Three faculty members in the College of Architecture and Planning were awarded a $300,000 Academic Excellence Grant from the university to convert the building. The hub will be available to anyone in Muncie — high school and Ball State students, faculty and Muncie residents.
Pam Harwood, an architecture professor, said Ball State’s campus was created as a separate unit from downtown Muncie, so she hopes the hub will bring together groups of people who are invested and involved in making the community a better place to live in. This will also give those people an opportunity to have the tools they need to succeed.
“The sustained commitment to the community by having a presence down there and our students engaged is huge,” she said. “It can’t happen here; it would be different if it happened [on campus.]”
The goal is for the 6,000-square-foot space to serve as a meeting place between the community and Ball State that will house analog and digital tools like table saws, drill presses and laser cutters. Anyone will be able to access the tools after being trained and paying a fee.
“We think it will be a really great opportunity to inspire some great ideas and implement some of the visions for the Muncie community through the Makers Hub,” Harwood said.
Andrea Swartz, interim chairperson of the Department of Architecture, said being able to bring new energy into an existing building instead of building a new one was important.
“It really is a critical vehicle to make quality of life better in Muncie," Swartz said. "Our presence and energy are now there, and we’re tapping into the energy of the people who have come before us."
Two of the main goals of the hub are to serve the community and support efforts that are already in place.
“A foundation point for us was to recognize the tremendous work that has already gone into creative art making in this community. There has been a huge grassroots effort in this field,” Swartz said. “We’re just sort of seeing an opportunity to support that.”
Swartz said she believes she and her colleagues promote good in a creative, risk-taking learning environment — which is what the design process is made of, and what President Paul W. Ferguson strives to make the university to be.
“You have an idea, you make something, look at it and if it’s not right, it’s a failure to a certain extent but you reinvest in it and do it again,” she said. “President Ferguson says to risk, to take in a culture that’s supportive, but dare to fail. … We’re providing that culture.”
A meeting with stakeholders will be held sometime next summer or fall to discuss how to further shape the idea. The hub's priority is to make the connection between Ball State and Muncie more apparent, Harwood said.
For students, the hub will allow them to get real experience instead of using hypothetical examples.
“It’s critical that [architects] gather empathy and real, true understanding of the needs of people and how what they do can affect their lives," Harwood said. "So many of the projects we do have an imagined client and no real budget; you’re just designing as if you’re in some sort of warp space where you can do anything."
Read More
Center for Peace offers academic opportunities
By Meghan Braddy and Grayson Joslin / 1 hours agoOver the years, the center has offered a peace studies minor, conflict resolution training and grant funding.
AP: New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction
By Staff Reports / 2 hours agoNew York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case, according to the Associated Press (AP).
AP: Hamas willing to enact ceasefire if an independent Palestinian state is established
By Staff Reports / 2 hours agoWednesday, April 24th, a top Hamas political official said the group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders, according to the Associated Press (AP).
