Recreation & Open Space

In fall 2019, Dr. Ole Sleipness and Professor Dave Evans taught the Recreation Design and Open Space Planning studio, with assistance from senior Travis Lindberg. Both Ole and Dave have built relationships around collaborative design engagement, and jumped at the chance to extend this work into the studio. As usual, undergraduate and graduate students engaged in a range of project scales and types, while developing and refining their technical skills in site engineering, circulation design, and graphic representation—all while tackling contemporary design challenges through community engagement projects.

Realizing the value of analog drawing and diagramming in achieving deeper design thinking, the first project—a small-scale pocket park—was done entirely by hand, with the exception of final board composition. This approach provided a good reminder of the timeless benefits of robust discussions of design ideas with a pen in hand.

The course’s community engagement projects included a series of community parks in Mantua, Springdale, and Logan. These projects provided students with the opportunity to interact with community partners, while strategizing ways for active and passive recreation to enhance the local quality of life.

As a counterpoint to these urban projects, students also experienced the vast landscapes of Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole through a field trip led by Ole and Careers Coordinator Tanya Rice. To engage the landscape, the class stayed overnight in Jackson to learn first-hand about planning and development issues in western gateway communities. The trip also focused on landscape architecture’s rich history of early national park design and continued practice in these compelling settings. Students documented and captured their observations through photography and sketching. The experience provided a rich opportunity for sharpening students’ observational skills within one of the most breathtaking public lands settings in the world.

Field trips provide hands-on learning of how recreation design and open space planning fit within large-scale landscape systems.

While Ole is currently preparing for a sabbatical, Prof. Evans is lining up projects for the coming fall that will provide students with a new set of design opportunities. He’s looking forward to future collaboration with colleagues, alumni, community partners, and of most of all: LAEP’s outstanding students.