11/28/2003 - Tech students lend hand to planned Hispanic culture center

BY MARY JANE SHORT
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Students in Texas Tech's department of landscape architecture may soon be able to drive down North University Avenue and admire some of their hard work.

Fifteen undergraduate and two graduate students in department chairman Alon Kvashny's class in urban design recently presented site plans for the Hispanic Culture Center, a project of Fiestas Del Llano Inc.

Fiestas Del Llano recently acquired Fire Station No. 4 on North University Avenue from the city of Lubbock, and plans for a Hispanic culture center are taking shape. The facility will be called Hispanic Culture Center of the Llano, said Christy Martinez, founder of the center.

Martinez said the number 4 is a recurring theme in the facility, and the students incorporated that into their designs, using the four elements of the Earth — fire, air, earth, water.

"They combined the landscape architecture mentality with the number 4," she said. "I'm a Tech alum, and I think you should give students the opportunity to come out with fresh ideas, and sure enough, that's what they did. They were very receptive to our needs."

Kvashny actually approached Martinez about his students taking on the project. He said that after Martinez gave the students a tour of the facility and talked to them about the vision for the center, they went to work. The students are doing only the site design for the exterior of the center, he said.

"They laid out the parking lots and the courtyards and the two fronts of the building, both the west side and the south side of the building that is exposed to the public," he said.

Kvashny said that the students cannot actually do the work because they are not registered landscape architects. But, Kvashny said, the drawings submitted by the students can give the Hispanic Culture Center committee the "right ammunition" to go forth with the project and hire a professional to actually carry out the site design.

"They really put a lot of work in here in the development of their design skills and abilities," Kvashny said. "They came a long way."

Martinez said the estimated cost of building and operating the facility are a little more than $1 million. Commemorative bricks to be placed in the courtyard will help partially fund the project, Martinez said, and the committee is looking to secure grants and private donations.

"The great part about the facility, with the Marsha Sharp freeway, we felt we needed to create something that would sustain traffic into the area and beautify the neighborhoods," she said.

Martinez said she hopes to display the students' site plans in public places so everyone can see them.

"I'm so excited," Martinez said. "I'm ready to show them to the public, because every student brought something to the design. (Seventeen) different perspectives can now become one vision that will beautify the neighborhood and serve tourists."

maryjane.short@lubbockonline.com 766-8729

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