A team of WSU students spent more than a semester designing and creating a new sign to serve as the gateway to the College Hill neighborhood.

The students began the project in January as a part of their required coursework. Even after the semester ended, the team continued to work on the project.

The concrete and aluminum sign, located at the corner of Opal Street and Maiden Lane, was designed by senior architecture majors Mark Lo and Brian Wilson.

The sign will be a source of neighborhood identity and pride, said Allison Munch-Rotolo, College Hill Association chairwoman.

“The class is over and done with,” she said. “I don’t think they’re getting anything out of this. They’re doing it out of a sense of pride.” The area the sign is located in will also function as a gathering place with a landscaped, plaza-like area that incorporates seating.

The students were responsible for all aspects of the project from start to finish, Lo said. In addition to designing the sign, they had to acquire the materials, get the proper permits from the city and actually install the finished product.

In fact, he said one of the biggest challenges was finding a practical design on a very tight budget.

“It’s a learning opportunity,” he said.

To make the project possible, many of the students volunteered their time to help with the project. The College Hill Association provided some of the funds. Alpha Rho Chi, a fraternity for architecture and the allied arts, held a fundraiser for the project. Additionally, the students also kept costs down by acquiring much of the needed materials at cost from businesses around the area.

Several students designed prototypes for the class, and the College Hill Association provided feedback on the initial designs before deciding on one. The designs were tweaked several times before they were finalized.

“The proposals continually changed and evolved and became more and more refined,” said Robert Barnstone, associate professor in the School of Architecture and Construction Management. “The final proposals were all very interesting but had different budgetary constraints, so we chose one that was in the range of what we wanted to do.” Lo said he is happy with the project but before the sign was completed, while the freshly poured concrete was still wet, someone wrote on it.

“It’s already been tagged up,” Lo said. “Since it’s something we really put a lot of thought and work into, it’s a shame, but it’s fixable.” Munch-Rotolo said this is one of several successful projects the College Hill Association created in conjunction with WSU students.

“This project created an attractive student-friendly space by and for students,” she said. “We were happy to play a part in making it happen.” Lo and other students from Barnstone’s architectural design class are also working on several international civic engagement projects, including design proposals for technical institutes in Rwanda and Haiti. To view the students’ proposals, visit http://wsustudio303.blogspot.com.