00;00;00;58 - 00;00;23;38 Geoff Mearns Steps away from Ball State University, The village is a commercial district that is home to apartments, shops, restaurants and more. With a major revitalization underway, the village is about to look much more different. And students from our Estopinal college of architecture and planning, they're playing a role in the change. I'm Ball State President Geoff Mearns and this is Cardinal Compass, Campus and Community Conversations. 00;00;23;42 - 00;00;39;22 Announcer From the campus of Ball State University on Ball State PBS and Indiana Public Radio. This is Cardinal Compass. Campus and Community Conversations. 00;01;01;08 - 00;01;09;46 Announcer At Ball State University, we inspire cardinals to transform their communities, to revolutionize their industries, and to make a difference. We fly. Are you ready to fly? 00;01;19;56 - 00;01;23;18 Calvin Scott Hello and welcome to Cardinal Compass. I'm Calvin Scott. 00;01;23;18 - 00;01;25;00 Brooke Follrad And I'm Brooke Follrad. 00;01;25;00 - 00;01;33;40 Calvin Scott The Ball State Village Revitalization Project has been making headway since 2024, ranging from the new Performing Arts Center to the Center for Innovation and collaboration. 00;01;33;40 - 00;01;39;22 Brooke Follrad Yiting Zhang dives into what comes next year for the four year plan to strengthen the local community. 00;01;39;22 - 00;01;58;16 Yiting Zhang The village redevelopment plan dates back to decades ago, when Ball State students called for a more vibrant village. Now, university leaders said the Village Green Project is a key step that vision design as a flexible space for events, local businesses and year round community gathering. 00;01;58;16 - 00;02;18;06 Chris Palladino An outdoor gathering place and a recreation space that we really see as being the heart of the village that's going to draw in the Ball State community and a greater mind see community together. So that would be a space that would have different programming opportunities. There might be lawn games, small concert events, we think it's going to be very valuable for students. 00;02;18;06 - 00;02;28;20 Yiting Zhang However, as the village continues to evolve, not everyone sees the changes the same way. Some longtime community members said it has already changed significantly. 00;02;28;50 - 00;02;49;18 Deb Wise So over the years, when I used to come here as a teenager, it's much different than it was then. Some of the buildings are still here. I'm not sure I'm in love with because they shadow the village. But we have to go with progress, I guess. And it's changed from being more retail bound to, I think being more of a dining experience. 00;02;49;24 - 00;02;59;10 Yiting Zhang Wise also reflects on the Village Green Project, saying she sees it as part of the area's continue evolution and the latest step in its ongoing transformation. 00;02;59;22 - 00;03;13;32 Deb Wise It will be an open space with landscaping, outdoor tables. We're talking they're talking about possibly even being able to show movies on the side of the Game Stop building. 00;03;13;50 - 00;03;16;34 Yiting Zhang When the green project is completed, let's imagine what interesting thing will happen. 00;03;16;34 - 00;03;35;56 Deb Wise So if it's a beautiful summer day and you want to get your drink and go over there and hang out, it's going to be the perfect spot for it. So I think, again, it is going to bring town and gown together. It won't just separate the village with the city, it will combine them. 00;03;35;56 - 00;03;49;30 Yiting Zhang The village's continual renewal and expansion are not just for any one group. It serves as a bridge connecting both state with the surrounding communities and the entire Muncie area. In Muncie, Yiting Zhang, Cardinal Compass. 00;03;53;22 - 00;04;00;12 Calvin Scott Joining us now is Eric Mainzer and Teresa Jeter, assistant teaching professor of landscape architecture and urban planning. 00;04;00;12 - 00;04;06;40 Thank you for joining us From your perspective, What was the purpose of creating a competition like this for students? 00;04;18;36 - 00;04;29;12 Eric Mainzer Oh, this was a great example of trying to get the students into a situation they feel invested in. And because they're the ones who are living and using the spaces down in the village, they were aptly suited to be the ones that were designing for the needs for the space. 00;04;29;26 - 00;04;34;58 Brooke Follrad Yeah, that's a good perspective to have the students themselves do it, considering it's so close to campus for sure. Thank you. Yeah. 00;04;55;40 - 00;05;03;18 Teresa Jeter This gave the students certainly an opportunity to be a part of the real world opportunity not to only serve the campus but also the residents, faculty, staff, other students in helping to design this particular site in the village. And so this was a great opportunity for students to learn and engage the community. 00;05;03;18 - 00;05;35;02 Geoff Mearns And as you know, all across campus, particularly in this program, that we provide students with real world, practical, experiential learning opportunities. And as you said earlier, Brooke, the ability to get the students perspective, we want to draw more students to to the village and what better way to do it than to ensure that the students have a voice and a perspective. But what I was pleased with, and I suspect you'll ask our guests, is that they engaged the broader community, not just the merchants and the neighbors immediately adjacent to the village, but they went downtown to get ideas from across the community. 