eightvillage is a place-based design and development practice seeking to create positive change in communities
origins
Ashtagrama (literally in Sanskrit, “eight villages”) was a group of small communities in the Kolar District of Karnataka, India. In the early 16th century, a small group of brahmins known as the “Ashtagrama Iyers” from Tamil Nadu migrated to the Ashtagrama group of villages, at the request of the existing government. They came as learned priests, Vedic scholars and agriculturists, soon transforming the kingdom from a poor community into a well-educated and prosperous one.
eightvillage is a design and development firm that continues the ethos of the Ashtagrama. We strive to bring together facets of architecture, urban design, ecology, and education to collaborate and help foster a sense of place. We use our technical skillset as architects, planners and designers to supplement our empathetic process. Our practice is focused on creating place-based ecologies, and we seek to have a positive impact in communities and the environment through architecture, urban design, sustainability and community development. Our process and solutions are contextually focused and is driven by the stories of the people we work with and the places we work in.
our team
Pavan Iyer is a licensed architect in the state of Georgia and former Buzz graduated from Georgia Tech with a Master’s in Architecture and a minor in Environmental Science.
Prior to founding eightvillage, Pavan was a designer at Lake Flato in San Antonio, working on projects of all scales, including net-zero water houses, higher education buildings, and urban projects. Upon returning to Atlanta, Pavan played an intergral part in starting-up and piloting numerous local initiatives, including Ryan Gravel’s urban think-tank Generator, a non-profit dedicated to fostering ideas for cities by people.
Capturing the story of a place is at the core of Pavan’s passion for community-driven projects. He believes that places become rooted through memories and a sense of pride, and these qualities are best generated through leveraging storytelling as the vehicle for supporting communities. Pavan is seen as a leader and expert in affordable housing and urban in-fill policy in the City of Atlanta. He has given numerous talks and lectures on how to plan and design communities for sustainable urban ecologies.
Debo Adeniyi is a design director driven by a people-centric design philosophy that seeks to tell stories through context, meaningful dialogue, and research.
Prior to eightvillage, Debo worked on a variety of affordable to luxury housing developments throughout New York City. He briefly served as the senior project manager for the National Cathedral of Ghana with Adjaye Associates in Accra. He now calls Los Angeles home.
Debo has independently overseen award-winning international competition submissions and is the recipient of the 2022-2023 University of Illinois Francis J. Plym Traveling Fellowship in Architecture, researching brutalist public performing arts spaces in Central London.
Megan McDonough is a licensed Architect in Georgia practicing design informed by ecology, urbanism, and material health. She takes a research-based approach to design, seeking to create places that work as an environment and as an experience.
Prior to eightvillage, Megan worked as a Project Architect at award-winning firms, designing and constructing civic, educational, and corporate projects across the southeast, including Net Zero and WELL-certified buildings. A recent one was the first to utilize hydronic radiant ceilings in the southeast. In 2015 she spent a summer on a Bronze Age archeological dig in rural Turkey, modeling strategies in passive design. It was a good reminder that the simplest solutions to comfort still work well.
She’s an avid urban explorer and backcountry hiker and uses her outings to deepen her understanding of places humans share with other people and nature. Megan keeps active in contemporary discourse teaching design studio at her initial alma mater, Georgia Tech. She holds a Master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture.
Xuxa Edwards is an architectural designer using multiple mediums of design, technology, urbanism and art to communicate and visualize architecture.
Prior to joining eightvillage, Xuxa worked at FXCollaborative largescale projects, including affordable-housing, mixed-use, and interior design. Hailing from the US Virgin Islands, Xuxa was interested in environmental design from an early age. Growing up, she would often see the outline of distant islands on the horizon and think of ways to connect them, imagining bridges or arm-like natures bringing together the people on each island.
