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Hiring Hoosiers: Ball State architecture students look to the past to propel into their career

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Posted at 7:39 AM, Feb 24, 2020
and last updated 2021-09-30 07:30:00-04

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MUNCIE — A unique program at Ball State University is allowing architecture students to take an in-depth look into the history of buildings in hopes that it will propel them into their future careers.

"Our oldest drawings probably go back to `1900 1910 or so," said Tricia Gilson, an archivist at Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives.

The Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives is filled with the history of the city known for its unique architecture.

"A lot of people just see a normal building and don't think twice of it, whereas a lot of the architects that's all that we see are the buildings," said Molly Mullen, a student at Ball State.

And right now, architecture students at Ball State University are going through old blueprints in hopes of making an augmented reality mobile app for people to visit so they can better understand the beauty of the buildings.

"We are creating an exhibit about all of these different buildings, and one of the features that we focused on was how to communicate these details we speak of every day, but the common person doesn't know exactly what we are talking about so breaking it down into basic features is a big component," said Mullen.

"It's kind of like knowing where you come from in order to know where you are going to go," said Kristin Barry, assistant professor of architecture.

She said this research is essential for future architects to do.

"A lot of the buildings they will be working on as architects will be existing buildings so it's important for them to know how to research how to find those drawings so they can work with them later and then incorporate some of those ideas into their new design," said Barry.

The exhibit will open on May 9 at the victor's center in Columbus. The augmented reality mobile app for the exhibition isn't live yet, but Barry said they hope to have it up and running soon, and once it is, you can see their entire exhibit right on your phone.

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