University students in the urban design studio presented their final design proposals for improving Franklin Boulevard and the neighborhoods surrounding the boulevard for review before a group of city and private officials Monday.
The review was the winter term studio’s culmination of work with city consultants and stakeholders to help redesign and redevelop Franklin Boulevard by expanding the street and encouraging mixed-use urban development, calling for housing and commercial space.
The studio’s proposals suggest implementing a multiway boulevard, adding a second Emerald Express lane and straightening its current routes along Franklin, making the entire waterfront along the Willamette River public and building park blocks in downtown Eugene and in the Glenwood district.
Architecture Professor Mark Gillem, who heads the studio, said investing in Franklin would attract private development to the area. The students also created development codes for the area, known as form-based codes, and suggested other developments such as a plan for the Riverfront Research Park and a pedestrian bridge between the University and the park.
The students spent the term researching and studying other multiway boulevards and urban renewal projects, which included traveling to cities in California and Oregon that had implemented successful multiway boulevards and urban redevelopment.
Gillem said his spring term studio, which will be held at the University’s Portland campus, will focus on designing buildings for the Franklin Boulevard area using city plans and the form-based codes drawn up in the studio.
“It’s that kind of exciting vision that has generated a lot of interest in the city,” Gillem said. “Hopefully, it will spark a dialogue of how we see the community changing overtime.”
– Calvin Hall