Two students from West Virginia Universitys landscape architecture program have received a commendation for their entry in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) National Student Design Competition.

Kevin Burch of Brookeville, Md., and Jonathan Nutt, Winfield, were recognized for their project,Cincinnati Central Riverfront Park,completed with the sponsorship of Sasaki Associates, Inc., a Boston firm specializing in planning and urban design, landscape architecture and architecture.

Burch and Nutt completed the design as part of their senior landscape architecture capstone experience in WVU s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences. The project requires students to develop a comprehensive design for an outdoor environment, creating complete design portfolios and making a professional presentation to faculty and student peers.

Burch and Nutt were interested in urban riverfront redevelopment, and Sasaki offered them the opportunity to interpret its Cincinnati project. The student designersgoals were to create a riverfront space that encouraged social interaction while offering Cincinnatians a stronger sense of community identity.

We wanted to create a park that connected Cincinnatis downtown core to the Ohio River,Burch said,and to revitalize the citys historical background within the Cincinnati Central Riverfront Park.

To do this, Burch and Nutt created large public gathering spaces using the citys historical vistasthe skyline, the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the Great American Ballparkas backdrops. Another project goal was to make the park more welcoming to all ages by improving amenities.

The ASLA s Student Design Competition is designed to identify and recognize outstanding works of design and research accomplished by landscape architecture students. The competition culminates in selecting first place and commendation winners in undergraduate and graduate categories. A jury of landscape architects chose the winners from a pool of 210 entrants. Only seven teams received commendations for undergraduate team design.

The presentation of this project is exceptional, and the designers have incorporated the design and the site skillfully,said ASLA judges of the pairs work.

Burch and Nutt will be on hand when their work is exhibited at the ASLA s annual meeting in New Orleans this week (Oct. 30 to Nov. 3). Nutt graduated in May with a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture and recently accepted a job with LandDesign, Inc., a landscape architecture firm with offices in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and the District of Columbia. Burch will complete his degree in December.

WVUs landscape architecture program is fully accredited by the ASLA s Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board. It is the only accredited program in West Virginia.