LOCAL ARCHITECTS, PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS JOIN MAYOR REED TO LAUNCH THE HARRISBURG URBAN STUDIO Urban architecture education program will kick-off with the opening of a train station studio As one of the first Urban Studio projects, Penn State and HACC second-year architecture students are designing a mixed-use building for the empty lot at 1212 Market Street in Harrisburg.   (Harrisburg, PA) - The Harrisburg Urban Studio, a program initiated by Mayor Stephen R. Reed, will formally launch operations on March 2, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. with an opening ceremony for the program's headquarters at the Harrisburg Transportation Center on 4th and Chestnut Streets. The Studio provides a strategic location for architecture students from the state's leading schools to come in and out of the City as part of their urban design and planning education. The formal program will begin at 2:00 p.m. and feature remarks by Mayor Reed and Guy Beneventano, Chairman of the Harrisburg Urban Initiative. Representatives from the Architectural programs at the Pennsylvania State University and Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) will also speak during the event. The Harrisburg Urban Studio is modeled after Auburn University's famous Rural Studio, a program that provides architectural students with a practical learning experience while enhancing the environment of disadvantaged communities. Mayor Reed initiated the Urban Studio during a live panel discussion aired by WITF in March of 2004. "This event marks the beginning of an innovative program that has the potential to invigorate the entire Harrisburg community," Beneventano said. "It was Mayor Reed's vision that brought Auburn University's Rural Studio concept to Harrisburg." As one of the first Urban Studio projects, 60 Penn State and HACC second-year architecture students designed a mixed-use building for the empty lot at 1212 Market Street in Harrisburg. During the March 2 event, the students will meet to discuss various conceptual designs. Many of the student designs will be on display during the event. "The scope of the student work is very impressive," Robert Philbin, one of the founders of the Urban Studio said. "Their creative drive and imaginative use of the urban context in the service of very high ethical purpose will infuse our neighborhoods with a new pride and organic vitality." Pennsylvania's leading architecture colleges will send students to study, design and build in the Harrisburg Urban Studio. A number of architects, engineers, contractors and construction products firms are actively supporting the Urban Studio. Representatives from the schools of architecture at Carnegie-Mellon University, Penn State, Messiah College, HACC as well as Auburn University's Rural Studio are part of the task force to establish the Harrisburg Urban Studio. For further information contact Nathan Pigott, Hershey Philbin Associates, at npigott@hersheyphilbin.com or 717.975.2148. ###

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