00;05;35;26 - 00;05;41;22 Brooke Follrad Absolutely. I know that hands on experience is what drew me to Ball State. So it is amazing, wonderful opportunity. 00;05;41;34 - 00;05;47;32 Calvin Scott What skills do you see students gain from experiences like this that they may not get in a traditional classroom setting? 00;05;49;08 - 00;06;30;48 Teresa Jeter Oh, community engagement is extremely important. They were able to interview a number of people. They also had the opportunity to sharpen their interview skills, interact with stakeholders, alumni as well. And so it's very important to get outside the classroom and our studios provide that those opportunities for students. I mean, it's very important for them to certainly be a part of the real world, not just the books, not just listening to faculty, but also experiencing the feelings and seeing the expressions of those who certainly had input into into this process 00;06;31;02 - 00;07;05;46 Eric Mainzer And building off of that. What you said about getting that experience in landscape architecture, we often tell the students, you know, if you really want to understand the site conditions, you need to spend time at that location because people aren't just visiting that site. At one point during the day, they could be going there at any time, any season. You know, what's it look like at night? What's it look like in the morning? So having a site that was close to campus that the students could go and visit multiple times throughout the day. See what it's like when it's rainy, when it's sunny to truly understand the area that they were designing for. 00;07;05;46 - 00;07;15;30 Brooke Follrad I think that's such a thorough part of design is making sure you're thinking about all aspects and all different kinds of people. Sounds like a very big project for that. What were some of the steps that get this project into development? 00;07;17;54 - 00;07;56;14 Eric Mainzer Some of the first steps that we took as the studio was thankfully the some of the faculty in urban planning had prepared a lot of the base information. They had set up online sites to gather information from the community through interviews to find out what the needs and desires were for the space. And then in terms of our studio, we started off the same we would with any project is introduce the problem, then encourage students to empathize with the problem better understand what the problem, the design problem is. Go down to the site, analyze the site, and then come back to studio and start brainstorming how. 00;07;56;14 - 00;08;40;10 Teresa Jeter There was a two hour tour of the village. And so students had an opportunity to get out there among the people and interview, etc.. The challenge, I would say the challenge, I would say making sure that it was all encompassing in terms of the process is how we made the experience interdisciplinary for all of the four departments in the college, which we're happy to say all were involved interdisciplinary teams as well. And so that could have been a challenge because everybody didn't like it to work in teams. But this was very a very good opportunity and not a challenge, but an opportunity to learn. 00;08;40;32 - 00;08;45;04 Calvin Scott You know, you mentioned challenges. What were some of the biggest challenges into bringing this idea to life 00;08;48;50 - 00;09;20;58 Eric Mainzer For the contest? The biggest challenge we always have with any project is time schedule. You know, the students start designing, they become really vested in the process and they just want to keep designing, keep tweaking, keep refining and keep making it better. And the biggest challenge is getting them to go, okay, this is good. We need to stop. We need to move on to the next part. We need to start in construction drawings, the finalized renderings. So that's often the biggest challenge, getting them to have to like put on the brakes and shift to the next phase. 00;09;21;04 - 00;09;31;1 Geoff Mearns Well, and I would imagine that's also a practical experience because after they graduate, they're going to have a client who will have a schedule and they need to meet that schedule. 00;09;31;18 - 00;09;37;04 Eric Mainzer Yes, Yep, very much. It's getting them prepared for the real world and schedules, budgets, those kind of constraints. 00;09;37;04 - 00;09;46;44 Brooke Follrad Yeah, which is important. And speaking of that real world experience, Teresa, how is your expertise in urban and regional planning, like your master's degree allowed you to contribute to this project? 00;09;46;44 - 00;10;54;36 Teresa Jeter One of the things I love about urban planning that I learned in and through the program is engaging people to get the real input. That's very important, very critical, because, I mean, we can design all day and have all these lofty ideas, but what does that mean? That people aren't enjoying them or potentially not enjoying the outcome or the impact that was developed or designed? And so I've learned to work with people to get out of my comfort zone, so to speak, because it's very important again, that and what I learned through the master's program in regional planning was to certainly be confident in what people are telling me, be confident in the design elements, be confident in examining situations and communities, and certainly for people to feel welcomed and for people to feel that the designs and the engagement is truly one that we are passionate about. So that's very critical. 