mother of...
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Across from the Alabama Theatre is the Lyric Theatre, the...
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In Renaissance Europe, “cabinets of curiosities” were rooms that housed...
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At Shakespeare Gardens in Montgomery, the sights and fragrant smells...
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With her commitment to preserving design and living arts traditions,...
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One of Birmingham’s most appealing characteristics is how nature coexists...
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Birmingham’s first city plan in 1871 shows Linn Park as...
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Southern Living magazine calls Magnolia Springs a small town with...
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Alabama Power was founded on renewable hydro energy and manages...
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The federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created in...
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A few miles east of Mobile is Malbis Memorial Church,...
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St. John’s was organized in 1834 by pioneer settlers and...
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The focal point of the addition to Birmingham’s Temple Emanuel...
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Made in Alabama is a message that could not be...
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HERObike, a nonprofit bike shop in Greensboro, is dedicated to...
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Planned communities are common these days, but were a novel...
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Dining at Spring House Restaurant in Russell Crossroads isn’t just...
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Many people can’t afford to purchase a Mercedes, but they...
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Founded by Rachel Lackey as the first community print shop...
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The largest limestone spring in North Alabama is Big Spring,...
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When terracotta is used as a building material, it is...
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“Everyone in his own way is affected by his environment. The chords that are struck in people are not necessarily the ones which the architect anticipates. It seems to me the better the building, the more variety of chords that are struck.”
Paul Rudolph, Architect of the Tuskegee Chapel
Design Influencer
When Montgomery-based Kershaw Manufacturing Company Inc. was incorporated in 1944,...
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Every time you use your laptop or ThinkPad you have...
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No wonder that St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Prairieville is...
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Vintage architectural treasures – Edison bulbs, ceiling fans and decorative...
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When Prattville founder Daniel Pratt opened his cotton gin factory...
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“This is the workshop full of love, information and learning...
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Alabama Innovation Engine – the name conveys it all –...
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With its ancient live oaks, cast iron fountain, bandstand and...
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One of the oldest public squares in Alabama is the...
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Indian Springs School, a 350-acre, private boarding school founded in...
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Alabama boasts many claims to fame and one is Rickwood...
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“For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all.”
Wernher von Braun, engineer
Design Influencer
A long-vacant Sears department store in Birmingham was transformed into...
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An example of Googie architecture – the whimsical, futuristic design...
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Three courthouses have flanked the Monroeville Courthouse Square over the...
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B.L. Harbert International, a construction company that builds U.S. embassies...
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Alabama is home to the remains of one of the...
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The adjective “stately” is often used, and even overused, to...
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When it comes to the DesignAlabama Journal, you certainly can...
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St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cullman is proof that a...
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In the tiny hamlet of Pittsview – an unincorporated community...
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Not been to Gulf State Park in a while or...
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“Everything that becomes mature and becomes heritable is subtle ... it takes a real strong and smart appetite to try to develop what's going to last.”
Bobby McAlpine, Architect and Author
Design Influencer
A great place for a spelunking adventure is Russell Cave...
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Community-led revitalization is challenging work and Main Street Alabama makes...
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Founded in 1888, Thomasville was in its infancy when a...
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A pioneer in the plastics recycling industry, Troy-based KW Plastics...
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“I always wanted to be an inventor when I grew...
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Spirituality and symbolism are foremost in church design, and that...
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Fort Payne was once the Sock Capital of the World...
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U.S. history changed twice on Montgomery’s six-block Dexter Avenue. At...
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Though the creative process is often a solitary pursuit, design...
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At the entrance of Birmingham’s Rotary Trail is a 46-foot-tall...
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Thomas Jefferson’s plan for the University of Virginia was designed...
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No wonder that Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum near...
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Mobile’s historic urban squares may not be as well known...
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Children’s Harbor Lodge was designed to provide a haven for...
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“What is important is using ones talents and intellect and energy in order to gain an appreciation and affection for people and place.”
Sam Mockbee, Architect and Rural Studio Founder
Design Influencer
A convergence of five streets sounds like a traffic nightmare,...
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Architecture critic Peter Blake wrote in 1960 that during the...
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Alabama is fortunate to have many organizations working to improve...
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According to legend, as a prank students once led a...
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Several neo-Gothic landmarks adjoin the modernist Birmingham Downtown YMCA designed...
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Not only is Gee’s Bend home to world-famous quilters, but...
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Part of the historic Old Cloverdale neighborhood in Montgomery, the...
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Just east of Natchez Trace Parkway outside Florence is one...
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“I love every nook and cranny of the building, and during the restoration I was here every single day in a hard hat with the contractors,” recalls the Alabama native. “I could envision what it could be. I didn’t want to break land and create something new. I wanted old bones.”
