1st Annual Dean's Prize Competition

1^st annual Dean’s Prize Competition for the LAEP 2720 students

By Weslie Hatch

            The 1^st annual Dean’s Prize Competition for the landscape architecture and environmental planning (LAEP) 2720 students took place in April, 2015 at Utah State University. The LAEP 2720 sophomores and first-year grad students prepared submissions to create a new student center on campus.

            The inaugural Dean’s Prize is the preparation of a Landscape Master Plan for the proceeded USU Student Center. The Dean’s Prize Competition was specifically created for the students in LAEP 2720 as the final project of spring semester and will happen at the end of each spring semester from now on.

            “The competition was created by my colleague David Anderson, and approved by Dean White of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences specifically as an exciting conclusion to spring semester for the LAEP sophomores and first-year graduate students in my class,” said David Evans, professor of the LAEP 2720/Site Planning and Design.

USU wants to create a student center that is more student, automobile, and community accessible. The hope is that some of the new add-ons will not only benefit the student body, but to benefit potential business partners and guests when going to the University Inn as well. Some of the design plans include: redesigning Aggie Blvd. with a proposed cross section with access to the new Aggie Life and Wellness Center and the existing HPER building, to create an amphitheater on the south side with pedestrian access that will initially replace the current amphitheater on Old Main Hill, to develop logical pedestrian access to the University Inn and other adjacent buildings, and to develop a public garden with pedestrian circulation and seating along the eastern edge; just to name a few.

            “My hope is that the work of the LAEP students will be seen as a useful communication tool for the university as they move forward with the design of the new Student Center,” Evans said. “USU Facilities had previously hired a Salt Lake City Architecture firm, MHTN, to prepare a Feasibility Study for a new Student Center building. Our students prepared site design concepts for the Student Center landscape based on the preferred architectural design shown in the Feasibility Study.”  

            The Dean’s Prize Competition gave the LAEP students an opportunity to improve design and illustrative skills in a competitive environment and which in turn gave them real-world experience.

“The final design took about four weeks, but we had a pretty good idea of amenities and layout by the second week. However, the design process is very dynamic, so changes and alterations were being made clear until the last minute,” said Steve Woody, a Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning junior and a member of the 1^st place design team. “I believe that it [the new student center] will give students additional reasons to stay on campus and pave the way for an influx in events, markets, etc. The opportunity is there to create markets and attract more out of state students, which will bolster the local economy and hopefully increase diversity within Logan. Overall, I think it will really reinforce a unique, memorable college experience at USU.”

            The university has rumored to build a new student center sometime in the near future, about the year 2020, and the feasibility study was the first step in that process. The only issue now is deciding whether a ‘more modern architecture is the way to go or a more classic design that can withstand changes and not look ‘dated’ in 20 years’. The work of the students will be an important tool as the university enters the next phase of design for both the building and the landscape.

More information can be found by contacting Dean White at ken.white@usu.edu or 435-797-2201, or by contacting David Evans at david.evans@usu.edu or 435-797-0508.