Using multiple mediums of design, technology, and art to communicate and visualize architecture, Xuxa works to make a connections between people and the environment. She has volunteered for the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMA S) at Philadelphia University, and was on the board of the NOMA S chapter at Georgia Institute of Technology. She actively participates in lectures for different organizations and institutions advocating for people and knowledge of the built environment.
Jhordan Channer is an architectural and urban designer and co-founder of Island City Lab, a think-tank that confronts the contemporary urban issues facing island nations. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, he engages with urban issues across multiple scales by borrowing a set of tools from planners, policy analysts, urban designers and architects.
Prior to eightvillage, Jhordan worked with Mona Social services to plan the deployment of civil infrastructure to informal settlements in Kingston Jamaica. Jhordan has worked as an urban designer on a number of significant master plans and public space projects in New York City, including The Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Action Plan, Bed Stuy Restoration Plaza Master Plan, and the Arverne East Nature Preserve Plan. Jhordan was a 2020 Forefront Fellow with the Urban Design Forum where he worked with the Mayor's Office of MWBEs to investigate how NYC could leverage investment in climate action, infrastructure and emerging industries to generate wealth in low-income neighborhoods.
In his independent research Jhordan studies the means by which informal communities can self-actualize their own formality through infrastructure. He is interested in the socio-economic dynamics of community and the role cooperative economic systems can play in building resilient communities.
James Waldon is a 2018 graduate from the Georgia Tech Master of Architecture program, James has served as a Graduate Ambassador sharing his experiences as a student and serving as a liaison, particularly for students transitioning to the program after pursuing undergraduate degrees in disciplines other than architecture. Having earned an undergraduate degree in psychology, he applied his expertise as a Behavior Specialist and his interest in filmmaking to shape his view of the interface of human behavior with the built environment.
While serving as president of Tech’s NOMAS chapter, James has studied in Asia and Europe in search of sustainable and smart solutions for dense populations, served as a volunteer in the Hip Hop Architecture Camp for middle school students, and participated at the Georgia Tech Stubbins Gallery as a panelist in an exchange of ideas on the impact of afrofuturism and gentrification. His interest in filmmaking led to his directing of the promotional video for the Modern Architecture and Modern City study abroad program.
Now, working as an Architectural Designer at eightvillage, James continues to apply his attention to detail and architectural inspirations in several single, multifamily and commercial projects.
advisory board
advisory board member
Jess Noel was born into a family of artists and scientists. With a deep passion for community engagement and social justice work, she has worked on issues from voting rights restoration to crafting international campaigns to address health, nutrition, to early childhood education for children and families. Jessica is a graduate of Florida A&M University and Miami Ad School where she studied Design and Art. A storyteller at heart, Jess e is currently the Art Director for Majority, a local creative consultancy.
advisory board member
Brian Korte, FAIA, is a co-founder of the San Antonio office of Clayton Korte, a Texas based design studio offering architectural design services and custom fabricated furnishings to residential and commercial clients focusing on collaborative projects of all scales. Brian’s work has been recognized with national, state and local AIA design awards, and additional awards from related industries. Brian was elevated to The College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects, an honor awarded to only three percent of all AIA members that acknowledges personal achievements, architectural excellence and those architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.
advisory board member
Katie Delp is the Executive Director for Focused Community Strategies, a non-profit community development organization in the Historic South Atlanta neighborhood. With FCS, Katie works to transform under-resourced communities in Southeast Atlanta. In the Historic South Atlanta neighborhood, FCS has successfully created more than 150 units of affordable housing, opened a neighborhood grocery store and coffee shop creating dozens of local jobs and partnered with multiple social service provides for the community. Katie is passionate about neighboring, faith, and community development.
services
We offer design services and consultation for projects of varying scales, specializing in architecture, urban design and ecological design. Our client-base includes a wide range of for-profit and non-profit entities, all with place-based design goals at the forefront of the project. Collaboration and communication are at the core of our process, and we are always energized to facilitate, mobilize, and catalyze projects that have an impact on people and our planet.