Photo by Dexter Bercero

Photo by Shari Cheves

New look for Liberal Arts walkway

It all started when the Interior Architectural Design class at Cal State Long Beach got an assignment from instructor Bhupendra Singhal. They were to create a more pleasant and relaxing atmosphere for the noisy walkway outside the Liberal Arts Buildings.

The class project was to choose a space from the 50-foot walkway that leads up to the University Library and redesign it. The class was broken up into groups of two students and groups of four students. The students, who are all in their junior year at CSULB, displayed the projects Tuesday in their chosen area of the walkway.

Jennifer Walton, a student in the class, explained that the scheme for two food service establishments on campus came from ideas submitted by students.

"The A La Mode and Chartroom came from designs done by students in this same class," Walton said.

Walton's group project focused on the area right outside of the LA5 building, including the cafe area.

"We did research on this particular area and found that there is a lot of traffic here," Walton said. "What we did was try to find a way to take away some of that traffic."

Walton explained that the idea was to design this part of the walkway to make it more relaxing for students by adding what is called "white sound." "White sound" is introducing another channel like soft music or the sound of waves in the background.

By adding this, it gives a person the perception that the main traffic, in this case, student traffic, is not so noisy, Walton said. "The Breezeway" is the theme of the project done by juniors Cynthia Ospina and Hanne Rasmussen. The focus of this group was to redesign the area near LA2.

Rasmussen explained that they focused on creating an uplifting atmosphere for students by using wave form designs, sandstone and natural elements of the earth in their projects.

"We wanted to create a more pleasing environment that was full of energy," Ospina said.

Rasmussen added that they watched students walking to the library with dejected looks on their faces and wanted to produce a climate that would put inspiration back into their eyes.

The project, "Water Way" located in the area between LA 1 and the Library wanted to incorporate forms and elements that would suggest waves and sailing since the university is situated close to the beach.

The group used a lot of blue, green and yellow colors in the project. Blue represents water, green for plants and yellow for living things, one member of the group said.

Monitors were also added in the walkway that inform students of campus activities in their project.

Bhupendra Singhal is the professor of the class and has been with the Department of Design since 1980. Singhal has received research grants for projects such as the Cal State Long Beach Food Facilities and the School of Fine Arts Dean's office.