An Idea for Improving BYU Campus

The Horseshoe Now:

In my Urban Design class, we have researched the importance of a "node" in a city’s identity. A node is a point of focus that people enter, use, and reference as they navigate a city. I identified a space on campus that could become a node for BYU. It's the seating arrangement headed by a statue of a family in between the Kennedy Center and the Clyde building. For convenience, we will call it the horseshoe (because of the shape of the seating arrangements). The horseshoe is centrally located on campus and hundreds of students pass by it every week and don't use it. The horseshoe has the potential to become a node, which would highly improve the space’s, and campus's memorability. To become a node, the horseshoe would need improved seating. Most students walking by did not even notice the seating as it is surrounded with thick bushes. This is nice for privacy, but too much makes this space forgettable because it’s not noticeable in the first place! I think dividing the bushes in half and adding a path into the wood bench seating area would allow for students coming from the north to see the seating area before they pass it.
Another change that would make the horseshoe a campus node would be to add important features. In the movie, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, we learned about a particular feature that attracts people to an urban space: food. A few months ago, the horseshoe was used in a large event held by the Kennedy Center. Food was a big part of the event. Students crowded the space and surrounding areas and the horseshoe became a node for that day. There is plenty of space, seating, and several garbage cans already in place. The horseshoe could benefit from having a small, student-run food stand. This could be a stand selling any variety of food or snacks, the important part is that it would attract students to the forgotten space.
Finally, a third recommendation I would give to improve the memorability of this space is giving it an identity. The space needs a name. It has a statue on the north end which is unique, however, a name clearly identified with the statue could give the space an identity and therefore help students reference it. If a path was made, as suggested in the beginning of this section, leading to the center of the horseshoe on the north side, the statue could move to one side and a sign or monument with the name of the statue engraved on it could sit opposite the statue. This would help students use this “node” as a reference as they navigate the rest of campus.

The Improved Horseshoe: