|
The Miami Hurricane (University of Miami)
11.12.02
School of Architecture to head to San Jose, CA
By: Jorge Arauz
--------------------------
A design team comprised of 13 graduate students from the School of
Architecture enrolled in the Suburb and Town Design Program and the Fellows of
the UM Knight's Program in Community Building will be traveling to San Jose, CA
to work on neighborhood planning and building. The project is called a charrette
- an intensive public exercise in community design - and will be used as a mode
to discuss ways to improve the Evergreen-Eastridge neighborhood in San Jose, CA.
It will be led by Jaime
Correra, director of the Suburb and Town Design Program.
"This is a great group problem-solving enterprise in community
building," said Charles Bohl, director of the Knight Program. "It's an
opportunity for students to work with skilled professionals from all over the
country.The Evergreen-Eastridge area is a lively and diverse neighborhood with
tremendous potential," Bohl said. "Residents have already identified a
number of issues such as traffic calming, affordable housing and the need
for parks and a community center."
The charrette will be led by this year's Knight Fellows – an
interdisciplinary team of 12 community development professionals from around the
country who bring a range of expertise including community development,
planning, housing, real estate development, arts management, transportation,
architecture, environmental planning and journalism. The team will be headed by
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture
and principal of the firm Duany Plater-Zyberk, which has created plans for more
than 200 communities worldwide.
"It will be good to talk to community members about the issues that
affect their lives and to be able to apply the city planning concepts that we've
learned in studio," said Carolina Arias-Smith, who has not previously
participated in a charrette. "The interaction we will have with one another
will be helping to come up with real solutions for a real community."This
will be a unique experience where we have the opportunity to combine our
classroom skills with a real-life project in another part of the country,"
said Raquel Raimundez, a student in the Suburb and Town Design Program.
Gloria Katz, Commissioner for the City of Fort Lauderdale and local Knight
fellow, feels that lessons learned through the San Jose charrette will be
applicable in Fort Lauderdale.
"Charrettes are something that the city will be doing more and
more," she said. "Learning about running one will prove extremely
useful." For more information about the charrette, go to www.beallshill.net.
Jorge Arauz can be contacted at xxarauzxx@yahoo.com
--------------------------
Story Source: Miami Hurricane
|
