Xtreme LA: A Unique Design Challenge in Tucson
The fourth Xtreme LA event was hosted on October 4-6 by the University of Arizona in Tucson. Xtreme LA is a creative challenge for the design leaders of tomorrow. This unique professional development program teams select young professionals and students with prominent landscape architects for an intense 2-day charrette, in which participants develop design solutions for urban initiatives in a host city. Many thanks to Landscape Forms for producing this event.
Thirteen young professionals (under 35 years old) from across the country, who were identified by their firms as potential leaders, came to Tuscon to work with 13 landscape architecture students from the University of Arizona on pressing transportation issues.
The Arizona Department of Transportation is embarking on a process to connect Tucson and Phoenix with intercity rail. Meanwhile, the City of Tucson plans to build a modern streetcar line from the university through downtown, the first leg of a planned streetcar, light rail, and commuter rail system. The Xtreme LA Challenge was to design streetcar stops along the likely path of the intercity rail line to create convenient transit connections and a sense of place around the nodes.
Participants were divided into two teams and worked under distinguished team leaders with extensive experience in urban revitalization and transportation projects. Sean M. (Monte) Wilson is a Senior Vice President and Director of the HOK Planning Group who has served as lead designer on a range of transit-oriented developments, urban revitalization studies, and master plans. Trevor McIntyre is a Director at the IBI Group and has extensive experience in public consultation in the areas of transit-oriented development, design visioning, and waterfront development.
After briefs from local representatives and tours of key sites, the teams settled into the studio for a day-and-a-half of strategizing, developing conceptual plans, and creating presentation materials for their solutions. The teams took very different approaches with Monte Wilson’s team offering broad and strategic suggestions framed as a series of recommendations, while Trevor McIntyre’s team focused on a target area and presented specific solutions including some interesting element/product ideas.
Final presentations were given before an audience that included members of city council, local government agencies, and interested citizens. There was a strong showing of support from the community, and all appreciated the range of ideas presented and will consider them as plans move forward.
Xtreme LA was conceived by and is sponsored by Landscape Forms in partnership with LAF. In addition to fostering critical thinking, team building, and creative expression, the program provides a unique opportunity for intergenerational professional development, which is increasingly absent due to the economic downsizing and the resultant gap in mentoring resources in many firms.
