Architecture Students Will Help Shape the Future of the Biltmore
From left to right along 5th Street in Atlanta: Georgia Tech Main Campus, Bridge over Interstate I75/I85, Tech Square, Biltmore Block (in red)
Georgia Tech is reshaping Midtown by making it not only a center for startups and research, but also a living classroom. Next spring, a new architecture studio class taught by Professor David Yocum will invite graduate students to imagine the future of one of Tech Square’s newest spaces: the Biltmore Block.
Professor David Yocum, Director of Georgia Tech’s Master of Architecture program, is a decorated architect who has taught at the Institute since 2005.
The course, Architecture in the Public Realm: The Biltmore Block, is designed as both a research and design studio where students will develop bold ideas for the next era of the Biltmore Innovation Center and its surrounding block. Notably, this isn’t a speculative exercise. Backed by the Georgia Tech Foundation, the studio-based course places students in conversation with the people shaping the Biltmore’s next chapter.
“We’re positioning this as a real project, not a hypothetical one,” Yocum said. “Students will work the way practicing architects do, meeting users, analyzing constraints, and proposing designs that respond to the complexities of a dense urban site.”
Architecture as Storytelling and Urban Revitalization
At the heart of the course is the idea of the city as a palimpsest: a layered and evolving story. Students are encouraged to treat the Biltmore Block not just as a site, but as a living narrative, where historic structures like the 1924 Biltmore Hotel (now the Biltmore Innovation Center) meet the ambitions of a modern innovation hub. Georgia Tech sees the area as a launchpad for the city’s next wave of tech-driven entrepreneurship, and Yocum’s studio challenges students to design new architecture that engages that energy while honoring what came before.
It’s not the first time Georgia Tech has invited its architecture students to take on live urban challenges. Past studios have partnered with organizations like Midtown Alliance to reimagine Atlanta’s public spaces, and the College of Design’s Flourishing Communities Collaborative brings students into real-world projects with social impact across metro Atlanta. The Atlanta Beltline is a result of former architecture and city planning student Ryan Gravel’s master’s thesis.
“The question isn’t just what gets built,” Yocum said. “It’s how architecture brings cultural value to the city and creates spaces that matter to the people who use them.”
A Studio Grounded in Real-World Impact
The class will include 12–15 Master of Architecture students working in small teams. Each group will propose creative new uses for the Biltmore Block, from housing to cultural spaces, while integrating new construction into the Biltmore’s historic fabric. It is part studio, part incubator: at the end of the course next spring, students will present their proposals to a jury of architects, Georgia Tech leaders, and business and real estate development professionals, with top projects earning cash awards and a possible path to be involved in the next phase of real-world development.
By embedding students directly into a live development process, the class reflects Tech Square’s evolving identity as a place where bold urban ideas take shape. As Yocum put it, the Biltmore Block is “a story still being written,” and this studio makes the students part of the authorship.