Model Students

Reprinted Courtesy of the Manhattan Mercury

Thirteen students from the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning and Design shared their visions for an expanded Riley County Historical Museum.

The projects, which went on display at the Beach Museum of Art, are the products of the college’s first group of master’s degree candidates. And although architecture students frequently do theoretical models of building projects, David Sachs, professor in the Department of Architecture, said this is the first involving a Manhattan facility in his 20 years of instruction.

“We have done projects in Kansas City,” Sachs said. “We have also done projects around the state.”

Each student created their own model of the expansion and prepared a presentation of what they did. The museum has no immediate plan for an expansion, although museum director Cheryl Collins sees a point where she would like to see an addition considered. The exercise gives her a backlog of ideas to look at in the event an expansion is actively considered.

Grant Libby, one of the students, noted that even though the exercise was theoretical, “it gave us a variety of ideas to build on and gave us a better relationship with the community.”

Sachs said the museum was looking for a “major expansion of the whole building.” The parameters the students were given took the present 12,000 square foot structure up to 52,000 square feet.

Aside from just expanding displays, offices and processing spaces, the students were challenged to add items the museum doesn’t currently have. Some of the large items are a new auditorium that the museum would share with the community, a children’s museum, a café and a temporary exhibit space for traveling exhibits.

Libby said quite a bit of research went into the project. He said the students went to the Johnson County museum, the Riley County Historical Museum, and also researched Riley County’s history.

“Each student approached the project in a different way with different locations for the building and expansion,” Collins said.

Sachs said the final models took about a week to create.

He said having the project client in Manhattan was convenient. But more importantly, it was a good educational experience for both the client and the students.

“People become better clients because they realize how they can have high expectations,” Sachs said. “They also get to see how to work with architects.”

He also said the students get more creative freedom with these projects than they might get out in the real world.

“They were the client most architects want,” Libby said about the Riley County Historical Museum. “They gave parameters, but said, ‘be creative.’”

Collins was glad to have worked with the students.

“It was interesting and fun,” she said. “This has given me a new respect as to what all goes in to building a building.”

Libby enjoyed the experience as well and gained some great benefits from the project.

“We got more design experience with focusing on new construction rather than just expansion,” Libby said.

Collins was not sure whether the museum would use one of the students’ designs for future expansion, but added that “we would like to some day expand our ability to collect historical items. These projects gave us a way to explore these ideas.”

For more information, contact:
David Sachs, 785.532.1183
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090