Reprinted with permission of the Daily Hampshire Gazette. All rights reserved.

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Forum has designs on Fighting Irish

By CHAD CAIN
Staff Writer

 

Saturday, June 28, 2008

NORTHAMPTON - It looks like the Fighting Irish design students will visit the city after all.

Two weeks after the Planning Board decided against hosting graduate students from the University of Notre Dame's School of Architecture in a weeklong urban design studio, a group of residents and community leaders have banded together to revive the idea.

"There is a great deal of public support for this," said Joel Russell, chair of Northampton Design Forum, a newly-formed group behind the effort.

Northampton Design Forum was created this week under the umbrella of Available Potential Enterprises, Ltd., a city-based non-profit arts organization. The forum, whose members include residents interested in fostering quality urban design, has invited the six graduate students led by Professor Philip Bess to spend a week here in September.

Bess, director of the university's architecture and urban design program in South Bend, Ind., made a pitch earlier this month in which a handful of his advanced graduate students would make classical and traditional architectural proposals for the city's streetscapes and established neighborhoods.

"Most people don't realize that Notre Dame has the best program in the country for teaching how to do traditional town planning and infill that fits the character of a community," Russell said.

The public event, scheduled from Sept. 7-13, will be held at the new APE Gallery at 126 Main St. Additional meetings may occur in other locations to give more opportunities for residents to participate. Organizers are calling it an interactive "design festival" whose goal is to generate excitement about urban design and sustainability. The forum will offer opportunities for public participation, feedback, and informal discussion.

The public discussions will include illustrations of classical and traditional architecture that focus on buildings, streetscapes, established neighborhoods, and more. Because the discussion will center around a broader vision rather than specific projects, supporters hope the effort will be unifying rather than divisive, Russell said.

He said the forum intends to involve segments of the community that usually don't participate in the city planning process, including businesses, institutions, and minorities.

"My experience has been that when the community is involved it becomes a document that is very useful," said Russell, an urban planner and land use attorney with a national practice based in Northampton.

Following the workshops here, the students would spend the semester working on the project before submitting a final product in December.

Organizers hope the forum will generate ideas to help the city implementing its sustainability plan by increasing public understanding and awareness of the importance of urban design.

The Planning Board liked the general concept, but balked over the expected cost of between $15,000 and $20,000 and with how quickly they had to make a decision. Russell said the Northampton Design Forum's first task is to raise money for the project to cover expenses, which will include arranging for food, lodging, transportation, and supplies. He said the group has already received a few fairly large pledges even though it has yet to actively seek money.