Before the seniors of the landscape architecture program at Utah State University officially graduate, they will be presenting a project proposal they have spent more than a year working on.
The proposal centers on the Granary District in Salt Lake City; an aging 300-acre industrial section of the city that runs east from Interstate 15 to West Temple, and from 900 S. north toward 600 S.
Nike Cleverly, who will be presenting with the rest of the group, talked about how the project has centered around preserving the area as much as it focuses on rebuilding it.
“We're kind of talking about taking the image, and not changing it completely, but just enhancing what’s there,” Cleverly said. “With that, we have another little slogan we like to use, it’s industry revolutionized. We’re taking what’s there, the form that’s there, and changing it, tweaking it, so it keeps it’s identity as being this was industrial, but now it’s something new and exciting. That’s kind of what everyone’s projects are about.”
Based on the research they have done to find out what problems exist in the Granary District, the students formed a six-pronged approach to rebuild and repurpose spaces in the neighborhood, which includes initiatives to help promote community involvement and a sense of belonging. The plan aims to attract young up-and-comers from the millennial age group, as Utah continues to grow as a hub for business.
What is particularly enticing for these students is that this project they put so much work into will be presented to curious citizens of Salt Lake, as well as the city’s urban designer Molly Robinson and Mayor Ralph Becker.
While the presentation is purely an educational experience for the group, there is also a chance the proposal could get picked up by the city. Student Sarah Gunnell said she just hopes the intent of the proposal is well received by its audience.
“We’re nervous about people mistaking what we’re trying to just do as an educational exercise for, like, a concrete plan that Salt Lake is implementing. So we want to be very clear about that at the beginning to people, that it’s just an exercise it’s not meant to push anyone’s nose out. It’s just to see what the area could be,” Gunnell said. “So I think we’re kind of nervous for resistance just on our ideas.”
The presentation will be held Friday, April 24, in the Salt Lake City Library from 1:30-5:30 p.m., and is open to the public. For the students, it’s the culmination of a year of preparation on top of the work they’ve done to achieve their degrees. It could also be the beginning of rebirth for an iconic but fading section of Utah’s capitol city.