WSU students offer proposals for project
In January, Allen Williamson approached the Washington State University Spokane Interdisciplinary Design Institute, asking it come up with design concepts for an urban village he would like to develop on the southeast corner of 57th Avenue and Palouse Highway.
Adjunct professor Elizabeth Payne’s fourth-year landscape architecture students accepted the challenge. They interviewed Williamson and visited the site to get a feel for the topography, terrain, natural resources and roads. They studied the history of Moran Prairie.
These 16 students got a chance to test skills they acquired in the classroom on a large, real-life project while earning university credits. Three concepts were presented on April 28 at the Riverpoint Higher Education Center.
The first group’s plan was called Browne’s Victorian Village. It featured easy vehicle and pedestrian use, a grid system that connects the village with commercial properties, a large central plaza, carriage doors on garages, subtle design for signs, and Victorian-themed building using bay windows, brick and wood.
The second group’s plan was called Piazza Della Rosa, an Italian village concept that mixed retail, office space, community areas, an Italian restaurant and a large rose garden to honor the property’s past.
The concept included terraced areas, a huge fountain, parklike living with a recreation center. Parking was clustered, out of view. Residents had rooftop gardens.
They retained one of the original greenhouses to use as a restaurant where customers could come in relax, order a steak and leave with a plant.
The third concept was called Pine Brook Village, an environmentally friendly mixed-use development offering a “lakeside experience” complete with wooden bridges and waterways, making use of the runoff in the area. This concept included landscaping with pine, spruce and conifers. Buildings were made of stone and wood and had a lodgelike design.
Parking was clustered, and the area was pedestrian friendly, with native plants surrounding walkways. Animal sculptures were designed to contribute to the outdoor feeling.
Williamson has his own concept in his mind but was interested in what the students, given a blank canvas, could come up with. Students aren’t limited by budgets, county regulations or politics. They can be creative, which is just what Williamson was looking for.
Students from the same WSU program presented ideas for Mirabeau Point Park several years ago, and many of those concepts can be seen at the park today.
According to Payne, her students aren’t competing with design companies. However, the grahics in the proposals can be used as a catalyst.
“A picture is worth 1,000 words; in this case these pictures can be worth $1,000. They offer the community a vision of what a project may look like,” said Payne.