While most Cal Poly students were still recovering from spring break and reluctantly buying their books the first week of the quarter, those enrolled in architecture and landscape architecture design studios already had a monumental project underway. The two courses combined in an interdisciplinary effort to create the best design for a memorial in remembrance of landscape architecture professor Walt Tryon who passed in October of 2005.
Several graduating seniors, who were personally touched by Tryon’s teachings during their time at Cal Poly, approached members of the landscape architecture department about their idea for a design charrette. The goal of the friendly competition is to generate student interest and produce ideas for the memorial.
Although the student’s affection for Tryon is what started the process for designing the memorial, those who knew him believe that Tryon would not endorse a memorial dedicated only to him. Therefore students were encouraged to create a universal space that would commemorate multiple faculty members and promote an area for individual thought and reflection.
“Walt would endorse a space of bringing people together, somewhere that students could find themselves individually or collectively,” said Dale Sutliff, a landscape architecture professor who worked with Tryon for 30 years.
Sixteen three-person teams made up of a combination of architecture and landscape architecture students were formed to create a more holistic design. All teams included both male and female students. Each team was asked to create a model and two 24-by-36-inch posters detailing their plan for the memorial in one week.
“The idea was to make a memorial space, not an object like a statue and a plaque that would get covered up over time. We want to make it part of the open infrastructure of the campus,” Sutliff said.
As part of the project parameters, the students designed their memorial models for a specific site on campus, the plaza space between the Crandall Gymnasium and the Old Power House on Cuesta Avenue. All of the projects reflect this area of campus, which was chosen for a design exercise, but the location for the memorial has not been finalized.
“Within the campus there are some underutilized spaces and there are many causes within the community of academia, this memorial is just one thing we can do. There are legacies to be left here,” landscape architecture professor Kris Fox said.
After the 16 teams had their final products, a jury was called in to survey the work. The jury consisted of several seniors, architecture faculty and psychology professor Bette Tryon, who was Tryon’s wife.
The jury reviewed all of the work and selected six finalists that they felt had the best design approach and a good amount of the criteria that they were looking for.
“Everyone who was on the jury knew Walt but did not come to a general consensus on which project was the best,” Sutliff said.
The boards and models for the six final projects will be displayed May 7 to 11 in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design building.
Everyone is encouraged to view the display. The project coordinators are also planning on having a way to obtain viewer feedback. The jury will not meet again to choose an overall winner because the memorial is still in its very early stages of development.
“This is something that could realistically take 10 to 15 years to accomplish,” Fox said.
Despite the obstacles the project still faces, those who were touched by Tryon during his years here at Cal Poly are excited to have planted the seed which will someday bloom into an official structure on campus for their professor and friend.
“Walt was a big mentor and inspiration for us here. Hopefully everyone involved in the project learned something and will be able to pass on these lessons,” landscape architecture senior Azlynn Hare said.