News
3/10/2010 - Ball State program to revitalize Upland. Team of faculty, students will host "design Charrette".
By Stephen Groves
News Co-Editor for the Echo
The Community Based Projects program of the Ball State College of Architecture and Planning and community members across Upland will be teaming together to dream and plan a revitalization of the town of Upland.
Last night, Ball State architecture professors met with community members to plan a three-day “design Charrette.” A team of faculty and students from Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning will visit Upland April 8-10 to survey the architectural and urban planning potential of Upland, meet with various community groups and present their design and findings to the community. “We would like to know the community expectations for the future of Upland,” said Michel Mounayar, associate dean of the College of Architecture and Planning.
The team will create a working “studio” that will be accessible to the public. Then, various community representatives, such as educators, senior citizens, merchants or a group from Taylor will meet with the architects to discuss their ideas for Upland.
Faculty from Ball State have already surveyed some of Upland, noting its unique urban planning features and some of its potential.
Architecture and design professor Harry Eggridge explained that Upland already has great potential due to the way it is laid out. From a visitor's standpoint, the town has two entries, from highways 36 and 22, that welcome people into town. He also said the fact that downtown is centrally located with most important buildings located there was a good feature.
Eggridge's plans seem to focus on giving the downtown area a feeling of life.
“The downtown could be designed in such a way as to be a space for the people of Upland,” he said.
Another key vision the faculty mentioned was connecting Upland with walking or biking paths. Both architects said that the parks already existing in Upland are a great way to connect the town's residents. Yet they also saw potential in the railroad that runs through the center of Upland being converted to a path that would provide a “linear passageway” to connect the parks and residents.
Chip Jaggers, the executive director of University Relations at Ball State University, said that the plans had potential to change many aspects of the lives of Upland residents. "It could be more than just a design thing, it's an entire lifestyle thing," he said.
Eggridge said he was excited about the revitalization that could come to Upland. He said that the “town and the gown,” or the features of Upland and Taylor University, made this a unique project. “There is a lot to Upland that is interesting,” he said. “It is not full of billboards and advertisement.”
He foresaw the changes coming about in "layers of time and projects" that could start with simple steps like planting flowers and painting buildings, to creating parks or walking paths.
The Community Based Project program from Ball State will bring in a variety of students, including architects, landscape architects and even graduate students in urban design. The program has worked in over 100 Indiana communities as well as places as far away as New Zealand. It gives students an opportunity to implement the lessons they learn in the classroom to real life situations. It is also a way for the university to serve communities and educate about urban design.
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