00;10;54;36 - 00;11;15;50 Geoff Mearns How do you emphasize the point of listening? Right, Because the students and us professionals have some preconceived notions, ideas for what to do on that site. But three says you emphasize when it comes to urban planning, it's so important to listen to the people. How do you emphasize that point in a project like this? 00;11;16;24 - 00;11;43;12 Eric Mainzer One of the things we start with the students from first year is it's great to have all these design ideas, but you have to remember you're never or very rarely will you have the opportunity to design for yourself. You're always designing for somebody else. So all of our projects kind of encourage the students to be able to look through a different lens, to be able to see the site, the problem, the area through the eyes of someone else and what their needs and desires are. 00;11;43;12 - 00;12;17;4 Teresa Jeter And that's why we created a poll to get to kickstart, you know, for for this opportunity. We didn't tell the students, go down, check out the site yet. We had a poll and the results were already coming in. I think our initial responses were 800, which is unheard of and then ultimately close to 2000. And so that's the information students had as when they went to the site and looking at the site and certainly listening to and the the conversations of individuals and what they said in those polls. 00;12;17;44 - 00;12;25;14 Calvin Scott Yes, sounds great in a quick way of saying how does landscape architecture and urban planning go hand in hand? 00;12;26;30 - 00;12;49;28 Eric Mainzer There is a fair amount of overlap between the two disciplines to the point where as first year they start off in the same group before they kind of splinter off. And it really is about understanding the design problems, understanding the communities, the people that are going to be inhabiting those spaces and just the scale of the projects. 00;12;49;40 - 00;13;07;52 Teresa Jeter They're very complementary at the core, both. And so while urban planning, they deal with community engagement, policy, zoning, land use, all the things the urban design piece is very important as well. And so I say they very complementary. 00;13;08;52 - 00;13;14;04 Brooke Follrad Thank you. 54 Village Green Designs were submitted for the college architecture and planning competition. 00;13;14;04 - 00;13;19;56 Calvin Scott Dylan Rosenblum highlights the hard work that went into the competition and how these designs inspired the Village Green Project. 00;13;21;30 - 00;13;36:40 Dillon Rosenlieb Buildings are all around us, often seen as everyday spaces we use for convenience. But we don't always see the stories and perspectives built into their foundations for Ball State architecture students, every project has a story. 00;13;36;40 - 00;13;48;36 Dave Ferguson emphasized the fact that design process is also universal. So we have all of our students have a fundamental approach that they can use to get them to the end product. 00;13;48;36 - 00;14;05;52 Dillon Rosenlieb Communities are built by the shops, cafes and people who give them life. But beyond that, growth are those who help plant the seeds of what a community can become. For Ball State architecture students, that means designing with the will need in mind. 00;14;05;52 - 00;14;25;32 Dave Ferguson They do get engaged in the issues that those clients, those future clients really want to be talking about. And so we consider hands on, sometimes called community based projects or immersive learning projects within our college setting as one of the most important things that we can put into the portfolio of our students. 00;14;26;42 - 00;14;46;50 Dillon Rosenlieb It's one thing to design it. It's another to see your idea take shape and become part of something that brings people together for years to come. That's what the College of Architecture brings to the table competitions that gives students the chance to work together and see their ideas, breathe life into communities. 00;14;49;12 - 00;15;02;50 Brooklyn Farrell I just hope that we can become more well informed. We don't stay in our bubble. We learn about all types of cultures, heritage, disability, so we can be well informed designers and then promote spaces. They're inclusive of all people. 00;15;02;50 - 00;15;17;48 Dillon Rosenlieb The future isn't just built on innovation, but on the idea that if you can dream it, you can build it. And with every design comes a story. When people are different voices and ones that will echo for generations to come. Dillon Rosenlieb, Cardinal Compass. 00;15;21;02 - 00;15;28;46 Calvin Scott Joining us now are Justin Butts, a member of the winning design competition team, and Ashley McGuinn, a member of the third place team. Thank you for joining us. 00;15;28;46 - 00;15;33;58 Brooke When you first heard about the Village renovation project, what made you want to enter? 00;15;33;58 - 00;15;56;00 Justin Butts I think for me it was landscape architecture. We in the college, we don't have many competitions, so being able to showcase landscape architecture and showing what we can do, I think was very important and also getting the opportunity to be able to make a change on campus and just make something that people remember. 