NewSchool of Architecture and Design (NSAD) students Kyle Peterson and John Martinez received recognition for developing and presenting conceptual designs for transportation and pedestrian access in the San Diego community of Point Loma. A representative of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, a citizen organization that advises the City of San Diego on land use-based community goals and development proposals, commended their work in a letter after the NSAD students formally presented their study to the board.

The students focused on the Roseville and Liberty Station sections of the Point Loma peninsula while exploring strategies for opening up pedestrian access to the San Diego Bay waterfront, specifically along America’s Cup Harbor. Peterson and Martinez embarked on the project after meeting Jay Shumaker, a member of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, during the final presentation of their fourth-year projects. NSAD invites community members to sit in on juries to evaluate student work, and the students’ project turned out to be near Shumaker’s Point Loma office. Shumaker asked the students to continue their research through a summer project, which evolved into creating a general visionary plan for the Point Loma area. The students received class credit for their work, which included conducting technical and community code research and community interviews.

“The project’s goal was to get the community thinking about how Point Loma could develop in the future,” said Peterson. “We provided them with ideas meant to address some of the community’s main concerns so that residents could be inspired to take this to next the level.”

 The students, who are both completing their final year in NSAD’s Bachelor of Architecture program, explored several issues, including ways to allow pedestrians to have more consistent and direct access to the water area since these sections had been developed in a fragmented manner by different jurisdictions. They evaluated uniting separate sections of the community by reconsidering the area’s transit corridor. They also looked into increasing pedestrian-friendly corridors via crosswalks, better lighting and road modifications intended to slow down traffic.

 Following the presentation, the Peninsula Community Planning Board chair sent a letter to NSAD President Steve Altman and NSAD professor Michael Stepner commending the students’ work. Community projects that provide “real world” experience on both a local and international level are a key part of the NSAD academic experience. Other recent student projects include developing design concepts to convert an abandoned school bus in Mexico into a library and community center and creating redevelopment concepts for Ramona, a rural community of 40,000 located northeast of San Diego.

Rendering caption (above): NewSchool of Architecture and Design undergraduates Kyle Peterson and John Martinez developed conceptual designs for a section of the Point Loma community in San Diego.

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