Student Outreach Program R E C E N T W O R K S
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ents Mission 3-4 History 5-6 Outreach Efforts Polaris K-12 School 7-8 Clark Middle School/WB Lyons Park 9-10 Aquarian Charter School 11-12 Additional Projects/Schools 13-14 What s Next/Future Plans 19-20 Partnerships & Resources 21-22 Design Competition 23 Contact Information 24 Aquarian Charter School: 2nd/3rd Grade Class 2
It s important for kids to be involved with the new park design because if the kids are the people that designed it they are going to want to take better care of it and tend to it more because it was their design. 3
Community Involvement The ASLA Alaska Chapter s Student Outreach Program works with students on local community projects so they can get a better understanding of what landscape architects do and how projects come together when people unite with a similar idea for creating and improving a place. Our goal is to present the profession of landscape architecture through ion project work by including students, steering committees, William B Lyons Park Art Panels by Clark Middle School Students community councils, volunteer organizations, municipalities, local businesses, and school districts to come together and work in a meaningful way towards a common goal. We want to integrate the students into the design process from the conceptual level, discussing their ideas with others and moving into detailed design and construction. Our intent is for students to see and help solve problems when issues arise with installing portions or specifi c elements of their designs into these community spaces. Clark Middle School Students Site Visit 4
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Program History The ASLA Alaska Chapter has had a long history of community and student engagement. The current Student Outreach Program started with a conversation about doing more than just lecturing to students. A small group of local landscape architects wanted to get students involved in ory the process of landscape architecture design and being a part of a real community project. Initially, the ASLA Alaska Chapter teamed up with the Municipality of Anchorage s Polaris K-12 School: Storyboard Presentation (MOA) Parks and Recreation Department on two neighborhood park projects. Each project evolved into unique projects that progressively increased the involvement of the students and gained popular and fi nancial support. These projects varied in size and commitment from both the students perspective and the landscape architects efforts. The individuals that initiated this program include Holly Spoth-Torres (Municipality of Anchorage), Chad Taylor (Intrinsic Landscapes), Kevin Doniere (Corvus Design), and Jonny Hayes (Bettisworth North). We are dedicated to continuing our work with students and want to spread our knowledge and hope to grow our program throughout all of Alaska reaching rural communities, as well as, affecting the more urban conditions found in our larger cities. 6
Polaris K-12 School The fi rst project completed with this Student Outreach Program initiative was Al Miller Park in the Government Hill neighborhood in Anchorage, working with Polaris K-12 School. After a classroom introduction on landscape architecture, what landscape architects do, and an orientation on park design, Chad and Kevin spent another day with the students getting a sense of the site, its existing conditions, and the context of the park in the neighborhood. From the initial introduction of the project, they were amazed at what they found on the site visit. When one student saw the actual site he said, whoa, this can t be the right park! Getting to know the site helped the students develop their concepts, while Chad and Kevin followed the conceptual design process with two more visits to the classroom to help with design questions and give any last bits of advice. Finally, Polaris K-12 School: Storyboard Presentation each student design team presented their park designs to the Anchorage Parks & Recreation Department staff and other landscape architects. The interaction between these junior and senior high school students was a focused effort during a one month period where the students spent 2-3 days per week on their park designs. 7
Polaris K-12 School Site Visit to Al Miller Park 8
Clark Middle School One of the most comprehensive projects that the Student Outreach Program has undertaken is the collaboration between Clark Middle School and the Anchorage Parks & Recreation Department for design improvements at William B. Lyons Park in Mountain View. This park was scheduled for renovation under the MOA s Neighborhood Park Fix-It program and was the recipient of a legislative grant that gave funds to help re-claim some of the existing park materials and remove dilapidated play structures. Local landscape architects, in association with the student outreach program, donated a great deal of time and effort by working with Ms. McIntyre s 7th/8th grade class for more than 20 weeks. They visited the classroom 1-2 times a week, organized site visits, performed evaluations of the existing conditions, explored new trends in landscape architecture, and nurtured the development of student design concepts. These class visits turned into a semester long collaboration and career exploration with the class. By the end of the fall semester, students had developed a design concept and made a presentation to the VIP Committee, receiving Clark Middle School Students Site Visit general approval for the concept Global Village. During the second semester the class launched a school-wide competition to create artistic elements for the park that followed the Global Village concept that was developed by Clark Middle School students. The Anchorage Community Land Trust was so excited about this grassroots effort and the artwork solicitation executed by the students that they donated $10,000 to go toward the student art pieces that were installed in the park. 9
