MUNCIE, Ind. -- Ball State University will team up with the Muncie community March 1 to conceive ideas for a construction project that will symbolically connect the campus and downtown.

"One Right Turn: Connecting Ball State University to Downtown" is a daylong community workshop sponsored by Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning, the city of Muncie, the Mayor's Downtown Redevelopment Partnership and the Community Outreach Partnership Center.

At the downtown Hotel Roberts, teams of Ball State students and faculty members, local residents and downtown professionals will develop ideas for reducing the physical and perceptual distance between the downtown district and Ball State.

Selected concepts will be implemented through a College of Architecture and Planning design/build studio for Ball State's UniverCity 2002 festival Sept. 22-27. The project will illustrate UniverCity's theme of "Celebrate Community" and its focus on cooperation, collaboration and connection.

The community workshop--called a "charrette"--will begin at 9:30 a.m. with remarks by Muncie Mayor Dan Canan. More than 50 participants in 10 teams will take part in a downtown discovery scavenger hunt at 11 a.m. and work on ideas in the afternoon.

At 4:30 p.m. teams will present their concepts through graphic sketches and written proposals at the Hotel Roberts, and their work will remain on display in the community.

The public is invited to visit the workshop throughout the day. For more information on the charrette, contact Michel Mounayar, associate dean of Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning, at (765) 285-5859 or mmounaya@bsu.edu.