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practice • ion,"according to one recent coleader,and goal of this document was to revisit-10
<br /> also to the camaraderie that flows within years later—the vision of the community
<br /> the team as a result. that was first articulated during the MDT
<br /> • to the walls on large sheets,where the at- Visits can,however,lead to future proj- visit and to refocus the disparate improve-
<br /> tendees vote—with colored dots—for the ects for landscape architects.While inter- ment activities back to common goals.As
<br /> responses that resonate with them the most. acting with the design professionals, the a result,the city is working to secure fund-
<br /> This approach is not novel, but for many community begins to recognize the value ing for a downtown riverwalk and to es-
<br /> residents, this simple gesture of privacy is of landscape architecture and other design tablish downtown design guidelines.
<br /> empowering.For the team,the graphic rep- disciplines. The MDT teaches small cities Most recently,Schroeder was in Taylors
<br /> resentation of community desires leads di- and towns the ideas of conceptual design, Falls to facilitate a design workshop with
<br /> rectly to the next day's design work. community identity,streetscape,adaptive the Minnesota Departments of Transporta-
<br /> Armed with as much information as can reuse,master planning,and other"words of tion and Natural Resources. The purpose
<br /> be gained in one day,the Big Lake team re- art"of the profession.This instills in those was to discuss parking at the state park and
<br /> convened Saturday morning,and the work cities the desire to look to design profes- the difficult circulation patterns at the city's
<br /> began. Boxes filled with markers,pencils, sionals in the future, long after the MDT main entrance. Schroeder describes that
<br /> and sundry low-tech supplies jostled for has packed up and left. In the best cases, meeting as a group of people talking over a
<br /> space with 30-by-40-inch title blocks and the camaraderie and the prospect of ongo- drawing board. "The lessons they learned
<br /> •
<br /> basemaps.Windows were used for tracing. ing work go hand in hand. about public engagement from MDT have
<br /> Some team members made quick runs been institutionalized,"he says of the
<br /> out into the community to check sites. This happily ad hoc group of landscape now-typical design collaborations that
<br /> And through it all,despite the seem- take place in Taylors Falls. In fact,
<br /> ing chaos, a final presentation was architects, architects, planners, there are more people coming out for
<br /> in the works. The team, under the meetings now than there were for the
<br /> watchful eyes of the coleaders, was engineers, and other community design MDT visit,as a result of a process that
<br /> working toward a specific set of boardsis public,open,and voluntary.
<br /> and addressing a specific set of issues. professionals has been assisting Taylors Falls is not the only MDT
<br /> Smaller focus groups illustrated cur- success story.Little Falls,on the Mis-
<br /> rent development patterns, tackled Minnesota communities for 20 years by sissippi River 100 miles upstream
<br /> • trail networks,made difficult recom-
<br /> mendations about the Highway 10 facilitating two-day, on-site charrettes. MDT in 1991 and has since rebuilt a
<br /> bypass,and created a vision for a rede- key park in the center of the commu-
<br /> veloped downtown—all by hand,all with- hough he has been a landscape ar- nity,restored a pair of lumber-baron man-
<br /> out phone calls and construction crises. chitect for 25 years, Michael sions as a conference center,contracted with
<br /> "It's fun helping the town, but it's a Schroeder talks like a college stu- a landscape architect to complete a set of
<br /> whole lot of fun being around smart peo- dent when asked about his experience as specific buildable strategies for downtown
<br /> ple" is a common sentiment about fellow an MDT member at Taylors Falls in 1990. beautification,and received National His-
<br /> designers expressed by James R. Dean, a Schroeder experienced profound social and toric District designation for its commer-
<br /> photographer and architect who is a veter- creative rewards during the weekend,and cial core. Paynesville(MDT class of 1990)
<br /> an of 12 visits. Philanthropy is a center- the community has been bringing him built a senior center with the help of over
<br /> piece of the MDT's mission(team members back over the years as a professional re- 4,000 volunteer hours,while its ambitious
<br /> are asked not to introduce themselves by source. Taylors Falls took the MDT draw- group of young people, the RiverGuard,
<br /> their firm name or distribute business cards ings and ran with them, literally. Those was cleaning up the river and beginning
<br /> during the visit), but the excitement and laminated butcher-paper masterpieces have work on a trail system.Avon(class of 1996)
<br /> purity of the visit itself keep bringing the been trotted out to community gatherings, built a downtown trailhead to serve the
<br /> participants back. Landscape architects, meetings with state departments,work- Lake Wobegon Trail. South Saint Paul
<br /> like other designers,sometimes wax wist- shops with outside consultants,and local (class of 1987)has opened its Mississippi
<br /> ful about those aggressive school days, festivals.In 1994 the community worked River waterfront to public use and con-
<br /> crammed in a studio with like-minded co- collaboratively with the Department of tracted with a local landscape architecture
<br /> conspirators,free from the distractions of Transportation to complete a pedestrian firm to design its downtown streetscape,
<br /> marketing and budgets.The MDT lets de- walkway under the Saint Croix River which will be built this summer.
<br /> signers get out of the office for two days of bridge,which had previously separated the The idea is also catching on in other
<br /> old-school design studio.This is a simul- community from the adjacent Interstate states.Scott Loveridge was an MDT Steering
<br /> taneously refreshing and exhausting expe- State Park.Soon after,a beautification proj- Committee member before relocating to
<br /> rience. It is also a continual attraction for ect installed new sidewalks, streetlights, West Virginia.There,in 1997,he created a
<br /> • landscape architects, who are present on and planters downtown.In 2000,the city program, with university assistance, that
<br /> every team and serve as leaders on many. worked with Schroeder,then of Hoisington follows the MDT format almost exactly.The
<br /> They are drawn to the"spirit of the team Koegler Group,Inc.,to complete the Tay- West Virginia Community Design Team
<br /> brought together in such a haphazard fash- lors Falls Strategic Guide. The primary (WVCDT) has (Continued on Page 102)
<br /> Landscape Archttecture I 66 I JUNE 2003
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