Okolona Downtown Park
Design and Construction of a 'Common Ground' through Community Volunteerism and Collaboration.
Background
Okolona, Mississippi is a town of 3000 located in northeast Mississippi. Once a prosperous railroad town and trading center, the town in recent years has become a bedroom community with people travelling to Tupelo to work, and recognizes the need to re-vitalize its economic base and invest in its public space. Like other small Mississippi towns, Okolona was once a racially-segregated town with white people living on one side of town and black people the other, and continually works to find opportunities to bridge the gap between the races.
In 1997 a small group of concerned citizens met to discuss the idea of building a small park in downtown Okolona in a location that neither race would 'own.' Their vision was that this would be a place for public events, such as church performances, school events, a farmer's market, and election rallies. They also envisioned a space with shade for the occasional passerby or lunchtime relaxation. The space is the site of two former downtown buildings, 140' x 50', at the corner of Main and Olive Streets. The Small Town Center was then asked to submit an idea sketch based on the town's original conception so that they could seek funding to carry out the project.
Patsy Gregory, director of the Okolona Area Chamber of Commerce, put together $24,000 through diligent fundraising from a variety of sources: CREATE Foundation of Tupelo, the City of Okolona, Chickasaw County, Mississippi Arts Commission and the contributions of several private citizens and businesses. The city initiated work on the park by organizing a group of high school students to paint a mural on the side of the building next to the park.
In the Spring of 1999, the third-year architectural design studio at the MSU School of Architecture became involved to design and construct the park. A guiding theme throughout the project was the idea of the 'doubletake;' the phenomenon we experience when we notice something, but have to look twice, or for an extended period of time, to really understand what it is we are seeing. The students spent several weeks getting to know the town, through drawings and photography, while designing the elements for the park: a wisteria arbor, a stage, benches, a retaining wall, paving to address the rift between the two existing slabs, and landscaping.
The students began building mockups of the elements for a town meeting at mid-term to receive community feedback and approval. The 'doubletake' was exemplified by using common materials in unorthodox ways: the arbor is made of common steel re-bar pieces, but they are joined together by heating with an acetylene torch and wrapping. The retaining wall is constructed of concrete parking bumpers, but stacked in a running bond and held together by bent steel plates; the stage is pressure treated lumber, detailed in a way that looks monolithic, but appears to float above the slab. The benches are constructed of 2x4 red cedar slats supported by concrete blocks and exposed steel framing. The paving is brick, but with concrete inserts into which local children placed their handprints.
Construction of the park was completed in approximately seven weeks by the students and an assortment of community volunteers.
This project was the result of a third-year design studio taught by Shannon Criss and Nils Gore in the Spring of 1999. It was funded by the CREATE Foundation, the Mississippi Arts Commission, Chickasaw County, the City of Okolona and the contributions of many concerned citizens and businesses. The project was awarded a 1999 Design Honor Award by the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Download a 2 page PDF for Printing
See a QuickTime movie about the project.
