Contact: Robbie S. Ward
Architects, academics, government officials and residents of Smithville will spend Friday [Dec. 2] at Mississippi State, reviewing results of semester-long, student architectural and planning design projects for the community crippled by a massive April tornado.
The daylong presentations will showcase 11 perspectives for a new municipal complex in the north Monroe County community that lost entire neighborhoods, businesses and citizen lives from an EF5 twister, the most powerful category for tornadoes.
Scheduled 9 a.m-6:15 p.m. in the university's Giles Hall Jury Room, the presentations will involve office spaces for the mayor and town clerk, a public assembly room, a police station, fire station, and library.
While seating is limited, members of news media are invited to attend.
Earlier this year, members of Smithville's infrastructure committee met with staff at the university's Carl Small Town Center to discuss the community's long-range rebuilding goals. Led by FEMA, the strategic planning process involved the center, which is the outreach arm of the College of Architecture, Art and Design.
John Poros, CSTC director, said the partnership with Smithville mutually benefits the community and architecture majors. Working with communities around the state provides valuable learning experiences that enhance skills students will use as they begin their careers, he said.
"The town will benefit from 11 different ideas of how the municipal complex will represent and serve Smithville," Poros added.
For more information, contact Poros at 662-325-8719 or jporos@caad.msstate.edu, or visit the Carl Small Town Center's website at http://carlsmalltowncenter.org/.