WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - “It’s great for the students to practice dreaming big for a space that’s real,” said Kylee Jennings, a graduate teaching assistant at K-State. 

After months of preparation, 44 K-State architecture student’s hard work has finally paid off. 

“A lot of them are not seasoned developers, or real estate folks, but they, they’re from different places, and they provide a lens from a younger demographic and a lot of times that’s what’s needed to attract that same demographic to our community,” said Executive Vice President for downtown Wichita, Jason Gregory.

The Greater Wichita Partnership hosted the students as they presented potential design plans for the improvement of downtown Wichita. 

“With the new biomedical campus coming in we’ve been really interested in the fact that this is a huge investment into downtown Wichita so we’re looking at how can we welcome the new [people], so having enough housing and amenities, and secondly increasing vibrancy, having more public art and creating places people want to hang out in,” said Avery Schill, a third-year K-State student.

Students were put in groups of three or four and created an informational poster board using site plans, renderings, perspective imaging, and analysis. 

“So these boards are really trying to get a snapshot of, this is an idea of what downtown Wichita could look like. This is the feeling you could have in downtown Wichita,” said Jennings. 

The students even invited the public in to learn about their projects and explore the possibilities of downtown Wichita.

“I’m just excited to see how many people are passionate about the future of Wichita,” said Schill. 

“I think a lot of the changes that we’re proposing are really applicable and really doable as well,” said Gabrielle Saunders, a 5th year K-State student.

Walkability and transportation were just two topics covered in the project. This is not the first time K-State or other colleges have partnered with the city to create potential designs.

“They always bring ideas and I would say there’s been nuggets, there’s been pieces of student ideas that have been incorporated in projects like Nafzger park,” said Gregory. 

The exhibit was a collaboration between two K-State professors: Blake Belanger who teaches Site Research and Design Studio for students in the Master of Landscape Architecture Program, and Susmita Rishi who teaches Urban Design and Development Seminar for students enrolled in Regional & Community Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Architecture.