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Saving lives doesn’t necessarily have to be a utilitarian exercise; it can be artistic, too.

That’s the path taken by a recent landscape design project on the central Oregon coast carried out by Portland firm Shapiro Didway. The firm completed site master planning for the , which is housed in the historic former Delake Elementary School along congested Highway 101 in the middle of the popular tourist resort town.

The cultural center has hosted a popular farmers market for many years, but it has been held on the front lawn of the center at the edge of the busy, five-lane highway. This has proved hazardous to market patrons in the past, and center officials have long been eager to fix the issue. That’s where Shapiro Didway came into the picture.

But what started as an ordinary project quickly morphed into a push for improved safety along with the creation of a pleasing aesthetic.

鈥淥riginally, (the plan) was to create expanded space for the farmers market, and take the chaotic parking lot and increase the parking and pedestrian safety and circulation through the lot,鈥� said Jessel Champoux, a design associate with Shapiro Didway and the project lead. 鈥淏ut what came from the project was instead of just looking at it like that, we looked at the art component; how can we make the whole site function as the vision of the Cultural Center?”

As currently comprised, the site master plan calls for an estimated $1.6 million worth of construction work, including future streetscape improvements, a revamped parking lot and space and utilities for outdoor events and seasonal displays. The farmers market will benefit from an increased amount of space along with a new path that will allow vendors better access to stall spaces.

鈥淭he biggest concern at first is it’s just not a safe site,鈥� Champoux said. 鈥淚f you’ve been (to the) farmers market on a Sunday, it’s a little chaotic, and I think that’s what drove the project. It’s well attended by the public and they want to connect the site to other locations. Conceptually, there are a lot of ways they want this to be a hub.鈥�

There’s also a strong public art component, from accent paving to permanent and temporary art displays to new building murals and outdoor classroom space.

The notion of beautifying what essentially is a hazard mitigation project was driven by input received during public outreach efforts early in the process.

鈥淭here are public art opportunities all over this project,鈥� said Niki Price, executive director of the Lincoln City Cultural Center and chair of the city’s Public Arts Committee. 鈥淭here is stamp/paint concrete, embellishing the walk, there are opportunities at every entrance. Really, the sky is the limit.鈥�

The former school building was closed years ago by the Lincoln County School District because its sits in a tsunami inundation zone just a block from the beach. As a result, the building and grounds became quite neglected prior the city transforming the property into an arts center over a decade ago.

鈥淭here is part of the redevelopment that needs to be done just for safety and security and utilization,鈥� said Price. 鈥淭he other part of the development, which is the most exciting part for the Cultural Center, is to turn the rest of the space into programmatic space all the way around the building. It’s going to allow us to use our entrances and exits and the architectural features we have to much better advantage, to create small gathering places all around the building and spaces for public art.鈥�

To get started, the city’s budget committee has approved inclusion of $256,000 for the center in the city’s budget for 2018-19, which is awaiting final approval. A small portion of that amount would be used to replace windows in the school building, as well as for additional design and engineering work on portions of the master plan. Most of the money, however, will be used for grant writing or as matching grant funds.

鈥淛ust construction alone is going to be $1.6 million,鈥� Price said. 鈥淭he next year is design and we start our capital campaign. We’re pushing fast, relatively speaking, to get in line for cultural capital grants and maybe funds from the Legislature. But without the city buy-in, we felt like we we’re dead in the water, so we were happy the city looks like they’ll put in the seed money.鈥