Design by Passage team Kate Burgess, Tiffany Filatov, Gabe Onderdonk and Alec Stolz.
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"We were truly amazed by the bright ideas, thoughtful questions and thorough explanations brought forth by each group of students," said Kimberlee McKee, executive director of the LDDA. "Each group had a very unique and impactful design and presented in a professional manner."
The university-city听partnership听was organized through the Community Design Workshop program of CU 麻豆影院's听Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR), which creates opportunities for CU 麻豆影院 students and faculty to take part in community projects. Community Design Workshops begin听with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between cities听and the university, and the听MoUs guide classes, studios and other student and faculty research that address a priority defined by the community,听said Brian Muller, CEDaR's director.
Longmont's defined priority is the revitalization of the old downtown area, he said. The Longmont project began听in spring 2019 with a studio,听linked seminar and several internships where students generated听design interventions for enhancing Longmont's plazas, breezeways, alleyways and creative businesses in the downtown area, creating听the foundation for the spring 2020 studio.听
The听real-world connection motivated the students to deliver high quality solutions, said Jesse Van Horne, an ENVD lecturer听who supervised the project.
"These kinds of relationships allow more ingenuity than a typical client-contractor relationship," Van Horne said. "We were听not operating under budget constraints, so there was听more opportunity for creativity, invention and new solutions.听The students received听real-world experience; the clients received听top-quality design work, and they didn鈥檛 have to pay for it."
Gabe Onderdonk, one of the students enrolled in the class said knowing his designs could听potentially be considered was very motivating.
"The class gave us a look into the operational aspects of real-world design,"听Onderdonk said. "It put us directly in contact with our client, which proved very successful when trying to understand the client's听needs and wishes and听in terms of what our class decided to听propose."
City's response
Kimberlee McKee said听the LDDA plans听to transform St. Stephens Plaza on Longmont's Main Street听to听a central gathering place for small groups.
"We envision a place where friends from different neighborhoods can come share, learn and enjoy," she said.听"The current design makes events or other small performances impossible."
At the beginning of the spring 2020 semester students researched the听area, including the history, climate, relationship to the sun, traffic and users, and concluded听that the plaza lacked听"stay and gather" spaces听and felt听uninviting during the winter. Afterwards听teams of four to five students developed three distinct听design solutions听to听transform the plaza听to an artistic space where residents could attend events .
"We learned new, innovative solutions to problems that our group had never considered," McKee said.听"We felt each design could hold its own, but in the end we found elements that we loved in each of the presentations.听 Our hope is to move forward with a combination of these elements."
McKee said the听LDDA would like to incorporate the following听elements from the students' designs: a听stage visible from Main Street on the plaza's southeast听corner; a ribbon fountain/mister; a round fireplace with copper 鈥榮ticks鈥�; fabric shading; ribbon or another听type of lighting element near the Kitchen Company; wood treatment benches; an education display demonstrating听the effect of ozone on plants; and a raised platform on the northwest side听of the church.
Designing in the face of a pandemic
Prior to restrictions due to the pandemic, the students met twice in person with the LDDA. Once restrictions were in place, all team meetings as well as the final presentation to the LDDA were held digitally over Zoom.
"It was a strange semester because of COVID," Van Horne said. "Some students听struggled, but despite the unforeseeable challenges that came up, the students thought听on their feet about how to deliver high quality design work with no physical product. No one jumped ship. They stayed devoted to cranking out some super design work."
McKee said the students incorporated all听of the LDDA's thoughts and goals for the plaza into the compact space. Onderdonk said the real-life experience was invaluable.
"It was a glimpse into the type of work we can do after graduation," Onderdonk said.
CEDaR plans to continue听the university-city partnership into 2020-2021, including more studio work on the St. Stephen's plaza leading to construction, Muller said. Improvements for St. Stephen's Plaza have been听delayed due to COVID-19, but tentatively will begin听in 2021, McKee added.
Proposed redesigns of St. Stephen's Plaza include:听
Art Envisioned听by Riley Chustz,听Camden Hocker,听McKinley Parks,听Logan Phelps and听Miles Shapleigh, incorporates art into the functional aspects of the site in a way that coincides with the creative district鈥檚 identity and facilitates larger gatherings and events.听It also offers creates an environment more suited to hosting events and large gatherings, as well as individuals and small groups. These additions, along with a careful selection of plants, will make the space more inviting and lively throughout the day and year, the student group said.
Rib Rock Plaza听by Stephen Cannon, Tori Civitello, Ayushi Patel and Ian Fuller,听echos the variety of Colorado鈥檚 naturalistic and novel environments, as well as creates听an opportunity to provide a passive educational experience where users can see the geological layers beneath them and begin to understand the forces that created the area. A fountain听at the center of the plaza听features water that cascades over the layers before collecting into a reflection pool. Under this design, users听can walk through the plaza, sit and enjoy the sound of flowing water that masks听some of the听traffic sounds听or warm up next to听fire pits along the edge of the fountain. Other users can climb up into the rock layers and dive into the planted landscape that grows from the fountain to follow the water to its source.
Passage by听Kate Burgess, Tiffany Filatov, Gabe Onderdonk and Alec Stolz, opens听up the sight lines from Main Street to the back alley to allow a safe path from the pedestrian mall to the parking lot; adds听seating on the north side of the site to allow groups to gather and linger; and replaces the broken fountain with a circular fire pit to encourage families and groups to soak up the warmth on a cold day. The plan includes movable seating and two potential stage areas for different programming.