|
By Susan Gvozdas Eleven years ago, professors at Auburn University created a program for architectural students to learn their trade by rebuilding some of the poorest slums in Alabama. Students spent a semester designing new buildings and then spent a semester building their creations in poverty-stricken communities left over from the days of the Delta cotton plantations. The rural studio project and its spinoff, the urban studio, worked so well that Auburn University officials began to pass along their model to other cities. "We look at it as being evangelists for the cause," said Bruce Lindsey, professor of architecture at Auburn and director of the program. Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed is the most recent convert. He and officials from four universities and area businesses want to bring the project to downtown Harrisburg by fall 2005. The urban studio task force meets regularly and is considering a possible location for the studio in downtown or midtown Harrisburg. The idea is to get the project set up in the capital and then spread it to other areas in Pennsylvania, said Robert Philbin, coordinator of the task force. He also serves as a board member of the Harrisburg Urban Initiative, a group of business people and local government officials. The initiative formed a year ago to help the Harrisburg Area School District. Philbin also is a senior partner of Hershey Philbin Associates Inc., a public relations company in Camp Hill. More than 30 cities and towns have picked up on the Rural Studio since it began in 1993. This year, public-television stations aired a documentary on the original Rural Studio program. After the program aired in April, WITF Inc. held a roundtable with Lindsey, Reed and others to discuss ways to replicate the project. Lindsey said the program could be developed within a year, but the hardest part is keeping it going past the first project. Oftentimes, concerned citizens are running the project without support from local government officials. Without the leadership and access to grants, the groups fizzle out, he said. Harrisburg is different. "This is the first time I've seen a mayor be so involved in a project like this," Lindsey said. Officials at Penn State University are leading the development of the curriculum for the classes. The courses would be offered for credit to students at the university, as well as to students of Carnegie Mellon University, Temple University, Lehigh University and Harrisburg Area Community College. Except for HACC, all four universities have accredited schools of architecture. The program eventually would involve other university disciplines, such as social work and health care, Philbin said. Members of the task force already have taken a tour of the Pennsylvania Athletic League building near the Broad Street Market in midtown, said Guy Beneventano, a task force member and an attorney at Nauman, Smith, Shissler & Hall, a law firm in Harrisburg. He said city officials were looking for something more prominently located, such as SciTech High School, which will open this fall on Market Street downtown. The high school is a technology-focused preparatory school for the future Harrisburg University. The city is not ready to discuss location, said Terri Martini, director of building and housing development for Harrisburg and a task-force member. She said the task force is more focused on developing its mission statement and planning the scope of the project. |