Preserving Historic Downtown Kennewick

This project is going to be a full club experience utilizing members from Architectural Design, Digital Photography, and Advanced Technology classes using their skills to help create a large scale documentation of Historic Kennewick. Members from each class are going to sit down and help map out the 33 historic buildings and houses in the neighborhood and research information and data such as building dates and the historical significance of each building. Once the puzzle is complete it will be broken down and each class will concentrate on their portion of the project.

Digital Photography Class:
The Digital Photography members are going to work on taking individualized photos of the interior and exterior of some of Historic Kennewick’s most recognized buildings. Members are encouraged to take photos of the unique details and craftsmanship that has lasted over the decades. They are to find the personality of the buildings which can be found inside such as the interior of O’Henrys Diner (1927), the exterior detail of Ice Harbor Brewery (1940) and the class Farmers Exchange Building which houses its original tenants (1945).

Architectural Design Class:
This fine arts class is going to work on their perspective and façade drawings while working in both pencil and ink to capture the beauty of their assigned buildings. Each student will get to visit their building and take photos to use for reference before beginning their multiple drawings. The historic places will be considered depending on the members’ skill level. Buildings have been pre-assigned based on skill level. The members that are just starting in perspective will get the newer buildings such as United Finance (1945) and True Value (1951). Participants that have had experience with perspective before and are ready to challenge themselves will have the opportunity to work on Robust Coffeehouse (1940) and Esprit Graphics (1930). The most experienced members will get the hardest and detail oriented buildings including the 1900 United Pentecostal Church, the Tri-City Herald 1912 building and the 1920 Roxy Theater.

Advanced Photoshop:
Students in this class will be responsible for putting the pieces of the puzzle back together. These members are going to help the Digital Photography Class with sizing and printing their photos in addition to creating their own projects. Utilizing the Adobe Photoshop software application, members are going to collect the photos and art work and create multiple collage pages. The first page of collage is going to start at the eastern side of the neighborhood and their last page will end at the western side. Their collaboration with the other members is going to not only help create a smooth manipulation of the two types of artwork but also a map of the neighborhood.
Once all the pieces are done and printed, the finished project will be put on display at one of the local historic buildings in addition to being presented to the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership.