This spring, 10 Penn graduate students have been assigned an unusual task in one of their classes: to redesign a military base in New Jersey.
The team from Penn's School of Design is working to put out a proposal with a new plan for the base, which spans three towns. And their work could make a huge difference to those who live nearby.
The U.S. military plans to relinquish control of the base in 2011, and when that happens, about 5,000 research and development jobs could be lost, said City and Regional Planning professor James Kise, who teaches the course.
As a result, Kise said the students' design must preserve the base as a hub for local employment.
The students' task includes redesigning the infrastructure, housing, office and public spaces on the base. Last month they surveyed the entire grounds, and are currently collecting relevant data.
At the end of the semester, the team will present its proposal to the Fort Monmouth Reuse Committee -- a group devoted to the planning of the fort. The committee is composed of local officials, the state secretary of commerce and military officers from the base.
According to the mayor of nearby Eatontown, Gerard Tarantolo, the proposal will then be presented to the public "as a first view."
Tarantolo said that in part, officials were willing to give the project to Kise's group is because the committee is looking for "a fresh, out-of-the-box view" on the base's design.
When asked about what he thinks might come out this assignment, Tarantolo said, "I haven't the slightest idea. I don't want to influence [the students] in any shape or form."
The project is part of a studio class, a requirement for students in their final year of the master's degree program at PennDesign.
Students in studio classes solve a "real planning problem for a real client in the real world," Kise said. He added that he sees his students as his staff and the course as a project for his design firm, Philadelphia-based Kise Straw and Kolodner.
Students do, however, receive grades.
Second-year Design student Julia Taylor said she selected Kise's studio because "it is about planning an entire new town within a town."
However, she added that dealing with the closing of a large military base involves a lot of hard work. The class itself meets for 12 hours each week, and the students "end up doing a lot of work outside of class. It is very commitment-intensive," she said.
Other studio classes this semester are studying Amtrak in the metropolitan area that spans from Boston to Washington and the development of the Schuylkill River.
"Doctors have to learn by treating patients, lawyers learn by arguing cases in court and planners learn by preparing plans," Kise said of the studio courses.
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