Recreation & Open Space

The learning objectives for the fall 2020 Recreation and Open Space (LAEP 3100) class syllabus contained many topics traditionally covered in this course. However, as this semester evolved, students were challenged to learn yet another skill: to be adaptable.

Just a few days before the semester started, the faculty assigned to teach this course, Professor David Evans, returned to California to care for his family after the tragic loss of his home in a wildfire. Due to these harrowing circumstances the class began under the direction of Dr. Keith Christensen. Dr. Christensen rallied the expertise of LAEP alumni as well as emeritus faculty Michael Timmons to help introduce students to the principles and evolution of open space and recreation planning and design through a series of virtual lectures. The course was taught with students attending studio in person two times per week, and attending virtually the other day. This rotating schedule of in person and virtual attendance allowed the course to provide in-person, hands-on learning while adhering to USU’s room capacity and physical distancing requirements. Classroom teaching created a conceptual framework that allowed students to begin applying the lessons learned to a series of three projects spanning a range of scales.

The students first project was to provide design concepts for the former site of the former Emporium building in downtown Logan, Utah. The students worked in partnership with the City of Logan who is planning to remove the building and create an urban open space in the near future. The second project was done in partnership between LAEP Extension, Weber County and the U.S. Forest Service. The project challenged student teams to propose not only site scale design improvements to eleven recreational sites surrounding Pineview Reservoir near Huntsville, Utah, but also conceptualize how these recreational amenities can operate as a holistic system. The student’s proposals ranged from dynamic parking areas that morph with visitor demand, to completely re-imagining how boaters enter, decontaminate, launch, and exit the current marinas. The student’s work was used extensively in a U.S. Forest Service submission seeking an estimated 15 millions of dollars through the Great American Outdoors Act to make many of the student’s ideas a reality.

The final project required students to once again adapt to a new context and scale. Borrowing from the rich professional tradition of the Olmsteds, the students were invited to propose a community scale open space system for Santaquin City. Santaquin is located on the southern border of rapidly growing Utah County and like many communities along Utah’s Wasatch Front is experiencing tremendous growth. At stake is not only the quality of life of Santaquin’s residents, but the community’s proud agricultural character and one of the last remaining commercial scale fruit industries in the state. The student’s final project started with an open space system analysis and finished with students proposing a recreation and open space master plan that encompassed both the community and the surrounding landscape. The student’s work highlighted the need and potential for progressive open space and recreation amenity development that balances community character preservation, ecological function, and future development.

This semester provided students with experience working on three projects that served actual clients looking to the students in LAEP 3100 for conceptual design and planning assistance. The student’s ability to adapt to a dynamic classroom environment and apply their skills and vision resulted in design work that will positively impact the open spaces and recreational amenities of this semester’s project partners.