With the allied strengths of fellow design professionals, Marc, with his firms of Putman Planning and Design & Development Directions has been able to plan and design the communities, neighborhoods and many of the homes in which over 100,000 people now live, work, learn and play. Consulting services span some 40 years of academic & professional, practical experience. Cost effective, distinctive environments blending land forms, streets, buildings, amenity and identity features are...and have been, enthusiastically planned and advocated for more than 200 planned communities on over 30,000 acres.

A broad academic design curriculum culminated in a Bachelor of Science Degree and Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture with minor studies in Architecture and Applied Art from Iowa State University. He won the All University Art Contest and his Master’s Degree thesis: “The Process of Private Land Development” became a required textbook. Early field reviews of the new towns of Reston, VA., Columbia, MD., the Prairie School design work in Oak Park, IL. and Taliesin in Spring Green, WI. were very influential.

Experience was gained in construction, architectural, planning and engineering firms. Work in art, sculpture and university teaching of architectural illustration, with consultation contracts to national companies, led to a position of primary planning and design responsibility with Pemtom, Inc. in 1970. As the Twin Cities’ largest development & building company at the time, work successfully pioneered planned communities. Many projects achieved national recognition and awards for innovation and all; recognition for sales success. Marc was responsible for master planning: blending of mixed uses... of attached homes, detached homes, pools, private & public parks, schools, commercial uses & private street systems. Identities, advertising and marketing offices, displays, multi-media presentations, signage and scale models were created and coordinated.

From 1973 to 1980 he was Director of Planning and an Associate of the Minneapolis consulting firm, Engstrom Associates, providing planning, design and marketing services for the Twin Cities, midwest and mountain states to a wide variety of private, institutional and public clients.

Mr. Putman co-authored and illustrated the book Planning & Design of Townhouses and Condominiums. One of the publisher’s most popular books, this widely read, 245 page book, published by the Urban Land Institute, provides an unusually detailed view of the inter-related complexities of creating residential communities. The book proved that “smart growth” neighborhoods (before it was called smart growth) , with increased densities, can be very attractive, high value and achieve top levels of buyer/resident satisfaction. The book won the American Society of Landscape Architects’ National Design Award for Communication.

Taking on planning, design and coordination tasks of multi-family projects, he then accepted the vice-presidency of the Rochester, MN. design/build/development firm, Elcor Enterprises. Completing project start-up tasks, sales successes and winning design awards on numerous residential projects, he then founded Development Directions in 1982. To meet new client needs, principals and design team members returned to the Twin Cities in 1989.

In 1993, while continuing on-going projects, Marc, fellow DDI Principal/Graphic Designer Tierney Putman and other team members joined with the C. Cudd Company, one of the Mpls.-St. Paul metro area’s largest luxury home builder/developers. As a partner, Senior Architectural Designer and Vice-President of Planning, neighborhoods, homes and project amenities designed won sales success & Builder Association awards, Parade homes awards and a top Masonry Design Award. Other tasks involved luxury-level home "product line" design, land planning, detail home & site design, illustration, brochures & corporate marketing.

Services were expanded to other builders & developers thru Development Directions/Putman Planning & Design in 1998. The firms have broadened their interdisciplinary skills to large and small scale, mixed-use developments. Coordinated with land planning, housing product lines are designed & adapted. Architectural review committee work helps elevate design quality, protect & grow lot values while creating streetscape variety... places of memorable scale and impact. Planning/marketing/design tasks are also accomplished for permanent amenity feature design, theme creation, advertising, architectural illustration & signage.

Marc was a Founding Advisor to the Builder Marketing Society, begun by the late Dave Stone, the internationally renowned new home sales and marketing “guru” and author. Travelling and consulting nation-wide with Mr. Stone, Marc contributed to both Dave Stone books, “New Home Sales” and “New Home Marketing”. These books remain industry standards today. Marc has also authored, illustrated and did photography for numerous articles and addressed Industry professional groups regarding “smart growth” & the integrated approach to land planning, architectural design and marketing. He's taught real estate classes & juried university Landscape Architecture masters degree Candidates.

He’s a registered landscape architect in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Numerous custom homes he has designed have won acclaimed design awards, many located on very challenging sites. PPD is versed in the various design styles, presonal favorites are craftsman and prarie school emphasis, with winning sales and design awards for colonial/ New England style homes.

