Monday, junior Brandon Hoopingarner lounged on a rubbery bubble of latex at a reception in honor of a two-week-long workshop exploring architectural design.Ball State University architecture students displayed their latex creations at the Muncie Urban Design Studio after their workshop's leader, associate professor of architecture Frank Fantauzzi from State University of New York at Buffalo gave a presentation on his work. Students manipulated the rubbery liquid latex material to construct their designs.The workshops were a lot to be proud of but working with Fantauzzi was most moving, Tim Gray, Ball State professor of architecture, said."I'm most inspired by being able to work with Frank [Fantauzzi]," Gray said. "He pushed [students] and challenged them to do more because he's so clearly invested in and passionate about his work and his teaching."Fantauzzi, whose work includes more than 20 various types of installations, gave his presentation in the Architecture Building Room 100 at 4 p.m. Monday. He said it is important to "bridge the gap" between architects and contractors. "Architects don't build buildings; they make models and drawings of buildings," he said.Joe Bilello, dean of College of Architecture and Planning, and Jon Coddington, chairman of the Department of Architecture, said they were impressed by Fantauzzi's presentation."[The presentation] was inventive and immersive, two things this university prides itself in," Coddington said.Fantauzzi said his experience at Ball State was positive and fun."Programs are different at every university you go, but I felt a connection here," he said. "I had a feeling [the audience] totally got it and extended it through the questions they were asking."After the presentation, the students and faculty met back at MUDS for a reception displaying the students' completed projects. At the reception, student artists explained their projects' concepts to attendees."I was anticipating that a lot of the plaster on the wall would come off," junior Matt Amore said. "My latex mirrors where plaster came off, creating a ghost image ot the exposed wall."The overall workshop experience was liberating, junior Evan Anderson-Decina, who worked with Amore on the latex installation, said."It helped me understand where your passions lie when you work with a project that is such an extreme of your discipline," Anderson-Decina said. "It really helps you understand the values of architecture, what the discipline really is."Many of the people at the reception were not familiar with liquid latex as a building material, so the projects were a new experience."When they told me they were using latex, I was not too interested," junior architecture student Steve Collison said. "But after seeing all the different possibilities, as far as designing with latex, it makes you think what other material we don't know about yet."Bilello said it was amazing what the students were able to do to the disheveled MUDS studio by adding the latex sculptors."[MUDS studio] is a space we've had for about three years and what the students have done in here has shown us its potential," Bilello said.
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