Final round of Prospects yields ideas for arts centers, more inclusive 'Street'

Imagine walking along a giant strip of green grass stretching over the entire length of Prospect Avenue, or whirling around on a giant swing overlooking campus on a warm Saturday night. Picture a giant amphitheater set behind Notestein Hall where plays would be acted, or an art gallery with skylights set beneath the surface of the 'Street.'

These were the kinds of ideas that students and faculty submitted to "Rethink," the contest that Prospects is sponsoring to gather ideas of how to improve the 'Street' in the coming years.

The finals took place Saturday afternoon in the architecture building, with the final 17 contestants presenting their ideas with large boards, videos, power-point programs and even 3-D models of their conceptions. The winning groups, each receiving $1,000 in prize money, were Petros Babasikas GS and Farzad More GS, Tom Vessella '01, and Ara Tucker '01 and Kelly Sortino '03. Five honorable mention prizes — $500 each — were also awarded.

The diverse panel of judges included Vice President and Secretary Thomas Wright '62, Dean of the School of Architecture Ralph Lerner, Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Miami Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk '72, former USG president PJ Kim '01, former Terrace Club president Nili Safavi '01 and graduate student in architecture Donald H. Shillingburg.

Following the presentations, Zyberk said the jury should consider "design, policy,and management. We saw a lot of presentations addressing the issue through all methods — The simplest management ones are clean and safe. The most obvious and cheapest ideas are not the first to come to mind."

The winning designs were ones that addressed the problems on the 'Street' in a practical and direct manner.

Ara Tucker '01 and Kelly Sortino '03, both Art History/Visual Arts majors, proposed a Performing and Visual Arts Cafe, which they called P-VAC. Tucker said it would be located in the Elm Club building at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Olden Street, a " 'neutral' space on the 'Street' that would provide student artists with higher profile spaces to pursue activities — theater, visual arts, music, etc. — that are currently under-funded on campus."

When asked what they would do with their prize money, they said, "We are going to invest the money jointly for future arts endeavors."

Another winner, Tom Vassella '01, a mechanical engineering major, said, "I wanted to create a community out of Prospect Avenue."

Among his plans was a performing arts and cultural center in place of Dial Club, connected via a plaza to upperclass housing in place of Cannon Club [Notestein Hall]. Underneath this complex, he said, he wanted to build a parking garage in order to turned the 'Street' into "a pedestrian promenade, with trees down the center."

"I felt that a spatial reorganization of the area, including the new additions of housing, athletics, performing arts and cultural activities,would revitalize the social aspects of Prospect Avenue."

One the simplest proposals was offered by honorable mention winners Adam Schwartz '03 and Rick Pickett '03. Pickett said the goal of their project was "just to see a few trash/recycling bins placed on the 'Street' for students to have a place to dump their garbage."

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"I feel that this is the only plan that actually has the capability for being implemented due to its low cost, ease of implementing and immediate benefit," Pickett noted.

Most of the submissions tried to address what students viewed as social problems relating to the 'Street,' especially the prevalence of alcohol and the lack of social options.

"I was extremely pleased with the presentations . . . Because of the high quality of all the projects presented, the jury had a very difficult time deciding who should win," Student organizer Steve Caputo '01 said. "One juror proposed that every entry should receive prize money."