Heidi Elnora, fashion designer and Alabama Native
Design Influencer
During the Jim Crow era, the Most Worshipful Prince Hall...
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Courthouse Square has long been a significant part of Huntsville’s...
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Alabama auto manufacturing keeps on rolling. Hyundai, Honda and Mercedes-Benz...
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In 1818, the White House officially reopened after being burned...
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UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center was renovated in 2014 by Williams...
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Public libraries should inspire and inform, and the Linn-Henley Research...
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An organization that was instrumental to the design career of...
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A cluster of early buildings on the campus of Mobile’s...
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Nineteen acres of unused spaced along the railroad tracks between...
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Two professors of industrial design at Auburn University made important...
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Among the most cherished crafts are those that are both...
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The 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March was a pivotal moment in the...
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One of the last structures of its kind is located...
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When A.H. Cather Publishing Company in Birmingham closed its door...
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Built in 1847, the historic Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf...
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“The nice thing about this kind of plan is you can show something that’s easy to follow. Its very real stuff. And its not just for big public project but for developments large or small. There’s more flexibility and that mean more value for property.”
Ken Groves, City Planner
Design Influencer
Chefs and restauranteurs in Alabama and across the country love...
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Revitalizing towns should involve the entire community, and what better...
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Sandwiched by Huntsville to the east and Decatur to the...
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No surprise that Avondale Park is one of Birmingham’s most...
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Bold lines, geometric shapes and primary colors energize YMCA Youth...
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Nestled into a heavily wooded 27-acre site, the old Southern...
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Neoclassical architecture is associated with many buildings such as the...
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Urban farms are springing up across America and one is...
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Barber Motorsports Park is the brainchild of George Barber Jr.,...
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With its Classical-Revival façade, the Alabama Museum of Natural History...
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If Hollywood location scouts ever need to find a superb...
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Promoting all that Alabama has to offer was the aim...
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Condos and beachfront hotels aren’t all that face Alabama’s Gulf...
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Gee’s Bend’s “eye-poppingly gorgeous” quilts, wrote New York Times art...
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Mobile’s Government St. Presbyterian Church is considered among the finest...
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The hallmark of Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park is its many...
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The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened April 2018...
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Alabama’s only cable-stayed bridge is the Cochrane–Africatown USA Bridge carrying...
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No better place for the metal arts than Birmingham’s Sloss...
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Communities across Alabama are thriving thanks to the ongoing efforts...
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Hard to imagine that the Ross Bridge Renaissance Resort and...
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Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Sylacauga...
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Auburn University industrial design graduate Ken Musgrave is vice president...
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On 26 acres along Little River Canyon National Preserve in...
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Step into the lobby and take in the magnificent multicolored,...
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Reuse and reverence for the land are evident throughout the...
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Fun fact: A rocket built in Alabama burned more fuel...
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Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is the largest golf...
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Concerning architecture, Tuskegee University is best known for its Booker...
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When it was constructed in 1909, the 16-story Empire Building...
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Fifty-three illegally purchased West Africans were transported from Cuba in...
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“We want good design in Alabama to be like breathing, a natural part of living and doing things”
Philip Morris, Writer, Editor and Design Enthusiast
Design Influencer
What do New York City’s Central Park and the master...
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In 1963, a Ku Klux Klan bomb exploded in the...
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A fine example of Birmingham’s long and rich legacy of...
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Something is always blooming at Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile –...
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Tuscaloosa and Montgomery are two cities that have taken full...
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As Senior Innovation Strategist at Humana in Louisville, Kentucky, Anjuli...
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The Alabama 4-H Center in Columbiana has a strong identity...
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Ballparks are for watching baseball, but at Regions Field in...
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The designs created by Mary Catherine Folmar for her hand-illustrated...
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Wandering the streets of the Albany Historic District in Decatur...
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Step into the main foyer of the Alabama State Capitol...
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Prayer and spiritual devotion come in many forms. For Brother...
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St. Michael’s and All Angels Church in Anniston would not...
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On Smith Lake at the southern end of the Bankhead...
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On a busy corner of UAB’s campus is Heritage Hall,...
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Known as a historic railroad town, the City of Opelika...
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Sarah Conklin, founder of Feather Wild in Huntsville, starts the...
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Owen Foster, a 2005 graduate of Auburn’s Master of Industrial...
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“I remain in my own designs a minimalist and believe in trying to do the most with the least-simple, and one hopes, elegant design.”
Cheryl Morgan, FAIA, Architect and Professor, Auburn University
Design Influencer
Pennsylvania is the state with the most covered bridges with...
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