RIVERSIDE, Calif. – On Saturday, December 10, the March Field Air Museum will host an open house event featuring landscape architecture students from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The public is invited to view the work of these students, featuring Master Plan designs for improving shade and seating plus other amenities throughout the Air Museum complex, with special attention paid to the main entry, memorial courtyard, and outdoor exhibit areas. The open house runs 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with a break in activities between 12-1 p.m.
This special activity is included with regular museum admission. From 11 a.m. to 12 noon, guests will have the opportunity to participate in a narrated slide presentation setting forth design opportunities and constraints. Students will narrate visions, goals and objectives for proposed Landscape Architecture Master Plan designs. Following a break, guests will be invited at 1 p.m. to join the design teams as they walk to selected project design sites and discuss their concepts.
Professor Patrick Reynolds, who hails from UCLA’s School of Landscape Architecture, was intrigued when he was first approached with an idea. Museum Board Member Lynn Capouya, herself a landscape architect, suggested involving landscape architecture students and having them develop actual concepts to address physical challenges faced by the Air Museum. “I thought, wow!” said Reynolds. “Here’s a place where my students could get real hands-on experience, and in the process help out one of the premier museums in the Inland Empire.”
His students visited the museum for an all-day session in September, asked follow-up questions of museum staff via email, and have been working ever since to develop new ideas to improve the look, function, and guest interaction with the March Field Air Museum. A primary focus is improving guest amenities (including shade and seating). This in turn is expected to assist the museum in its work of engaging audiences to better understand humanity’s reach for the skies, and March Field’s (today the March Air Reserve Base) pivotal role in the development of flight.
The March Field Air Museum is open year-round, Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed most Mondays (a list of Monday Holiday exceptions can be found on the museum’s website) and also closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Admission is just $10 for ages 12 and up, $5 children ages 6-11, ages 5 and under are free. The March Field Air Museum is a great place to visit during the holidays, offering something for everyone in your family! For more information about the museum, visit www.marchfield.org.
About the March Field Air Museum: The March Field Air Museum is located adjacent to the March Air Reserve Base, alongside Interstate Highway 215 at Van Buren Boulevard. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and rated the #1 Attraction in Riverside by TripAdvisor, the museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The March Field Air Museum strives to promote an understanding of humanity’s reach for the skies and of March Field’s pivotal role in the development of flight. More than 70 aircraft are on display, ranging from the world’s fastest manned air-breathing aircraft (the SR-71 Blackbird) and a modern-day Predator drone, to early examples of military aircraft, to some of America’s most iconic military planes including World War II bombers. For more information, visit www.marchfield.org or call (951) 902-5949.
