Through a partnership with a group called
CityLabs, which works with a nonprofit consortium called the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) on various sustainability projects, a number of student designers will soon be making their mark on St. Paul streets.
The students, who come from Hamline University and Augsburg College, came up with a stencil design for stormwater drains throughout the city.
On Thursday, that design, and other pieces the students put together as a part of a larger campaign to create awareness around stormwater drains, will be unveiled in a special event at Hamline.
Jason Maher, a spokesperson from CityLabs, explains that the city is required to do a certain amount of education and outreach concerning stormwater drains. That’s where CityLabs and ACTC are able to have an impact: For the stencils, the city “proposed that to us in project form and then we match that with existing coursework,” he says.
The idea is that the stenciled designs calls attention to the stormwater drains, which often end up conveying much more than runoff, he says.
Typically, the city works with the Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) on these types of initiatives, and FMR will be coordinating the stenciling part of this project in the coming weeks. At Thursday’s event, people can sign up to help out with that, he says.
The reason that this project came up has to with the fact that the current designs on the city’s stormwater drains are 20 years old, so the city “wanted a redesign of that campaign.”
Also as a part of this campaign, students designed eye-catching handles to flip over storm doors and coasters for area bars to use.
As the project progressed, the dynamic between the classes and the city was much like that of a graphic design firm and client, “with lots of feedback and give and take,” he says, adding, “Someone from the city works with the students to make sure the outcomes are there and they guide the work.”
Students started out with around seven design concepts, which they narrowed down to three and then one winning design. Along the way, the students came up with lots of “ideas that are super fresh and innovative,” he says.
Source: Jason Maher, spokesperson, CityLabs
Writer: Anna Pratt