Corcoran Ota
Corcoran Ota

Down on the Farm, Out on the Coast: Woodlands Landing at Echo Farms

It makes sense that our first set of buildings to truly embody the modern farmhouse aesthetic would have been built on one of the more pastoral pieces of land we’ve worked with in a while: a former golf course. Coastal, breezy, and entirely beautiful, Echo Farms Golf & Country Club greeted Wilmington, North Carolina players and their families for more than four decades before closing its courses a few years ago.

We were tapped by the property’s owners to help it transition into a new form: family townhomes, 176 of them in phase one, a mix of one, two and three-story units designed with a country-coastal vibe.

To get the feel right, COG Principal Michael Corcoran drew up a handful of site plans designed to maximize space and building usage on the plot. He then partnered with the rest of the COG team to fine tune the buildings. This work was a bit different for the studio: less dense than typical multi-family developments, and both a fun and interesting endeavor.

Townhomes are studies in creative space management. More vertical than horizontal, with stairs slicing through their centers, the nature of this popular beast demands efficient use of nooks and crannies and rooms configured for maximum flow up and down throughout the floorplans. The form also inspires a wonderful amount of opportunity to play with design. The Cape Fear area is coastal, and we wanted to do something fresh without going all the way to ultra-modern. So, the team went with modern farmhouse – a hot trend that blends traditional materials with a clean, more contemporary feel.

Woodlands Landing at Echo Farms
Woodlands Landing at Echo Farms

But while most modern farmhouse structures tend to veer into the range of flat, clinical white color-wise, we made some interesting exterior choices to mix things up a bit. First, each façade looks slightly different, but uses sleight of hand to create variety. Using a mix of fiber cement shake, horizontal siding and traditional panel siding, the team mixed and matched materials, creating an organic, randomized but cohesive feel for units sitting side by side. Every two, the pattern switches up again. Black gutters and other details frame the buildings, helping them pop off the lush, green, North Carolina backdrop. “I’d call it modern with a ‘little m,’” says Corcoran.

Inside, the townhomes are finished with granite countertops, stainless appliances and copious natural light. While one-story units are back to back and have only one set of impressive windows, Woodlands’ two and three-story units allow light to flow all the way through them, with large windows on both sides of the main living areas. The result: an impressive amount of brightness through and through.

While the units are clean and traditional, the Woodlands Landing clubhouse is the epitome of coastal farmhouse chic. Drenched in dusty oceanic blues and clad in the style’s signature shiplap siding, the community’s U-shaped common building hugs an inground pool, outdoor bar and fireplace area, and inside contains a calming hang-out space with natural furnishings, a prep kitchen, business center and a large, bright workout room. COG principal Dean Ota created this space with a sense of breezy camaraderie in mind that even extends to residents’ pets: a state of the art “dog wash” station sits just to the side, ready to pamper any size pooch.

The best thing about this modern agrarian enclave on the coast however might be the knowledge that townhomes of this density and style were apparently much needed in the area. According to Woodlands Landing’s leasing staff, Phase I has been “leasing like hotcakes,” filling quickly with a mix of younger couples and older retirees, with a fair amount of diversity within the population.

We think that speaks to something else too: that while modern farmhouse style currently says “trendy”, it also seems to say “home” for a lot of people.

Woodlands Landing at Echo Farms

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