MSU students to host community improvement project exhibition

Author: Paige Watson

The Starkville Main Street Association will host MSU students exhibiting community designs during a public event March 12 at the former site of the Starkville Community Market at the corner of Lampkin and Jackson streets in downtown Starkville.  (Photo by Paige Watson)

Students from Mississippi State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are partnering with the Starkville Main Street Association to provide comprehensive community designs for Starkville.

The public is invited to view proposed exhibition plans from 27 students enrolled in the Design II: Neighborhood Scale Design class, which is a second-year undergraduate design studio in the Department of Landscape Architecture.

Improvement projects will be presented for the former Starkville Community Market site on Friday, March 12, beginning at 1:30 p.m. and ending at 3 p.m. The event takes place at the location of the proposed designs on the corner of Lampkin and Jackson streets in downtown Starkville.

The come-and-go event is open to the public and participants are asked to interact and share input with the students.

Charles "Taze" Fulford, associate professor in MSU's Department of Landscape Architecture, and Jeremy Murdock, research associate for the Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development, hold seats on the SMSA board of directors and created the learning opportunity when the proposal arose last fall.

"The purpose of this project is twofold. One is to provide SMSA various design alternatives for the former market location, while the other is to give students a real-world, service-learning project where they will gain experience by working with a client," Murdock said.

Hagan Walker, chair of the SMSA board, said he is looking forward to the event and asks for the public to share their support for the ideas.

"When we first began to explore the lot improvements, we immediately knew we wanted to involve as many community members as possible, so this is a great fit for the class," Walker said.

The association also has partnered with the Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center in the university's College of Architecture, Art and Design for the planning and redesign components.

Reconstruction and restoration is projected to begin at the site in late spring.

The Partnership is comprised of the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce, Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Starkville Main Street Association.

For more information on the Partnership, please visit Starkville.org. MSU is online at www.msstate.edu.

Date: 2021-03-04