Student Visions of REO Town Area Displayed at Women’s Historical Center Until November 30
LANSING, MI – With only a weekend to work, 60 students from Michigan State University and other Midwest institutions developed innovative plans for redeveloping the REO Town riverfront during the design charrette of the Sixth Biennial Big Ten Graphic Workshop. The results of their labor are on display now at the Michigan Women’s Historical Center. The public is invited to view them there until Friday, November 30.
Arriving on Thursday, October 25, teams of students from the fields of landscape architecture and interior design descended on the project area-roughly bounded by I-496 on the north, Washington Street on the east, the Grand River on the south, and Townsend Street on the west-to study the current use of the land and visit the existing structures and landscape features in the environment. These included the Michigan Women’s Historical Center, Scott House and its surrounding park, Cooley Gardens, and a parking lot behind the gardens. The parking lot was added to the project as a potential site for a center for cultural and performing arts with an amphitheatre.
By the evening of Saturday, October 27, the eight teams had created master plans tying all the elements of the project area together and bringing new exterior ideas to the fore-including underground parking, boat access to the area, and a sculpture garden-as well as focusing on the look and flow of spaces inside the cultural arts center. The teams’ plans were then judged by community leaders and academic professionals.
The Michigan Women’s Historical Center was established in 1987 by the Michigan Women’s Studies Association, which seeks to improve what is taught and thought about Michigan women in history. Inside the Historical Center are changing galleries highlighting women’s history and art as well as the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, commemorating more than 200 Michigan women past and present. Operating hours are from noon to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, and 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Sunday. Photographs, biographical sketches, and lesson plans relating to the Hall of Fame honorees may also be viewed online at http://hall.michiganwomenshalloffame.org.
