From boutique hotels to downtown chicken coops and electric car chargers, Ball State University architecture students presented their designs for the community’s most pie-in-the-sky ideas Thursday. The College of Architecture and Planning students, lead by project director and professor Scott Truex, presented the results of weeks of workshops and surveys where they gathered ideas as part of the “Imagine Warsaw” project. They focused on potential uses and designs for specific areas in town such as the downtown, the former Little Crow factory and the fairgrounds. “These are the things you drive by every day, but we come with a little different lenses,” Truex said. “You have a great community, there’s so much to build on.” He remarked during the presentation at Warsaw High School that it was one of the most fun Imagine workshops out of the 60 or so he’s done, thanks to the city’s assets and the drive of the community. “As an urban planning professor, I often find myself going, ‘Oh great, Kokomo is beginning again. There’s going to be another Kokomo,’” he said. But Warsaw is a global place, he noted, between the orthopedic industry and businesses like MudLOVE which have an impact on the other side of the globe, and the city possesses assets that other towns would almost kill to have. Student Amy Yorko described the process they used in developing the designs, meeting with about 200 community members, gathering demographic information and cataloging city assets through photography and mapping. She noted the majority of people they heard from were long-term residents, with almost half earning a household income of $80,000 or more. The students then drafted designs for some of the most popular or interesting suggestions, which were printed on a row of boards in the back of the room. The boards will be displayed in several downtown locations on a rotating basis, and the designs are also viewable at imaginewarsaw.org Designs included transforming the Little Crow building into a sustainable living and growing center with aquaponics and fish research, all based on the building’s history with food production; and turning the area surrounding the Gatke building into a transit hub and conference center. Potential downtown changes included a parking garage, electric car charging stations and additional shops and housing. Student Curtez Hawkins described turning alleyways and off-street parking into public outdoor spaces. “This was sort of cartoon fun, but the ideas are real,” Truex later remarked, looking at a drawing of a downtown car charger flanked by chicken coops and solar panels. “There’s a whole range of ideas that are fun to think about. A boutique hotel at Little Crow? Eh, maybe not. But a boutique hotel downtown makes sense.” Center Lake-area proposals included extending the beach area and building a boardwalk with bike lanes, which Hawkins said would physically and visibly connect the lake to the downtown. Designs for the fairgrounds and YMCA area included a marina and lakeside amphitheater, as well as residential and shopping amenities. Truex proposed a paralympics training facility, saying it made sense for customers of the orthopedics industry to use those products here. “You could have a phenomenal, global place where people come... people who need what Warsaw has,” he said. “You’re global and you should be celebrating that.” Kosciusko County Council President Bob Sanders asked Truex how he would suggest getting people involved in these new ideas. The key, Truex said, was finding people passionate about things like urban agriculture or biking to champion those ideas. He also remarked on finding a balance between the visions of older and younger residents. “The younger generation, don’t let them be on the outside,” he said. “They have a lot of energy and interest, and if you celebrate what they’re doing, it will pay off in the long run.”
