MANHATTAN — The Town of Manhattan is embarking on a project to bring the community together. While they are still in the beginning phases of this project, they are working with Montana State University graduate students to make this project a reality.
“Being a native Montanan, it's super exciting to help smaller communities,” says MSU grad student Layne Algaard.
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From the Halls of Montana State to the Town of Manhattan.
“Doing things that are in Montana is super exciting,” says Algaard.
Graduate students in the architecture department are beginning to talk to people in Manhattan.
“Boots on the ground stuff where we've actually been over here, at the senior center next door and a couple other spots around town,” says MSU grad student Jack Guthrie.
Getting out of the classroom to help the town build a community center.
“We don't really get to interact with community a lot,” says Algaard.
Jordan Zignego leads the Community Design Center at Montana State, where students can work across Montana.
“Architects are viewed as coming in and telling communities what they need, and not so often listening to what the community really needs and being that servant,” says Zignego.
As Manhattan looks to build a community center, architecture students get real life experience.
“That can get cut because it's expensive. So, where the Community Design Center was tapped to come in was to facilitate this process of community engagement,” says Zignego.
Traig Howells, Manhattan’s mayor, says collaboration will bring the project closer to reality.
“That will eventually give us ideas for a design,” says Howells.
The students have been working with town officials to bring this idea to residents.
“We're working on a community center, senior center, library building up next to our town hall,” says Howells.
The students this semester came up with the idea to engage with residents about their needs.
“The data gathering to get the community engaged and see what the community wants to see,” says Howells.
“It's, you get to engage with people so much and it feels like you have such a great impact on people's everyday lives,” says MSU grad student Alli Velschow.
The students have spent the semester creating ideas in the classroom. Now it’s the community's chance to give them ideas.
“We have real-life products that are a result of this process,” says Velschow.
“We've gotten the chance to get outside a little bit more and talk to people,” says Reno Degan. “The chance to really get out and get a lot of that information ourselves. So, with the extended time that we've had to really connect with people now, it's really kind of opened my eyes a lot to, you know, how much more of that kind of input can do for a potential design.”
The students will spend the rest of the semester getting public input and coming up with a design for the community center.
The project is still in the very early stages. MSU students will still have a couple of semesters before it appears before the town council.
