Constellations, a set of stars, originated in a workshop.

In 2016, while chatting after a tour of Fort McPherson, friends Gene Kansas and Ryan Gravel pondered a question: “Can we create a better workshop based not on area of focus or process, but on the thinkers themselves?” The thesis was that anyone — from any background, with any education, and of any stripe — can meaningfully add to any topic if they’re thoughtful, communicative, and reasoned.

Kansas and Gravel started brainstorming: “We can have a truly diverse group of panelists … we can serve made to order coffee … how about fresh strawberries?! … we can ask philosophical questions … let’s keep it to three hours … we need a place with tons of natural light … let’s talk about how to improve workspaces … Yes, let’s bring stars together and call it Constellations.”

With significant collaboration and leadership from writer Jamie Allen, the inaugural workshop, “Culturally Inspiring Workspace,” brought together a cool and quirky independent bookstore owner, a charmingly modest new urbanist, an empathetic PAC-10 decathlete turned industrial and UX designer, an architect intellectually and intrinsically focused on healthy design, the ultra-creative founder of the Squirrel Census, a clear-speaking former top-level Home Depot communications executive, a from-the-ground-up neighborhood leader and former chief of staff to an Atlanta city council member, the creator of the Atlanta BeltLine, and a real estate entrepreneur with a penchant for cultural development.

Civic & Socially Driven

As if predestined in the stars, the workshop took on a life of its own, and was the first successful gathering of “Constellations,” a truly diverse group of thinkers who aim to make a positive difference in the world.

From that workshop were born three Guiding Principles: Freedom of Choice, Community with Retreat, and Variety of Experience & Opportunity. And that was it. Six months later, on a random visit to see a neighboring property, Gene Kansas visited for the first time 135 Auburn Avenue, and when he stepped through the historic mahogany doors the figurative lightbulb clicked on: “This is it. This is Constellations.”

Sometimes stars align, they connect, and when they do they form a picture. Pictures tell stories. And, the story we're trying to tell is about the "bigger picture". We believe our success and happiness comes from these connections, and from our own DNA. What we experience, and what we hope you'll enjoy at Constellations, was born out of a single workshop and the minds of many amazing contributors. And the best is yet to come …

Sol omnibus lucet. The sun shines upon us all.