The construction for the new Digital News Studio, built solely from the hands and minds of the college of architecture, is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
Last July, the telecommunications department was given $35,000 to create a newsroom. The average cost to create a professional newsroom is $500,000 to $700,000, TCOM professor Tim Pollard said.
"We proposed the idea of getting the architecture program involved in order to save money and give experience," Pollard said. "They are one of the most prominent schools of architecture in the country."
Pollard contacted professor of architecture Jackson Faber last summer about the project.
"I feel very lucky that we were able to help," Faber said. "It has been a great opportunity"
Last fall semester, second-year architecture students participated in a competition to draw the winning design to be used for the project.
Though the design called for a new and innovative look, architecture students took trips to such news stations as Channel 13 and Channel 8 to see the basics of a newsroom.
Three student teams, each made up of four people, presented their "Brokaw," "Jennings" and "Rather" newsroom designs to faculty for review.
The TCOM department consulted broadcasters, professional listservs and prominent journalism organizations for feedback on the designs.
The Brokaw design won, as it met the request of having a non-conventional design and also featured a skybox element to create more space and height.
The Brokaw design was then given to a group of fifth-year students in the spring for review and fine tuning, Pollard said.
"Architecture students gained an enormous amount of experience from this project," Faber said. "They had a chance to apply their design projects and gained real-world activity and knowledge."
Fourth-year students were in charge of building the studio during this year's first summer session.
"None of us had background with construction in the beginning," fourth-year student Nick Worden said. "We all learned a lot from this project."
The fourth-year students had a chance to feel what contractors experienced when they ran into problems with the architectural design, Faber said.
"To start with nothing and then end up with a finished project was amazing," Worden said. "This is something that people will use, and we constructed it ourselves."
The newsroom will be big enough to hold classes, office work and operate news stations.
"This news center is suitable to accomplish the convergence goals that we are working toward for CCIM," Pollard said. "Print, television, radio and Internet will all be working together."
Faber said the newsroom is very different from anything you would see on television as it has an industrial feel.
"The intent was to not make it look like everything else that you see," Pollard said. "The whole goal with the iCommunication initiative is to think new and different."
Since first summer session has been over, Faber has been working solely on construction.
After construction is completed, lighting and furnishings will be done by the TCOM department. Completion is expected in the fall of 2003.
The digital news studio will be worth more than $1 million when fully equipped.
The Digital News Project at Ball State is part of the iCommunication initiative, funded by a $20 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.
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