10 Painting Circumpolar Map on Parking Lot at William B. Lyons Park Art Panels with Student Original Artwork My favorite part about the park design was presenting our video to the school
A place where you can chill out with your friends uarian Students Model Making. 1
12 Aquarian Charter School We worked with Ms. Eckel s 2nd/3rd grade class at Aquarian Charter School on how they could improve their school s campus. Ms. Eckel was interested in creating a more aesthetic street frontage along 32nd Avenue by creating a rain garden. We met with her students and introduced them to landscape architecture. We talked about how we help solve issues or problems in outdoor spaces through design. We developed a project where the students chose a site on campus to improve - the front entry/fl ag pole area; the street frontage where the rain garden was envisioned; the playground; or the woods. Students paired up or individually developed a model to represent their idea for their site. Each student or group then presented their concept models to the rest of the class and the visiting landscape architects. Aquarian Student Presentation
It s important for kids to help design the park because they know how to make it fun 3
14 Additional Projects Several other projects have been completed through the Student Outreach Program and include the following schools: Airport Heights Elementary School; Central Middle School; Rogers Park Elementary; and Romig Middle School. These schools, working together with local landscape architects, developed a variety of projects that included model building, developing conceptual designs, and discussions related to structures and building. During these classroom projects and visits, our landscape architects volunteer their time to help students with the following: Critical Thinking Creative Problem Solving Working Collaboratively Communication and Presentation of Designs Responding to Critiques/ Questions
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20 What s Next? Our work with students has just begun to take shape. For each student outreach project that we ve developed, we are getting the students more and more involved in each project - from design through to community involvement, citizen advisory committee meetings, and public or re community council meetings. We are still striving to get student s hands dirty - it s a valuable lesson to learn when design ideas become a reality and things don t quite fi t, or plans need to be changed. Being able to think on your feet, problem solve, and be fl exible are important skills that we need to perform our work as landscape architects. These skills translate into many different professions and are life skills. The Student Outreach Program envisions doing a project from concept level drawings, into design development, and then helping infl uence construction documents. And the student s work doesn t stop there. We want them to construct the project or install a portion of their design into the park, school, or public space.
American Society of Landscape Architects: Alaska Chapter Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department Anchorage Community Land Trust Anchorage Park Foundation Anchorage School District Part A special thanks goes out to our partners and their support. It is important to have such great supporters and advocates for all of these community spaces. With our partnerships, we ve been able to work on real projects that have money for student design ideas to come to fruition. We continue to look for new partners and additional community resources to get involved in our student outreach program. This is a win-win situation, where we, as a community, support future designers and planners while improving our outdoor spaces, neighborhoods, parks, and school campuses. 1
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Student Design Competition CALL FOR ENTRIES Student Outreach Program Alaska Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects Designers of Tomorrow - Design Competition Students are encouraged to conceptualize possibilities for the design or redesign of a nearby park, a specifi c site on their school campus, or an adjacent green space. Through supporting curriculum, hands on activities, research, and design development that encompasses various methods of representation and public presentation. Students will be given the opportunity to think critically about public spaces and express their creativity in a way that benefi ts the community. Students will submit a response to this request outlining their proposed project, support??? and follow the upcoming Request for Proposals that will developed by ASLA and distributed to schools in the early fall 2013. 3 Competition FALL 2013 design competition culminates with?? winning school advances into planning & design stages Design WINTER/SPRING 2013-14 ASLA Student Outreach Program works with winning school(s) to design and possibly construct ideas into a renovation plan for a park, school, or green space. Construction FALL 2014 ASLA Student Outreach Program works with winning school(s) to construct and install an element or portion of design into the project site.
24 Contact Information Student Outreach Program Contacts Alaska Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects Feel free to contact us with questions, ideas, and future projects! Kevin Doniere, PLA, ASLA, LEED AP 907.222.2859 Chad Taylor, ASLA 907.748.0642 Jonny Hayes, PLA, ASLA, CPSI 907.561.5780