00;15;56;00 - 00;16;06;32 Ashley McGuinn Yeah, I like to take every opportunity I can, especially something like this. That's a really great way to get involved in a real world project. 00;16;06;32 - 00;16;19;14 Calvin Scott Yeah, Thank you. And when you say taking every opportunity that you can and, you know, the cap building, having that many competitions, can you walk us through your creative process from your first idea to your final submission? 00;16;19;14 - 00;16;52;40 Justin Butts Yeah. So with our with the survey that was put out, we gathered all of the information, looked over all of it, kind of analyzed it, and then after that kind of just went into different design iterations, looking at different things, considering cost and what the students want and then what the community wants and putting those all into concepts ultimately making a conglomeration of the different concepts and coming up with our final design, 00;16;52;40 - 00;17;13;42 Ashley McGuinn Similar to Justin and all started with the survey we really wanted to prioritize what the students and what the community wanted, and we brainstormed. From there. We came up with a few different ideas of settling on a like central gathering space and developed through the production from there, going back and forth, bouncing ideas. 00;17;13;42 - 00;17;20;52 Brooke Follrad Yeah, and with such a real life project, how did you think that your coursework in the CAP program really prepared you for this? 00;17;20;52 - 00;17;45;22 Justin Butts I think throughout CAP we do a lot of different sizes of projects, especially in our later years, getting down to smaller projects and being able to again with the real life projects, getting to show like considering cost and everything. That's something that's really pushed towards the end and considering, um, especially with like the community engagement, what they want. 00;17;45;48 - 00;17;59;28 Ashley McGuinn Yeah, and CAP provides a lot of practical skills towards developing something like this, like how to do a site analysis, but ultimately they teach you how to think and how to be a designer and apply certain things. 00;17;59;28 - 00;18;06;38 Calvin Scott Yeah, wonderful. What ideas did you have for the village renovation competition to be considered? 00;18;07;16 - 00;18;33;06 Justin Butts Um, I think like we talked about before, the biggest idea and consideration was the community and seeing what they wanted. And then again, like the cost. And it was something that they wanted us to consider. And if we wanted our design to stand out is to make it sustainable and being able to be a lower cost that can actually be implemented. 00;18;33;06 - 00;18;41;02 Brooke Follrad Yeah, and one thing I am interested here, you guys were talking about the different ideas you had. Do any of you have any other ideas that you would love to see in this project? 00;18;41;02 - 00;18;51;58 Geoff Mearns Something that didn't make it into the design competition that now, upon reflection, maybe you thought because we're in the process of translating all of your ideas into the actual design. 00;18;51;58 - 00;19;16;06 Justin Butts Um, I think the design team that ultimately of came up with the new design, I think implemented it very well of what our projects had. I did really enjoy one part of Ash's project with the village being able, the big sign, being able to actually stand in it and making a big like photograph moment. 00;19;16;06 - 00;19;16;54 Brooke Follrad Yeah, yeah. 00;19;16;54 - 00;19;45;46 Geoff Mearns And as you may is referring to Ash, thank you for bringing it to our attention. You know, there isn't a whole lot of branding in the village. I think there's like a mural on the side of roots. We all know it as the village, but if you're not from the area, you don't know what we're talking about. So that idea of having, you know, an iconic symbol that people can take photos on and blasted out all across social media was, you know, a light bulb moment. It was also one of those moments where we thought, like, why didn't we think of that earlier? So it was a great, great addition to the project. 00;19;45;46 - 00;19;57;02 Brooke Follrad Yeah, of course. And I think that's kind of what we were speaking on earlier about things we didn't think of and immersing yourself into it and realizing things that you may be missing. Absolutely. Thank you. What moments stuck out to you guys during this process? 00;19;57;02 - 00;20;18;24 Ashley McGuinn For me, I think it was my first time on the site looking at it through a design lens. It's not often that you go to a site knowing like it's going to look different in a few years, and a lot of that will come from students perspectives. So it was just a completely different experience from what I'm used to, and that was a really lovely moment. 00;20;18;24 - 00;20;34;34 Justin Butts I think mine would be probably more towards the end of the competition, getting to be able to present our our design in front of probably the largest group of people that we've had to throughout CAP. I think that was probably my most memorable moment. 00;20;34;34 - 00;20;44;08 Calvin Scott Yeah. Now, Justin, earlier you mentioned, you know, we wanted to look into the community. What difference do you guys both feel you were making with this project? 