Ball State found a way to use leftover materials from construction projects around campus to make something to benefit students.
Facilities Planning and Management created a new kiosk and seating area at the southwest corner of the Scramble Light with leftover brick and other materials, director Jim Lowe said.
"It's a very highly used corner," he said. "It hasn't been a cozy venue. You'd have to rent a plastic table and the old concrete picnic tables were falling apart.
"The time has come to create a venue that students and just about anybody on campus can use."
The high pedestrian traffic area has been a popular place throughout the years for students to pass out fliers, give free hugs and to promote activities off and on campus.
Lowe said the university knew since it overhauled the intersection of McKinley and Riverside avenues last summer that something needed to be recreated in the area.
The university wanted to make the area more user-friendly for people who wanted to meet friends, play guitar and do other activities.
"We've tried to accommodate what might be needed," Lowe said.
Previously, there was limited seating, most of which was deteriorating. Lowe said the area was also awkward for people who tried to use it.
Facilities Planning and Management expanded the area for people who want to use it, created a seating ledge, built a new kiosk and extended some electricity in the area.
The old kiosk used to have six sides but the new one is just two-sided and complements the building signs that have been built throughout campus recently, Lowe said.
Lowe said since it was made with leftover materials from the McKinley/Riverside project and other projects on campus, he wasn't sure how much it cost to create the venue.
A contractor built only a small portion of the project. The university used its own small staff for just about everything except for the seating structure.
It took didn't take them long to build it, either.
"This is a project that from start to finish was about three weeks in duration," he said. "The goal was, of course, for it to be complete before move in."
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