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Monday
night people who live in the Northeast area and those interested in the
revitalization of the area were able to see how N.C. State students had
translated the hopes and needs they voiced during two workshops last month.
The
walls in the DuBois gym were covered with drawings, sketches and perspectives
of ways to renew and redo the historic campus. After an introduction by Kofi
Boone, a professor of landscape architecture at North Carolina State
University, the 40 or so people attending examined the varied possible plans
and asked questions of the landscape students who made them. At the end,
everyone was asked to answer several questions that would help, Boone said, to
determine what ideas or services they want in the area. The 18 ideas will be
refined to three, two or one in the next few months.
The
plans embodied the three parts of the mission of the national alumni
association which owns the campus: education, wellness and culture.
Every
plan included a senior center and a health or fitness center as well as
sidewalks and walking trails. Parking was shoved to the edges of the campus.
All
plans included an enclosed pool or an aquatics center.
Some
included a daycare for youngsters.
All
kept the large oaks and added more trees. One had space for community gardens
with walkways that went through in an interesting pattern.
The
plans must be sustainable, Boone said, and incorporate methods of conserving
energy and reducing stormwater runoff.
He
talked about how the architects of the now-derelict Rosenwald building oriented
it to the south to take advantage of natural light. Those school buildings,
designed by students of Washington Carver, had large windows and plastered
walls painted in light colors.
As
the students refine the plans, Boone said, they will keep the neighborhood’s
priorities in mind as they work to make the buildings and services fit the
site. An important step will be to fit the building to the program it will
hold.
There
will be more public meetings as the process goes on through the year.
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