Friday, July 25, 2014GARRETTSVILLE, Ohio – Students in Kent State University’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design will present proposals this evening reimagining the village, which was devastated by fire earlier this year.
The public is invited to view the 11 proposals, prepared by 12 students, which will be presented at the village hall, 8213 High St., 6-8 p.m. The event is open to the public.
A March 22 fire swept through the historic downtown, destroying an entire commercial block and 13 businesses in the Portage County village, which has a population of just over 2,200. The proposals involve much more than just replacing downtown buildings, said Adil Sharag-Eldin, associate professor of architecture at Kent State.
“It comes from the expanded definition of sustainable design,” he said. “Sustainable design includes environmental, social and economic development. So we’re looking at the village from that wide perspective. We want to see how our knowledge can be used to help the village.”
The KSU students started with extensive research about Garrettsville, looking at its tax base, demographics, ages, income, jobs, where people work and the village’s pattern of growth.
“With this deeper understanding, we came up with individual proposals to address the issue of economic development,” Sharag-Eldin said.
“The fire, event though it was devastating and caused all sorts of problems for a lot of people, brought the community together. So we wanted to make sure the community remains at that level of collaboration and cooperation,” he added.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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