Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSU grants to redesign downtown
By Michael Boren
Posted: 9/16/08, 12:30 AM EST Section: News
Julia Czerniak, director of Upstate and an associate professor in the School of Architecture, calls the water feature the "signature element" of the project. The official Web site for Symphony Place, also known as Symphony Place at Hotel Syracuse Square, labels the area on East Onondaga Street as a mix of condominium, hotel, rental and retail space that will commemorate the historical Hotel Syracuse.
"Here's a place where they're trying to attract residents back into the city," Higgins said. "It's a perfect spot to create new landscape design."
Czerniak said Upstate has several ambitions for the Symphony Place project, including making it stand out so it can be recognized as part of the Connective Corridor, using green technology and using elements that could serve multiple functions. Czerniak gave the example of objects that could be used as seats during the day and become a lighted line of cubes during the night.
Eric Persons, the director of engagement initiatives at SU, said the incorporation of street lighting and outside furniture surrounding Symphony Place will "create a backyard environment opposed to what exists right now."
He added that improvements to the street will "really invite people to be part of the urban environment."
Sophomore Adam Davidson, a student at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said he believes an increase of lighting and retail in the city would make it more appealing.
"It might make (downtown) more interesting if there were more stores down there and more lighting, 'cause that way it'd be easier to get around at night and during the winter," Davidson said.
SU plans to fund the "interactive streetscape" through state grants that are coming to the university for the Connective Corridor. Higgins said that the state grants total up to $20 million.
"SU is applying for the grants, lobbying for the money (and) managing (the grants), but it is state money," Higgins said.
Not everyone is excited about the "interactive streetscape."
"Here's a place where they're trying to attract residents back into the city," Higgins said. "It's a perfect spot to create new landscape design."
Czerniak said Upstate has several ambitions for the Symphony Place project, including making it stand out so it can be recognized as part of the Connective Corridor, using green technology and using elements that could serve multiple functions. Czerniak gave the example of objects that could be used as seats during the day and become a lighted line of cubes during the night.
Eric Persons, the director of engagement initiatives at SU, said the incorporation of street lighting and outside furniture surrounding Symphony Place will "create a backyard environment opposed to what exists right now."
He added that improvements to the street will "really invite people to be part of the urban environment."
Sophomore Adam Davidson, a student at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said he believes an increase of lighting and retail in the city would make it more appealing.
"It might make (downtown) more interesting if there were more stores down there and more lighting, 'cause that way it'd be easier to get around at night and during the winter," Davidson said.
SU plans to fund the "interactive streetscape" through state grants that are coming to the university for the Connective Corridor. Higgins said that the state grants total up to $20 million.
"SU is applying for the grants, lobbying for the money (and) managing (the grants), but it is state money," Higgins said.
Not everyone is excited about the "interactive streetscape."
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