Formal presentations held in downtown Greenfield for first time

With four Conway student projects in Greenfield this year, the first of two days (November 18, 19) of the presentations was held in downtown Greenfield. “This made it easier for Greenfield clients and residents to stop by and also meant that we were just across the street from one project site and down the block from two others,” noted Conway director Paul Cawood Hellmund

Christina Gibson “12  presented alternative designs for Greenfield”s Vetetrans Mall, a pocket park across the street from where the presentations were held.

Students presented proposals for a 20-acre bio-diesel plant site, the eco-renovation of an historic mixed-use building, and other projects in Greenfield and elsewhere in the Pioneer Valley.

On Saturday projects were presented on the Conway campus. Those projects included proposed plans for maximum food production on a 3/4-acre residential lot and a therapeutic farm serving physically, mentally, and emotionally challenged residential clients.

Conway trustees in attendance were Carla Oleska, Dolores Root, and Tim Umbach.

This year”s critics were ecologists Elizabeth Farnsworth and Hank Art, designers Mary Rickel Pelletier and Joan Rockwell, and Conway alums Michael Cavanaugh “02 and Peter Monro “86. Below are some of their comments at online pokies the end of the day.

Peter Monro

“When you find the clients’ needs make sure they are real needs, be as specific as possible.  Analyze for those needs—use the analysis to drive design direction, propose solutions that come out of analysis.  Find the big problem, the thing that cannot be solved without a designer.”

Henry Art

“Always look at context – these are not closed systems, you must be really sensitive to those flows of energy, people, activities, wildlife, water, people, even in urban environments.  Constantly pull back and see how those elements are influencing your site.”

Mary Rickel Pelletier

“You must identify the core challenge, which will exist within a fabric of multiple conditions.  Sometimes you solve one problem only to create another.  Try to keep a clear understanding of those foreground issues and background issues, of site and of its context.”

Elizabeth Farnsworth

“I find it useful in the field to base my scientific analysis on layers – bedrock, topography, soils, history of use (not trivial!), hydrology, vegetation, and plant communities. And don’t just limit yourselves to property boundaries – winds happen, trees fall, neighbors build, animals move. You can’t ignore externalities—think outside the property.”

Joan Rockwell

“Make sure you record your thinking—the methods you use, how you got to what you are recommending.”

Michael Cavanaugh

“In communicating design there is a need for a sense of narrative—integral piece of the answer. It is useful to close off some narratives to listen more clearly to others, but then weave them all back together.”