On Wednesday, December 6, thirteen Cornell University design students presented their plans for a Quad renovation. The project to improve the Quad began three years ago when Principal Joe Wilson came to Ithaca High School and decided he wanted to make the quad more hospitable. The project became closer to realization when Wilson sought Professor Marvin I. Adelman of Cornell University’s help. As a public service project, his Landscape Architect Design students have created plans for the quad that include raised gardens and grass, increased seating, and movie screens.

At IHS, Student Activities Advisor Emily Hess has been working with Adelman since September to coordinate presentations and meetings. The Quad Development Committee, made up of students, staff, and parents, has also been attending meetings and looking at the designs.

The presentation in early December featured each student’s design. One of their plans featured lots of smaller spaces for students to sit in, reflecting the current dispersion of students in the quad. It also had a central sunken space that would be covered by synthetic turf lawn. The turf lawn alone would cost around $50,000, although it requires no maintenance and is under warranty for twelve years, the student designer told the crowd. The plan would also incorporate a third level of raised gardens as a border to the buildings surrounding quad. Each level includes seating walls and gardens or turf inside the walls. This design also had a structure for outdoor eating, with a stage at the edge that would look out over the turf. The stage was designed to fit a movie screen, too.

Another design, by Sonia Jakse, was titled “No More School” since she “felt that the quad was a place where students came to get away from school.” The design reflected this concept, with bright colors and unusual shapes. There were various raised and curved grass areas and gardens. The gardens would be planted with a variety of colorful plants. Jakse also proposed that there be concrete or plastic furniture in very bold colors and unusual shapes to further separate the quad from the classroom.

Most of the designs featured a jigsaw of raised flower or grass beds, with seating around the rims for students. Pavilions with tables underneath, either in the center of the quad or near the cafeteria, were common too. Designers also focused on making central walkways more convenient. Ramps were often introduced in the place of the stairs, and the paths were often wider. Also, designs preserved the grass areas by raising them, so that they would not have lots of traffic and become muddy. One design had shade sails, which would be put up in good weather in small sections of the quad. Another lit the trees around the quad. All the designs, though, took out the big Douglas Fur that now graces the center of the quad because, the students said, the tree had reached the end of its useful life.

Wilson, with input from the Quad Committee and the school, will select the most feasible design. Before this, though, the posters will also be put up around the school. IHS will have to get outside funding for the project. Paul Mintz, the Assisstant Superintendent for Business Services, and Paul Alexander, Supervisor for Custodians, will approve the design Wilson submits.