American Institute of Architects 20th Street Planning Charrette

The Place Game unfailingly generates great ideas to improve public space. In many cases, the community can improve the area with their own hands particularly in the short term.

When a public space needs more extensive resources and expertise, Lively Omaha helps with the vital link between generating a vision and implementing that vision. In order to seek funding for implementation, it is often necessary to build a comprehensive definition of the project.

Lively Omaha facilitates that process through these steps:

Function – What is going to happen in this space? What will be the activities, relationships and people that use the space?

Form – What will visitors see and feel in this space? What is there now and what will be there in the future?

Economy – What will be the initial budget and quality of construction?

Time – Are there historical influences to consider? Is the project part of a larger master plan?

One way to make Place Game concepts come alive is to visualize how the brainstorming ideas will look and feel once completed. This requires the skill and talent of professionals who can convert the vision of what a place can be into a design philosophy and put those ideas on paper in the form of drawings and sketches, in a kind of visual brainstorming.

We are extremely grateful to the American Institute of Architects and the Architecture College of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for their help taking the ideas from the Place Game and making them a tangible vision for the future of the 20th street corridor.

On Saturday April 17, AIA Architects and UNL architecture and design students met at the Children’s Museum to spend the day developing concepts and drawing designs based on the Place Game conducted along 20th street last year. Click here to see the Place Game results.

Dozens of sketches were made to illustrate key concepts from the Place Game with additional ideas from the Omaha By Design [hotlink to OBD page] project. Several key ideas came to life through discussion and drawings made by the talented students and professionals who graciously volunteered their time. One team summed up the approach with:

“The philosophy for designing 20th Street was to create an urban experience for people of all ages, emphasizing the cultural arts of the community. Ultimately, the destination of the concept is steering 20th Street to become a new and active district for the Omaha Community.”

Giving the area a sense of place emerged as an important design guideline and several teams stressed the idea of consistent use of unique design elements.

Unifying Elements

One team saw color as a way to give the area identity and make it jump with the excitement of the arts and education. They called it “The Red Thread.”

Harney Intersection

“Red Thread” Street Lighting

Making 20th street pedestrian friendly and safe for children was a clear priority and the team’s designs included features like two-way traffic, street furniture, additional attractions and mixed use development to bring people out on the street.

Fountain Plaza

Terrace at Liberty Elementary

The Intersection at Farnam

Residence and Retail Space

“Theater Corner” Cinema and Retail

Lively Omaha greatly appreciates the American Institute of Architects volunteers’ time and talent to give life to the Place Game ideas. The designs are a giant step toward getting the resources necessary to make 20th Street, Omaha’s signature cultural arts and education district.