McDonough exhibit offers creative visions of Youngstown

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Scale models and renderings of proposed buildings, open space, parks and gardens – primarily of downtown – fill Youngstown State University’s John J. McDonough Museum of Art as part of the Changing Views | Designing Youngstown’s Future exhibit.

The event, which opened Friday, runs through July 22 at the museum at 525 Wick Ave.

The exhibit features planning and design work from the past year by YSU economic-development specialists and students and faculty from three other universities.

“It’s very creative,” said Janet Hazlette of Warren, who attended Friday’s opening. “Some of the projects are financially doable. Sometimes you take little pieces of various exhibits to create something new.”

The displays include work by Kent State University’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design and Kent’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative as well as those from Lawrence Technological University in Detroit and Ball State University in Indiana.

The work includes designs to tie YSU and downtown more closely together, development along the Mahoning River and landscape designs for the city’s corridors.

The projects were done in coordination with YSU’s Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI).

“It’s nice to not just have a book or a press release but to have a storyboard and the ability to show all of this work to the public,” said Dominic C. Marchionda, REDI’s city-university planner. “It’s easier for the community to provide meaningful feedback by seeing it for themselves.”

Leslie Brothers, the museum’s director, said the building “is the ideal location for this exhibit. Some of the exhibit has been displayed in limited space for limited times. We didn’t want to miss the opportunity to not use 8,000 square feet of exhibit space for this. Having it here will allow the public the time and space to look at what’s being displayed.”

The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Simon Husted of Cleveland Heights, a graduate student studying urban planning at Cleveland State University, said when he heard about the exhibit, he wanted to see it for himself.

“I have a lot of love for Youngstown,” he said. “It’s a place that some people have given up on, but there are people here who work to make it thrive.”

The students who designed the projects for classes weren’t asked to take money into account.

“People will say, ‘It’s a pipe dream,’ but some of this can become reality,” Husted said. “It’s already starting downtown.”

Pam Fitzgerald of Youngstown said she was impressed with the exhibit.

“I’m not an architect, but I understand what they’re trying to do by beautifying the city and being creative,” she said. “They bring a different energy to this. I can see portions of it becoming reality. I pray that it will.”

In addition to the exhibit of Youngstown’s future are two projects for Warren. One looks at developing empty lots in that city’s Garden District, and the other is design strategies for its Robins Theatre and the Garden District.