Creating a vision for S.L.'s future

University of Utah architecture and planning students are breaking out of the classroom, trading in their textbooks for the real-world canvas of the Salt Lake Valley.

Two groups of U. students are teaming up with city planners and builders to create a vision for Salt Lake's future complete with a totally remodeled 400 South corridor and environmentally friendly homes for Daybreak.

"City leaders are really constrained by the reality, the politics and the inertia of development. We have the opportunity to have a broader perspective that is a little bit naive, sure, but allows us to be creative," said Maged Senbel, assistant professor at the U. College of Architecture and Planning.

Senbel's class spent the past four months studying the 400 South corridor in Salt Lake City and changing the car-centered area into a pedestrian-friendly community. City leaders also envision a transit-oriented development with retail and residential nodes surrounding TRAX stops along 400 South. Senbel's class was able to turn that vision into a scaled model of how the stretch of city could look with new, higher-density zoning recently passed for the area.

"It's trying to create a viable area where people can shop, live and work," said Elisa Hamblin, a graduate student in Senbel's class. "They realize we might have good ideas. Looking at textbooks you don't have real situations in front of you. This is real life; this is where people live."

The model, now on display in the City-County Building, shows a revamped 400 South with sweeping parking lots replaced by storefronts along sidewalks and open-space courtyards tucked around offices.

Pedestrian walkways take center stage in the class design, leading across the six-lane road and winding behind retail centers. Apartments sit atop offices and restaurants, which all boast similar architectural features to give the area "consistent character," senior student John Aland said.

The students are realistic, though, noting such an extreme renovation could be 30 to 50 years in the future for Salt Lake City and the vision could be threatened by zoning regulations, neighborhood disputes or population changes.

But the class made sure to stick as close to reality as possible when creating the model, allowing only a certain number of "interventions" with existing buildings. Additional height for buildings also mimicked city rules with only a 20 percent increase allowed each time a change was made.