Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: News

Media Credit: J. Patrick Clayton - THE BATTALION Teri Whitney, a senior environmental design major, shows off her design for Isaiah's Place. Located in Whitney, Texas, Isaiah's Place is a nonprofit camp for hearing impaired children. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: J. Patrick Clayton - THE BATTALION Junior and senior environmental design students worked with Isaiah's Place, Inc. to design a master plan that would maximize resources and create a guide for future expansion. Isaiah's Place, located in Whitney, Texas, is a non-profit camp for hearing impaired children. [Click to enlarge]

A group of Texas A&M architecture students went to Dallas to present a master plan for Isaiah's Place Inc., an equestrian learning and retreat center to serve the deaf community.

"Our project is two-fold. It is a master plan for a 40-acre training facility for an equestrian center for deaf kids that will teach them how to work with horses which we emphasized specifically on the equestrian center for," said Boon Bowling, a senior environmental design major involved with the project.

Cousins Diane and Susan Frederickson, who purchased the land and a log-cabin home in 2002 near Whitney, Texas, established the non-profit corporation. The brochure stated that it is intended to be an educational center providing enrichment experiences, activities and materials geared toward building communication skills, confidence, self-esteem and developing relationships with an appreciation for a country, or ranch, lifestyle for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Isaiah's Place board of directors met in 2007 to lay out the future of the corporation and realized the need for a master plan that would allow efficient use of the land. This is where the A&M architecture students came to help.

Senior architecture major Teri Whitney explained how the project began at the beginning of the semester and how the students have worked to meet the client's visual ideas.

"They [the clients] presented a slide show to us explaining all their needs, their desires and their vision," Whitney said. "We have met with them every week since then and basically said 'OK, this is what I hear you saying visually,' and so piece by piece, every week, we have put more stuff together.

"It's interesting because we all hear them say the exact same thing, but each of us has a completely different interpretation of what they are saying and come up with ideas that are all different in their own way."

Whitney said the variety of ideas allows the client to pick and choose particular aspects from each student's project and combine them to mold their vision.

She said that she has enjoyed the project and was excited to find out how the client felt about their work. "I am really excited to see the reaction of the people that haven't seen the progress we have made on the project yet."

Mark Burgess, a senior environmental design major, said that the project is done on an individual basis, but the students often work together to collaborate on ideas and contribute what they learned to help others.

"One of the more interesting things about it is to be able to see how what we do can affect a community," Burgess said.

Jessica Williams, a senior environmental design major, said that the nine students who are participating in this project are all part of George Mann's architecture 406 class.

"We are all just excited about the opportunity to be able to help them [Isaiah's Place] to carry out their master plan," Williams said.

Mann, who is the Skaggs-Sprague endowed chairman in health facilities design, said that he was proud of the group. He said that a Washington, D.C., architecture professional thought that the work the group had done in three weeks of focused collaboration was worth two months of material.

Plans for the equestrian center include a 12-stall barn, tack storage area, feed storage and riding arena. The equestrian center will be the centerpiece for Isaiah's Place to help carry out its ranch lifestyle theme.

Isaiah's Place is a facility that seeks not only to meet the special needs of the deaf and hard of hearing, but of their families as well. Therefore, in addition to the equestrian center, they plan to include six family cabins, a commercial kitchen and dining hall, a gymnasium and an indoor gameroom. The future plan is to expand the Fredricksons' existing pond with a boardwalk for fishing activities.

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