Globe Miami Times Connecting you to the Pulse of Globe Miami
Last night the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture kicked off its partnership with Globe-Miami at a public presentation at Bullion Plaza. For the next four years, the school will conduct a studio project focusing on Globe-Miami that promises to increase the vitality, beauty, and sustainability of our communities. Aaron Betsky, dean of the school, and Jason Donofrio, the school’s director of development, announced some of the specific projects that the studio project will focus on in its first semester.
Five students and two professors from the school will spend most of their time during the spring semester in Globe and Miami. They will be working on several different projects in both communities. Some of these projects will be completed within one semester, and some will continue for a longer period of time. Additional projects will be added in future semesters.
The school selected one project for Miami and one project for Globe that will be the key projects for those communities, and these particular projects will last for the full duration of the four-year studio project. For Miami, the key project is the Highway 60 entrance corridor, and for Globe, the key project is Broad Street. Details of these projects have not yet been determined.
Additional projects for the spring 2016 semester are:
The Miami Memorial Library
Bacon’s store (290 N. Broad Street in Globe)
The train depots in both Miami and Globe
A few other buildings are also under consideration, and these will be announced as they are added to the studio project.
The school is inviting community participation, including suggestions for architectural projects and donations of materials. By the end of February, exhibits about the studio project will be mounted at Bullion Plaza and at the CVCA to inform the public about plans and progress.
Betsky and Donofrio expressed gratitude for the Globe-Miami community’s role in helping the school meet its fundraising goal in its “Campaign for Independence.” The school needed to raise $2 million in order to keep its doors open after changes in accreditation rules required it to become financially independent of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Of the $2.1 million that was raised, $785,000 came from donors in Globe and Miami. Referring to the level of support that came from the Globe and Miami communities, Betsky said, “We were flabbergasted.”
Major regional donors to the school’s campaign were the United Fund, which pledged $400,000 over the four-year life of the studio project; Gila County IDA, $200,000; Capstone Mining, $100,000; and BHP Billiton, $50,000. Pledges from individuals from Globe and Miami totaled $35,000.
Patricia Sanders lived in Globe from 2004 to 2008 and at Reevis Mountain School, in the Tonto National Forest, from 2008 to 2014. She has been a writer and editor for GMT since 2015. She currently lives on Santa Maria island in the Azores.
