By Dixon Bledsoe
“Charette” is a planning design and workshop often associated with architectural projects that are time sensitive in nature, according to Dictionary.com.
Mount Angel residents are getting to be old hands in the process. A review of last summer’s charette findings was held at the Mount Angel Fire Hall Nov. 27 so that planners could give a followup report – hopefully so a few can be implemented in time for next year’s Oktoberfest 50th anniversary celebration.
The charette collaboration was done with sustainable urban design students from University of Oregon, art and architecture students from Poland’s Gdansk University, and citizens and community leaders of Mount Angel. Ric Stephens is an instructor with University of Oregon’s Planning, Public Policy and Management department, and his international students researched Mount Angel.
Tomasz Rozwadowski, PhD and Dorota Kamrowsha-Zaluska, PhD, both professors of architecture at Gdansk University, were with Stephens in Mount Angel to present the students’ recommendations on how to enhance the city’s Bavarian theme and public space experience.
In the follow-up, about 30 citizens were treated to visuals of how the Bavarian theme could be enhanced for limited costs. One attendee remarked that many of the recommendations were attractive yet easy to do, and fairly inexpensive.
Stefan Netsch, an architect, researcher, and urban planner in Germany, joined the project group last summer as an expert on Bavarian urban design. He helped design a star-shaped pattern that enables an effective blend between cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists with a true sense of shared space.
With the help of Stephen’s “Green Cities” students, the recommendations also included bringing nature back to the city. This recurring theme was exemplified with some beautifully enhanced photos of city hall and the gazebo so popular with dancers and musicians during Oktoberfest. Even Mount Angel’s police cars were shown with Bavarian-themed green paint jobs. One idea was to put a decorative wind generator on top of the gazebo for its artistic value as well as its ability to inexpensively create energy for lighting.
The gazebo was also presented with some relatively simple, inexpensive landscaping that dramatically improved its appearance.
Another recurring theme for the design team was benefiting both residents and visitors with easy walking and bike paths, gorgeous and sustainable gardens, and accessible shared public space that encouraged foot traffic in town.
A new technology afforded students the opportunity to view the city and incorporate their planning and findings in a very visual way – drones took photos of not only the city, but the Abbey and the traffic patterns. Those aerials helped students present their findings as an overlay for viewers to ponder.
Other features recommended were the use of temporary gardens in spare areas to produce food. Medians became rainwater collectors creating a rain garden, and re-absorbing water back into the eco-system rather than the city water system.
According to the visiting professors, this project was an important experience for the students. They were enamored with the fountain in the center of town, and they truly enjoyed the perspective of seeing a Bavarian theme in Mount Angel, across the ocean from Europe but with similar features.
In fact, the experience was so productive, the professors offered to have students continue the collaboration. According to Stephens and his European counterparts, there is a huge potential to combine old world charm and planning with a new world vibrant community.
“It is about having successful living and a holistic way of using space,” Rozwadowski said.
“These are wonderful ideas, but it is about execution. Who leads it and how do we do it?” Chamber of Commerce board member Tom Ewing asked.
Rozwadowski brought the house down in laughter – “We wouldn’t be academics if we knew how to do it!” He added, “I learned in my one year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), everything is possible.”
When asked about funding and focus, the experts were in agreement: take small steps, one improvement at a time.
