The Landscape Architecture students from UCLA Extension presented their masterplans to the March Field Air Museum Board Members on December 10, 2016. The event was attended by avid museum patrons, staff, educators and landscape professionals. This exercise brought real-world challenges to the students and helped them prepare for their upcoming thesis class. As for the museum, this process provided a window of opportunity to possibly secure funding and grants for future work.
The program started with opening remarks from Paul Hammond, Museum Director and two staff from UCLA, Stephanie Landregan and Patrick Reynolds, followed by a site investigation/analysis summary given by one of the students and then the presentation of each of the five students’ individual works. The students addressed the following opportunities and constraints:
Constraints
- Freeway noise
- Lack of visual cues, signage, sense of arrival and place
- Poor pedestrian and vehicular circulation
- Height limits for trees and shade structures
- Lack of shade areas
Opportunities
- Opportunity to create unique experiences through organizing and utilizing large vacant spaces to be used for future memorials, gathering areas, and site amenities
- Opportunity to give the museum and guests a sense of place and arrival through the use of signage, enhanced entry points and an improved pedestrian and vehicular circulation
- Opportunity to direct views in all directions
- Opportunities for greening the museum
The students presentation boards were displayed in the museum’s library. This collaborative process between UCLA Extension and March Field Air Museum opens the door to endless possibilities for future development and expansion benefiting both local residents and Riverside County.
