The Manhattan and K-State communities can get a look at how the devastated town of Greensburg might rebuild when the design work of Kansas State University students goes on display.

Scheduled to open on Sunday, February 24,

Greensburg Envisioned: Concepts from K-State Design Students

will be on display through March 7 in the Chang Gallery of Seaton Hall on the K-State campus. The gallery is open to the public weekdays from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. without charge.

On May 4, 2007, an EF-5 tornado (the highest rating on the Fujita scale) ripped across a nearly two-mile-wide swath of Kiowa County, Kansas, leaving catastrophic destruction and death in its wake.  Ninety-five percent of the town of Greensburg was leveled while the rest of the town was severely damaged. Twelve people died in the storm, ten of them Greensburg residents.  Both Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and President George W. Bush declared Kiowa County a disaster area, initiating a wave of regional and national support for recovery, restoration and rebuilding.

Shortly after the tornado, a 12-week process involving multiple meetings and discussions by teams of local, state, and federal officials, business owners, civic groups, and hundreds of citizens resulted in “The Greensburg/Kiowa County Long-Term Community Recovery Plan” (LTCRP), which expresses the Greensburg/Kiowa County community’s vision for recovery. Community participation provided an invaluable source of input which was used to refine and prioritize the projects contained in the plan.
(http://www.greensburgks.org/recovery-planning/long-term-community-recovery-plan)

In the fall of 2007, Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning and Design Professors Todd Gabbard of architecture and Melanie Klein of landscape architecture coordinated their fourth- and fifth-year design studios to begin addressing the needs of the residents and other stakeholders in Greensburg by envisioning design solutions to projects specifically called for in the LTRCP. The project was conceived as being a catalyst for conversation as the town considers their reconstruction efforts. The professors stated “the long-term recovery team did a really comprehensive job of identifying and prioritizing all the parts that need to be rebuilt to make Greensburg a vital, sustainable, livable community.  We challenged our students to choose particular design problems and to develop them into schemes that help residents see what these projects could be.”

The first step for the students was to read the LTCRP and travel to Greensburg for a site visit.  Students then selected projects from the LTCRP that either were identified as high-priority items by the document or were seen as important by the student groups.  Key to this one-month design exploration was the idea that future Greensburg might not merely replace the community components destroyed in the disaster, but could imagine itself anew in terms of ecology, community and economy.  In doing so, Greensburg can combine environmentally-sustainable technology and traditional planning to reduce long-term cost, increase energy efficiency, promote health, and ensure the long-term viability of the small town.

For the students, the project was a holistic design process, exploring opportunities at multiple scales. Some projects were concerned with a single building on a specific site, while other teams broadened their scope to master planning efforts, such as envisioning the commercial downtown core or a proposed educational campus. Students were encouraged to pursue efficient, sustainable site and building designs to reduce construction costs while minimizing the environmental impact of built work, promoting alternative transportation and conservation of energy, water, and natural resources.  In addition to the environmental and sustainable factors, student design goals included aesthetic and community-oriented priorities. 

The professors encouraged collaboration between the two disciplines. “The integration of landscape architectural and architectural strategies enhances and strengthens the projects,” Klein said. “In virtually every respect-energy efficiency, ecological impact, even human health-true sustainability draws upon the best features of both interior and exterior environments. Outdoor and indoor living can and should reinforce each other. Greensburg can become a model of sustainable small town life,” Gabbard stated. 

The costs associated with disseminating this work to the public have been funded by the KSU Center for Engagement and Community Development.

Student projects to be included in the exhibit are:

Downtown Master Plan and Design Guidelines by Melody Jacobson (ARCH), Brett Rolfs (LAR), and Erin Wages (ARCH);

Guidelines for Civic & Residential Streetscapes by Lindsey Richardson (LAR);

Maintaining the location of Highway 54 for economic viability of Downtown by Shandelle Renyer (LAR);

Business Incubator by Ian Scherling (LAR) and Jessica Williams (ARCH);

Media Center by Collin Curry (ARCH);

Eco-Village and Park (two concepts)-one by Skyler Bonser (ARCH), Clemente Jaquez-Herrera (ARCH), Julianne Rader (LAR) and Adrienne Stolwyk (ARCH); and one by Jacob Henley (ARCH) and Andrew Becker (ARCH);

Big Well Tourism Center by Kevin Kroen (LAR) and Malcolm Watkins (ARCH);

Greensburg Green Guidelines by Kelsey Kern (LAR) and Sally Maddock (ARCH);

Educational/Recreational Campus by Josh LaMartina (LAR), Geoffrey Van de Riet (LAR), Laura Wilke (ARCH), and Aaron Vanderpool (ARCH);

Lake, Fairgrounds and Rodeo by Jessica Blackwell (LAR); and

An Alternate Master Plan for Greensburg: The Sustainable Icon by Jeremy Anterola (LAR) and Scott Capps (LAR).

For additional information, contact:
Professor R. Todd Gabbard, 785.532.1129
Professor Melanie Klein, 785.532.1193

Also, see http://capd.ksu.edu/news-article/434/student-designs-for-greensburgs-future-on-display-in-pratt