Jeffrey Lauer is an architecture graduate student and writes “Defining Spaces” for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper. Write to Jeffrey at jmlauer@bsu.edu.
By now, everyone has noticed the construction in the Village. I have the misfortune of passing it every day.
I spend a lot of time at The Cup drinking coffee, reading, writing and meeting friends. From its patio, I have noticed how little has changed since I started my undergrad in 2007.
The building opposite The Cup was an eyesore. Some structures had historic value dating to the 1950s, but most had no aesthetic integrity and were vacant. The renderings shown in today’s newspaper have a surprising lack of detail that offer more questions than answers. I want to bring some of these questions to light and add to the conversation about this project.
Why should anyone care? Well, students should care because not only is the history of the Village intertwined with Ball State, but it continues to exist as an integral part of the campus community, offering the only place for independent coffee, the closest night life and great food. It’s an environment close to campus yet distinct from it. These offerings and the way in which we’ve come to expect them could change radically without our input. This development proposal is a prime example.
According to Daily News reports, the new $60 million development will be called Village Promenade and is slated for completion in summer 2014. The four-story, 333,000 square foot mixed-use, with first floor retail and above residential, development will be split into two separate units across Dill Street.
The City of Muncie is contributing $5 million to construct a 311-space parking garage in the center of the larger unit. This project is a public-private partnership between the City of Muncie and the private developer, Investment Property Advisors.
For anyone who has seen the rendering, it goes without saying it is radically different from the rest of the Village. There are currently no buildings that are more than three stories, with most at one or two. This massive four-story complex will tower over everything else and cover one and a half city blocks. It will seem foreign, out-of-place and detached.
Even more, its design and choice of materials do not continue an architectural dialogue with other buildings. This runs the risk of disrupting the Village’s existing character. What’s more is that the proposal missed an enormous opportunity to create an engaging social space, define a new axis to the Village and establish a meeting place. It fails to provide an essential missing link in the Village — a center.
Additionally, the two buildings speak to each other across Dill Street, but this orientation fails to adequately address University Avenue. A shortcoming expected to be compensated by retail activity on the first floor. But this may not be enough because there is nothing to keep people in the space.
For instance, there is no indent in the building wall or a grand entry for the residences along University Avenue. It doesn’t appear that the pedestrian experience was considered either. Restaurants crave outdoor seating, but because little is provided businesses acquire variances to encroach on sidewalks, i.e. Scotty’s Brewhouse or Vera Mae’s Bistro.
These are just some of the issues and concerns raised. As new students arrive in Muncie, they establish new relationships, build new memories and bring new expectations. Before long, this development will seem “natural” and will be embraced into the fabric of the social experience for new and future students. Because of this, my deepest concern is the project may lead to reverse scrutiny.
With the newest thing across from the oldest, the oldest may seem archaic, or worse, “tired” and become pressured to update or susceptible to renewal.
For these reasons, among others, it is desirable to engage with and question such development agendas all the while acknowledging the history of this critical piece of our campus community on its own terms.
