The campus community is invited to a public workshop on Monday, Oct. 7 to provide feedback on a proposed redesign of the Neutra Plaza in front of Building 7.
Lecturer Keiji Uesugi’s third-year landscape architecture design studio is collaborating with longtime supporter BrightView Design Group to redesign and build a public plaza and new landscaping on the grounds surrounding the College of Environmental Design.
The workshop is at 3 p.m. outside Building 7 in the Neutra Plaza. The plaza is named after influential modernist architect Richard Neutra, who taught at the college in the 1960s as part of a joint appointment with the departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning.
Uesugi said the project is a rare opportunity on the Cal Poly Pomona campus for placemaking: deliberately creating a place and clusters of space for gathering that address and anticipate the needs of students, faculty, staff, and visitors. BrightView will be providing professional staff in the studio once a week to help with project development, from guiding students with preliminary cost estimates, to cultivating financial and materials support from industry vendors and partners to build, plant, irrigate and assist with installation.
The redesign will be implemented during the 2019-20 academic year, with construction slated for completion by April. Proposed elements of the redesign include flexible and fixed seating to accommodate multiple uses and users; trees and/or structure for shade; planting greenery to increase the area’s horticultural diversity; lighting for evening safety; and a possible fountain.
Those who wish to support the project can donate to the Neurtra Plaza fundraising page.
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