From Zen gardens to a downtown trolley, landscape architecture students” design ideas for a Columbus art park flowed freely Friday.
After a week of work, 40 Mississippi State University juniors and seniors showed off their designs for the planned park next to the Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center.
The students, who were divided into 11 groups, toured the city and read some of the famed playwright”s works in preparation for the class project.
In presentations at the juried exhibition Friday, each group had a different focus.
Some students used colors, changing flower bed types to reflect the different periods of Williams” life, which grew progressively darker. Others focused on his work, planning an amphitheater and symbolic statues.
“I really enjoyed getting to show what we came up with over a week,” said Jared Upchurch, landscape architecture and landscape contracting dual major.
“We put a lot of hours into (our design),” he added. “It”s kind of like showing off a trophy.”
Watching his students present their designs, MSU Associate Professor Taze Fulford said he was proud of what they had accomplished.
“They get to make, in a real world situation, a project that is going to be built,” he said.
“They”re a group that has a vision for the future,” he continued. “They”re going to be the planners of the future and it”s good to see them excited.”
Commercial Dispatch Publisher Birney Imes invited the class to Columbus and is financially backing the art park.
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