Among the din of construction equipment, piles of rocky dirt, and construction workers installing rebar, Jody Naderi's first-year landscape architecture students got to see how design becomes reality during an April 28 visit to the Gateway Park construction site in downtown Bryan.
Landscape architect Mark Ferguson of CLM construction, who reviewed the students’ designs for the park before submitting a final design to the Bryan City Council, was also at the site with the students. Ferguson received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Texas A&M in 1970.
The park is located along Main Street between 28th and 29th streets at the southern edge of downtown Bryan.
“You’ll find elements of each of your projects in there,” said Ferguson of the final design. “Having the projects saved me six weeks or so of work.”
Time is an important element in the project. Construction began in April, and the city is aiming to have the first phase of the park completed in time for the Texas Reds Festival on June 20; the festival is an annual two-day downtown event celebrating the history of the beef and wine industries in the Brazos Valley. The park site, where the Texas Reds music stage is constructed, is a focal point of the event.
“It was easier to decide what to include than what to exclude,” Ferguson told the students after he’d reviewed their designs.
One of Naderi’s students, Whitney Proffitt, asked Ferguson about putting in a removable fence in a section of the park to facilitate Texas Reds activities. Ferguson said he wished he had thought of that before submitting his final design, and added that he would mention it to Bryan’s city council for consideration.
“I’m not kidding,” he said. “I wish I’d thought of that.”
As the students walked across the site, Ferguson and Naderi noted features already evident at the site such as drainage areas and footing for walls, how they are reflected in site drawings and why certain features had to be where they are on the site.
Ferguson also talked to the students about different materials that were in their proposals, as well as his, and how the project’s budget influenced the final material selections.
