Editor’s note: Due to production error, this story was not included in Friday’s paper.

Architecture involves more than blueprints and infrastructure. Architecture strives for a “built environment,” which is the combination of the building itself, the street, the sidewalk and the rest of the area surrounding a building.

WSU architecture professor Ayad Rahmani spent this semester teaching a class on the topic.

On Thursday morning, Rahmani, teaching assistant Amanda Bryan and roughly 120 of Rahmani’s students staged a protest on Bishop Boulevard. Battling the elements, the group protested the shaping of the built environment on Bishop as well as the entire city of Pullman.

“There is a real lack of planning,” Rahmani said. “There is no coherence and everything is essentially hodgepodge. Each building is completely independent from one another.” Bishop is not the only part of Pullman the group was displeased with.

“There is no really good area outside of what’s on campus,” Rahmani said. “Downtown is struggling but hanging on. We don’t cite all the blame with the city. Developers could do a much better job as well.” While other parts of Pullman have similar problems, Rahmani and Bryan feel Bishop had the most exasperated conditions.

“Bishop really optimizes the lack of care,” Bryan said. “There were portions of the street where there was no sidewalk to walk on.” For the protesters, the biggest problem lies not in the buildings themselves but the planning that goes into them.

But both Rahmani and Bryan presented potential solutions to the problem. Rahmani’s solution involved the city adopting a design review committee made up of public officials, private developers and members of the academic community. Bryan’s solution involved more involvement from public and university officials as well as making small additions.

“Things like nice sidewalks and more trees would help,” Bryan said. “Who needs all those parking lots? It is very monotonous.” They considered the demonstration a great success.

“I was really pleased with the turnout,” Rahmani said. “Although we had a couple of signs break in the wind, it went really well. We got a lot of honks and some people looked at the signs and wondered why we were out. Hopefully it will generate some intelligent discussion.” Bryan was cautiously optimistic about the prospect of change.

“Change like this never happens quickly,” Bryan said. “The key is to keep involved and engaged and hope that they will listen.”