Unidentified Indiana

We know that feeling when you just want winter to end. Take today, for example. Two weeks ago we were wearing flip flops and now we're back to winter coats. It's enough to make you want to take a cruise to a Caribbean island to wait out the real end of the winter.

Or, if you can't afford that vacation, you could at least design a basement that encompasses all of the elements of a cruise but without the perils of water or travel, like this basement photographed by the Indianapolis architect Fran Schroeder. The location of the photograph is unidentified, but likely it belonged to a home in Indianapolis during the late 1940s-50s. Clearly the owner of this room felt much the same way about winter as we do.

If anyone knows the location, please let us know. We'll come over immediately.

Image: Basement, n.d. (34-199), Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University.

Indianapolis Monument Circle Idea Competition

Have a good design idea for the state's most recognizable public space? Now is your opportunity to submit ideas for consideration in the juried Indianapolis Monument Circle Idea Competition, a project of Indianapolis Downtown, Inc.

The panel of jurors are design leaders throughout Indiana, including the dean of Ball State University's College of Architecture and Planning, Guillermo Vasquez de Velasco and the Indianapolis Museum of Art's director Maxwell Anderson.

Information on how to enter can be found on the competition's website. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2011.

Image: Aerial photograph of Monument Circle, ca. 1948. [3-193A] Pierre and Wright Architectural Records Collection, Drawings and Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collection, Ball State University.

Delaware County Transportation Study Available in the Archive

A recent article in The Muncie Star Press entitled, "Is Muncie finally ready to take pride in McGalliard?" highlights the numerous recommendations for improvement to SR 332 / McGalliard Road, a main artery into Muncie, that have been made by Ball State University's College of Architecture and Planning since the college began in the 1960s.

One particular study cited in the article, The Gateways of Delaware County: A Study of the Major Vehicular Routes of Delaware County and Muncie, Indiana published in 1991, assessed the cluttered and undefined state of SR 332 / McGalliard Road and offered suggestions to improve circulation and create a sense of place.

The Gateways of Delaware County study is available for research in the Drawings and Documents Archive, located in the College of Architecture and Planning.

Images: The Gateways of Delaware County: A Study of the Major Vehicular Routes of Delaware County and Muncie, Indiana, 1991. College of Architecture and Planning Collection, Drawings and Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.