Ideas abound for green space at DMACC-Maytag

There are many ways DMACC could utilize the $8 million worth of buildings and property it recently acquired from its donation of the former Maytag Corporate campus from a Grinnell businessman.

Some students from the Iowa State University landscape architecture program were asked to create some designs for how to use green space within that section of Newton.

As a class project, students enrolled in both undergraduate and graduate-level courses, made a recent visit to examine what has became a larger DMACC campus — the active DMACC main classroom building and the Career Academy, the seven Maytag cooperate buildings and the green space in between them.

Their project was to design concepts for ways to best utilize the green space and connect it to green, eco-friendly improvements across the western side of downtown Newton. Costs and measurements and engineering were not part of the assignment.

The students were brought in after Jeff Davidson, the community coach for Jasper County Hometown Pride, approached ISU’s outreach department about involving landscape design students. Wednesday, at the Maytag Innovation Center, 11 students presented strictly conceptual designs for feedback from Newton community members.

In an open house format, community members reviewed large printed designs and submitted written feedback to ISU assistant professor Caroline Westort. The students will make revisions, based on the feedback and will make a public presentation to ISU faculty from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Dec. 9 at the university’s College of Design.

“This project turned out to be suitable for our 10 fifth-year undergraduate students and one graduate student,” Westort said. “This is the kind of work I love. The students can really feel good about designs that will really help enhance a community, if adopted.”

Davidson said there is no fee charged for the work, and the City of Newton only reimburses ISU about $500 for expenses. A final book of designs will be submitted, and DMACC or the city can then utilize those designs at any point but is under no obligation to do so.

“This is all preliminary,” Davidson said. “This is mostly to get the conversation going about how to use the green space and the rest of the campus.”

Designs were also supposed to provide a “green” presence around downtown Newton, though some focused much more detail on the rectangular green space between the buildings. Nearly all of the designs took into account the senior living facilities along North Fourth Avenue. Some of the designs involved buildings being replaced or heavily modified.

One concept included a rooftop green space along Maytag Buildings 16 and 17, with an outdoor movie projection wall on Building 18, which is the tall, iconic “front” office building. Another involved a walkway running between buildings 16 and 17, intersecting with another wide walkway running between DMACC’s classrooms and the Career Academy.

A wide variety of grass, trees and even wetland and native prairie grasses were included.

Newton Development Corporation Executive Director Frank Liebl was one of several dozen community members to help provide written feedback.

“I’d had some of these same ideas run across my mind, but not in the ways these students expressed them,” Liebl said. “It’s great that there are so many concepts.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com