By: Mary Freda
When archivist for architectural records Rebecca Torsell came to Ball State University nearly a year ago, she had a vision.
Torsell just visited ‘Freezing a Moment of Time: The Architectural Drawings of Miller and Yeager,’ a 2017 exhibit at the Swope Art Museum and wondered why Ball State hadn’t done the same.
“I thought, ‘Well, why aren't we, we have a museum here on campus, why are we doing architecture as art?’” Torsell said. “Because it really is — these drawings, they are pieces of art.”
After partnering with the Terre Haute, Indiana, museum, Torsell brought the idea to her supervisor. As she pitched the idea, Robert La France, director of David Owsley Museum of Art (DOMA), walked in the library to donate a book. Then, something “rare” happened — the museum needed another fall 2018 exhibit. So, The Power of Place: 100 Years of Architecture at Ball State University, was set into motion.
Once La France, Matthew Shaw, dean of University Libraries and Phil Repp, then dean of the College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) signed off on the project, the next step was figuring out how to use the exhibit to celebrate the university’s centennial, Torsell said.
After almost a year of work, the exhibit, which will be unveiled Friday at DOMA’s Final Friday: Life event, features three buildings on Ball State’s campus.
“I had to make sure I had the resources, I don't have all the drawings for every building on campus, but I have a lot of them,” Torsell said.
The Administration Building
The exhibit, Torsell said, wouldn’t be complete without including the first building on Ball State’s campus.
“[The Administration Building] was where all classroom instruction, the library, the recital, even the president's apartment was there,” said Torsell, who is the exhibit curator. “So, that was something where I wanted to tell the story of that building because that building has changed in function and has had a number of interior alterations, but it still is the only yellow brick building on campus.”
Torsell said while the role of the building has changed significantly over the years, its importance hasn’t. Today, the Administration Building houses the offices of the president, provost and vice presidents.
The Fine Arts Building
What Torsell considers one of the “most ornate buildings on campus” the Fine Arts Building is where the upcoming exhibit will be held.
In the past, the building that totes stained glass windows and marble, housed English and dance students. Each day, those students would enter through the doors under engraved quotes in limestone. Today, those quotes still stand, even though the English and dance students are no longer housed in the building.
“So even though this building now houses DOMA and houses geology, you're never going to be able to erase the past of it,” Torsell said.
The CAP Building
Originally built in 1970, the first CAP tower was the first collegiate building in Indiana to be built by design competition, Torsell said. Because the building gained national rankings and started to grow, an addition was added on in 1982.
“I went for the history, the historical component, the past, which would be the admin building and that importance,” Torsell said. “I went for the present, in a sense, because in the present when you're viewing this exhibit, you're in the fine arts building and then I went for future, which CAP and architecture stands for the future of architecture and planning."
“I hope that from this exhibit people notice and observe their surroundings more and take recognition for the growth of this campus over time,” she said. “Also, I'm hoping that it points them back in the direction of recognizing the importance of somebody who holds the repository for such information.”
The exhibit, which is one of the two being unveiled at 6 p.m. during DOMA’s free Final Friday event, will be on display until Dec. 21.
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