WSU students share design expertise with rural communities

A Washington State University professor and students are reshaping not only architectural landscapes of rural communities statewide, but economic landscapes as well, with an approach that digs deep to nurture cultural and historic roots while cultivating new ground for future fiscal growth. The Rural Communities Design Initiative founded in 2005 and run by WSU Spokane associate professor of interior design Janetta McCoy, has become popular, gaining national and international attention, that McCoy is now on sabbatical to focus on securing future funding, and hopefully transform the initiative from a classroom project into an independent university program. “Rural populations around the globe are shrinking as economies respond to new technologies,” McCoy said, in an earlier interview. “People move to urban areas with the hope of employment, draining the countryside of talent, skills, and brain power. And they don’t necessarily find work in cities, so finding ways to invigorate rural communities makes sense to a lot of people all over the world.” The Initiative’s curriculum positions students of WSU’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute’s graduate program with helping rural communities of 2,000 or fewer people by designing projects focused on repurposing community structures which can help stimulate local economies. Although the Institute had already operated on this general premise, the focus hadn’t been especially rural. “It never occurred to me that I’d be dealing with rural communities, even though I grew up in one,” said McCoy. In summer 2005, members of the economic development group Public Development Authority in Ritzville, Wash., met with McCoy – then the graduate coordinator for the Institute—to see if graduate students could design a plan to refurbish Ritzville High School. PDA’s vision was to preserve the turn-of-the-century building, which had recently been placed on the National Historic Register and declared one of Washington’s most endangered buildings, plus use the refurbished space to generate revenue. “Our small communities—tourism is pretty much what we have to offer right now and in order to offer that to travelers, we need to preserve our historic buildings,” said Ann Olsen, Ritzville resident and PDA member. The project became an assignment that fall, and ultimately proved to be the catalyst for RCDI. McCoy said it was “an idea whose time had come,” and an invaluable experience. “It changes the lives of students as much as the lives of the communities. It makes them realize that living in the city is not the only way of living.” Sixteen students—from architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and doctor of design disciplines—immersed themselves in Ritzville for five days, including town meetings, and brainstorming on how to meet the group’s aesthetic and economic goals. Although the students’ master plan for the school’s redesign—while reasonable for the project—was determined not currently viable for financial reasons, their idea for repurposing it into a trade school for the historic preservation of trades, took hold. “There’s a huge need for historic preservation and the historic trades preservation in the West,” said John Marshall, PDA member and Ritzville business owner. “We’re just now realizing what they’ve been doing for 200 years in the East. We need to put a school together so that trades can return and learn what their fathers knew.” Over the past two years, trade preservation workshops have taken place, bringing master craftsmen in for hands-on training, while giving the town a facelift. Training “projects” have included restoring wood windows in the old Bank of Whitman building and putting the steeple back on a church. Other trade workshops have included, or will include, hands-on training in lathe and plaster, masonry and furniture making. Part of McCoy’s sabbatical is focused on giving trade schools a “brand” via a WSU certification program, so eventually small communities throughout Washington would be considered branch campuses of a larger organization. A recent partner in this endeavor has been Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. Other communities, including Olympia and Port Townsend, have come on board since, creating their own preservation trade schools, under McCoy’s guidance. Trade schools are just one revenue-generating byproduct of RCDI. Other communities that McCoy and her students have worked with, such as Kettle Falls, Springdale, and Sprague, have considered other venues for producing revenue. In summer 2009, McCoy and three of her students on internship worked with the community of Pe Ell, Wash.—population 675 — on an “adaptive re-use” of the old VFW Hall into a community center that would serve as a “cultural beacon.” “We created the new design so that it could be implemented in phases… it’s much easier for the community to apply for grants for the project, when they have conceptual planning to present,” said Mandy Simons, a WSU student involved RCDI. “The response was great…they were so excited about it — the social capital that was built, the energy, the momentum.” Even though Simons has graduated, she hopes to continue working with McCoy. “I’m so proud of being a part of these projects, I feel a strong affiliation” said Simons, who also worked on the Ritzville team. “It certainly drove home the idea that design can make a difference and have a strong impact on communities and their economic development.” In 2010, when RCDI was presented at the Environmental Design Research Association conference in Washington, D.C., there were numerous responses from international participants who saw value in transferring the RCDI model to other countries and cultures. The Initiative recently received the National Award for Community Service through the Interior Design Educators Council. McCoy said response has been unexpected, but she’s excited about the possibility of universities and design students worldwide becoming involved in preserving rural communities. “Students seem to develop sympathy for rural cultures in these projects, but they also seem to seek different jobs as a result of their experience,” said McCoy. A former student is now the director of the Main Street program in Salem, Ore., a National Trust for Historic Preservation program that aims to preserve historic downtowns and main streets. “They learn that design isn’t just about making things pretty, it can be a much more important process,” she said. Even though McCoy is nearing the age when some consider retiring, she doesn’t plan to leave anytime soon, and considers RCDI the “coolest thing I’ve ever done.” “It can’t be about me at this point, it’s got to be about the program,” she said.