Landscape students hold workshop
Highway requested the help of landscape architecture students at USU.
Last week, more than 100 students studied the culture, open space, roads, park and recreation areas, habitats and the potential development of main streets located in “Little Denmark,” an area in Sanpete County that was settled by Danish pioneers.
“They have a trove of gorgeous architecture pioneers built that reflect their Danish culture. It is really unique. They say they are ‘blessed with poverty’ because there are so many buildings they are unable to tear down,” said Tamara Shapiro, the Sumner Margetts Swaner Professor in the department of landscape architecture and environmental planning. “The settlement patterns and historic architecture, still visible today, that represents both Danish heritage and Mormon heritage is absolutely unique. Each town along Highway 89 in Sanpete County has its own distinct rural character.”
David Bell, associate professor and cooperative extension specialist in landscape architecture said, “Highway 89, the Heritage Highway, was passed through U.S. Congress as part of the National Park Service. We felt we would take a piece of that and offer suggestions of what the communities could look to enhance along the corridor and make it more special than it already is.”
On Feb. 5, the students were briefed on the area where they would be working and the following day. A group of 120 students and professors traveled to the Sanpete communities and assessed the conditions.
“They are asked then to do a study of six communities along the Heritage 89 corridor and find out what things they felt the community ought to capitalize on, implement or preserve that might make the Heritage Corridor a better place for future tourists as well as those who live there,” Bell said. “They are assigned to look at the kinds of things people are really engaged in as they travel through.”
The students were divided into groups, each looking at various aspects of the area.
They collected information, took photographs and spoke with town members regarding their visions for the area.
Upon returning to USU, the students have three days to prepare their design plans for their respective areas. They are required to turn in maps and drawings 24 by 36 inches in size. Their plans must also be presented in digital format.
“They are coming up with some pretty incredible things,” Bell said. “It’s a pretty neat thing. It’s amazing what they can understand, see and recommend in less than a week.”
Bell said they will return to Sanpete County the first week of March and present their proposals to town members.
Shapiro said towns typically build onto designs made by the students or implement specific parts.
“They may not directly implement them but more often just build on the plans,” she said.
Bell said this is the most extensive workshop in which USU has ever participated. Every student who is a landscape architecture major participates in the week-long activities. Students range from freshmen to graduate students.
It is good to involve all students, no matter their year, because the workshop offers such good experience, Bell said.
“This is a real life kind of thing. It is not an easy chore to produce all of that in a matter of a week,” he said.
Shapiro said, “For our students, this is an opportunity to learn and work outside of their respective studios, to learn how to listen to what people have to say about their values and their homes, their towns. Students also learn about the issues smaller communities face and how planning and design fits into the overall scheme.”
This is the fourth community workshop in which the department has participated, Shapiro said.
Previously, intensive design workshops have been conducted in Heber City, Richmond and Tooele.
Shapiro said the State of Utah Main Street Program, USU Extension’s Rural Intermountain Planning Program, USU Swaner Green Space Institute and a partnership of towns throughout the state fund the workshops, also called charrettes.
-areik@cc.usu.edu