Planning and design work has also extended to office campuses, malls and commercial villages, as well as numerous parks/landscape environments for both marina, urban & suburban settings. Many projects have received award recognition from NAHB, ULI, HUD, ASLA, AIA, AICP, Builders Associations in Chicago, Minneapolis, Wisconsin, New York, Architectural Record, American Wood Council, Housing Magazine and numerous other trade publications. Recent work focuses on planning & design for a number of large scale, high amenity, master planned neighborhoods. An on-going area of interest and effort has been to visit and analyze, nation-wide, numerous trend-setting developments utilizing “new” Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND)... Neo-traditional town planning/design techniques... and then apply the principles where appropriate.

Tierney Putman holds undergraduate arts degrees, as well as Minneapolis College of Art and Design degrees in Graphic Design and Environmental Graphic Design. Her efforts bring distictive award - winning identity, marketing value and enduring brand/identity to the planned communities, neighborhoods, recreational and commercial environments the firm plans and designs. Her expertise in Computer Aided Design, graphic design and 3D modeling, unique vision for identity, style and color brings our large archive of photos and illustrations to the support of our clients’ projects. This effort is aided by Katie Vannelli. She brings design, production and technical support to the extensive computer, color output, publishing and digital presentation systems we employ to compose, archieve, print, present and advocate our client projects for/to approval bodies and to their customers. Ryan Mielke has a degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota. He is our Architectural CAD Designer & Drafter experience in CADD site and building planning and detailing, ranging from single homes to large commercial/retail development.

Fellow design professionals include Roger Tomten, who brings a degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota, and extensive experience in both commercial and residential design. Roger is an expert on cluster development planning on high amenity sites. He also provides ordinance authorship and guidance to cities and Architectural Review Committees. Team members offer unique artistic hand drawing skills that grow from, and support an ability to “think in 3D”, and enable warm, convincing, attractive architectural, graphic and landscape architectural presentation illustrations of our design & planning work. We have strong working relationships with numerous civil engineers, contractors and vendors.

Close alliance with Mike Diem of Archnet and Rick Peterson of SDNE Architects merge their capabilities to provide Architectual services. Similar team relationships with engineers Roger Humphrey of Humphrey Engineering enable a complete offering of professional design services.

With leading-edge developers, builders and marketing professionals, Marc, Tierney, Roger and the team are refining and adapting these ideas: new and old traffic management intersections, patterns & streetscapes, with tailored housing solutions, for a range of buyer demands, budgets & municipal expectations. New neighborhoods, utilizing these TND principles, ranging from 45 acres to 1000 acres, have passed two various stages of design, approvals & sales.

Liberty on the Lake, in Stillwater, MN., the first Twin Cities metro development employing these refined ideas is now enjoying last few of residential and commercial lots. Liberty’s innovations are being recognized: other new communities are being influenced by its design, and Liberty’s ideas and execution have won the Smart Growth Award from 1000 Friends of Minnesota, and (against some 600 entries from the nation’s best planning, design and development companies), we won the Builder Magazine’s Builders’ Choice, (national) Grand Award in the Site Plan Category, as well as Professional Builder Magazine’s prestigious (national) Best In American Living design Award... and the owners won priceless 3rd party recognition, marketing values, referrals, sales and... enhanced reputation and builders.

Perhaps we can help you with your efforts to create a profitable, new environment, a Place of character ... of which all will be proud.

• Landscape Architecture: Master Land Planning, Detail Site Planning, Grading Design, Planting Design, Park, Green and Openspace Design, Amenity, Identity and Recreational Feature Design, Creating Dual Uses for Civil Engineering basins, structures, Innovative streetscapes, Modern Roundabout Use.
  
• Graphic Design: Identities, Logos, Themes and Theme Statements, Signage Systems, Brochures, Web sites.
  
• Environmental Graphic Design, Way-finding/Identity & Information Systems, Sales Center Planning, Displays, Decor, Installation.
  
• Approval Advocacy and Representation: 4 Color Approval Application Booklets, Displays, Marketing Illustrations, Scale and Virtual Models, Digital Graphic Photography and Video, Power Point/Keynote Presentations.
  
• Residential and Mixed Use Building Design: Builder Product Lines, Custom Residences, Additions.
  
• Planning and Design Quality Guidelines: Home/Garage Designation Plans, Guideline Manuals, Architectural Control/Design Quality Review Systems and Operation.
  
• Strategy, "Second Opinions", Counsel: Development, Building, Marketing and Sales.