00;20;44;08 - 00;21;14;20 Justin Butts I think that this project is able to create a sort of hub for the village, bringing in people from both the community and ball state and being able to create a space where anyone's welcome and where people can just relax, enjoy some of the surrounding amenities and businesses and be able to just talk to each other and ultimately connect to both the community and Ball State. 00;21;14;20 - 00;21;28;24 Ashley McGuinn Yeah, I think Justin's completely right. Hopefully the difference with this makes is it will unite students and community members and local vendors and just really facilitate that. 00;21;28;24 - 00;22;12;48 Geoff Mearns To me, obviously ultimately the physical manifestation will be an enduring difference. To me, the process is that they engaged in, you know, oftentimes a community around a university feels that when the university comes out to do a joint project, that the university is going to do it for the community or to the community. Their engagement process ensured that this was a collaborative effort, that we were doing something together with the community, something that will benefit the university community and the broader community. I think the enduring impact will also be continue to reinforce to our friends and neighbors all across the community that we want to be genuine partners with them and listen to them and incorporate their ideas and concerns into the work that we do with them in the community. 00;22;12;48 - 00;22;13;56 Brooke Follrad Yeah, and that kind of sounds like it's going to be bridging that gap of the town gown. 00;22;16;56 - 00;22;18;44 Geoff Mearns One more step in building that bridge. 00;22;18;44 - 00;22;28;12 Brooke Follrad One more step, of course. Now, Justin, did your experience in the American Society of Landscaping Architects Indiana chapter help you to participate in this whole process? 00;22;28;12 - 00;22;52;48 Justin Butts I think being a member is like it helps to give us a good idea and example of different projects in real world of similar scale to what we were going to be working on. And throughout like our conferences, being able to sit in on different lectures and learn different information about sustainability and different things like that, I think really helped. Yeah. 00;22;52;48 - 00;22;58;14 Calvin Scott And then for you Ash, what challenges did you face during the project and how did you push through them? 00;22;58;14 - 00;23;21;30 Ashley McGuinn My biggest challenge was that my partner wasn't in architecture and my partner was in urban planning and she was staying at the studio, whereas I was doing it more in my own time. So balancing that schedule was a really big challenge, but we were able to work through it pretty well and it was an amazing collaborative process. It was really nice to work in an interdisciplinary setting. 00;23;21;30 - 00;23;22;08 Calvin Scott Oh, great. 00;23;22;08 - 00;23;29;20 Brooke Follrad That's amazing. And a quick response that you can think of. How do you think that this experience has shaped you both? 00;23;29;20 - 00;23;50;54 Justin Butts I think it's given us good skills, especially for a real life project. Being able to again work with the community I think is the biggest part and giving us information like how to do that and how vital it is to a project. 00;23;50;54 - 00;24;06;52 Ashley McGuinn And it really brought a lot of the community aspect and really like taught us the value in that and the advocacy elements and having a voice in shaping a local community. So hopefully that's something we continue to bring in our careers. 00;24;06;52 - 00;24;09;52 Brooke Follrad Yeah, thank you so 00;24;10;06 - 00;24;12;44 Calvin Scott Thank you. That's all the time we have for that part of the discussion. 00;24;12;44 - 00;24;17;22 Brooke Follrad President Mearns, We want to give you the final minute for your reflection on today's conversation. 00;24;17;22 - 00;24;55;44 Geoff Mearns Well, Ash and Justin, thank you for joining us for the program. But more importantly, thank you for your contributions to this important element in the Village Revitalization Project. And Calvin and Brooke, thank you for giving us the opportunity to showcase this project. You know, the Village project will be the manifestation of what this program is all about the connections, the positive collaborative connections between the university and the community. And so as a result of this good work, the Villages will be an increasingly welcoming place for people all across the community, and it will prove once again that between Ball State University and Muncie and Delaware County that we are truly better together. So thank you. 00;24;55;44 - 00;24;59;54 Brooke Follrad Oh, that's nice. Thank you. Thank you. President Burns. I'm Brooke Follrad. 00;24;59;54 - 00;25;05;12 And I'm Calvin Scott. Make sure to join us next time for Cardinal Compass, Campus and Community Conversations 00;25;21;12 - 00;25;49;42 Announcer At Ball State University. We welcome you as a learning partner. From day one, our students bring creativity and determination to each aspect of the learning experience from the classroom to the community. At Ball State. We help students turn an emerging passion into an enduring purpose. 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