OU Students Redesign 11th Street To Reflect Route 66 History

A group of OU architecture students were asked to redesign 11th Street and have it reflect its history as part of historic Route 66.

The students redesigned seven major intersections along 11th Street from Peoria to Yale, and the final results are pretty impressive.

Daniel Sperle and the other graduate students from the OU Urban Design Studio in Tulsa researched and created the challenge.

They were surprised at how invested the architecture students became in 11th Street and its history as a part of Route 66.

"There were even some international students in that class who were very aware of Route 66," said graduate student Nathan Foster.

Seven teams made up of architecture and landscape architecture students had to create a 3D model of their assigned intersection.

Shawn Schaefer said, "They were supposed to look at the street scape of 11th Street and design that and create a cultural experience for visitors."

They were also to rehab and reuse historic buildings and create new, historically appropriate things, plus create signage and lighting appropriate for Route 66.

The winner was a redesign of 11th and Lewis.

"You can see they've changed it to a three-lane street from a four-lane street. There's room for buses to pull off and a bike lane," Schaefer said.

He's very impressed by all the designs, and, who knows, as Tulsa expands outward from its newly vibrant downtown some of the design elements may just find their way onto historic Route 66 and 11th Street.

The exhibition will be on display at a public reception Thursday night from 6:00 until 8:30 p.m. at 1132 South Lewis.