About three months ago I got a suprise birthday present from my girlfriend. as many of you may know from this THREAD (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums//showthread.php?t=4162) I was asking about what to see if I went to this town. Well, this thread is about my visit there and the architectural journey I was afforded to take and experience.

Now, on to the stuff...

Columbus is a very unique place. As we were driving into the town from the interstate you immediately get the feeling you are entering into a different place. It was almost Disneyworld-like (though I am not comparing the city or its architecture to Disney or the critiques of the "fakeness" of how architecture has become in some places)...

the only real way to get to Columbus is by car. The town is about 2 miles off the interstate and site on land that is surrounded by farm land. It is organized from the typical North/south/east/west grid pattern of the streets. Regionally, the town sit in the center of a triangle of three larger cities: Louisville, Ky - Indianapolis, In - & Cincinnatti, Oh... your best bet is to fly into Indy and take the 45 minute drive south to columbus...

The Google Earth image below is that triangle...

As I mentioned Columbus is a unique place. It has a population of less than 40,000 and yet has buildings designed by such architects as I.M Pei, Richard Meier, Robert Stern, Robert Venturi, Eero Saarinen, SOM, Cesar Peli, and many others...

How is this so you ask? Well I'll tell you :)

the first modern building in the town was commissioned to eliel Saarinen in 1942 for the First Christian Church, becoming one of the first modern churches in the US. Then in the late 50's the Cummins Engine Co. offered to pay the architect fees for any public school building if the school board would pick from a select list of Architects. Over time this program that was established for the schools has been extended to other public structures. This of course led to other private buildings having prominent architects design buildings in the city as well.

A small footnote I found while researching more material for my post was this:

In 1994, Columbus hosted the Pritzker Prize ceremonies, architecture's most prestigious award known as the Nobel of architecture. Other sites for the ceremony over the years have included Paris, Prague, London, Berlin, Rome, and Israel.

pretty impressive for a town of less than 40,000 people...

here are a few links about the city and the architecture...

Flickr Set of Columbus, In:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wizum/sets/72157594262784047/

Flickr images of Columbus, In:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=columbus+indiana&z=t

Official City website:
http://www.columbus.in.us/

Government website:
http://www.columbus.in.gov/ (http://http://www.columbus.in.gov/)

and here is an image from Google Earth with the placemarks from the Archinform KMZ (which is linked to the archinform database)

The reason I am posting on the travel forum more than one project is that because of the geographical location of Columbus and the fact that soo many worthwhile buildings are practically across the street from each other it just made sense to do it this way... lets face it, if you go to the city of Columbus you won't be there for one building but for the whole town and the experience and heritage that architecture has established there...

here is the KMZ file I comprised with links to my photoset and a thumbnail of the different buildings I took pictures of and are to follow.

when you enter the city from the interstate there is this bridge which sets up the whole experience of arrival and procession into the city as you cross the river and enter from the farm land into the city grid system...

Designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1942... was one of the first modern christain churches in the States... This building sits in the heart of downtown and is across the street from the visitors center and I.M Pei's library design...

Architect: I.M Pei 1969

this design uses brick as the main wall external surface and helps in its connection with the First Christian church across the street. Also a plaza space that the library sits in helps to connect these two buildings as well. The public space of the library and the church work well together...

Here is a better view of that plaza space and also the sculpture called "Large Arch" done by Henry Moore in 1971...

architect: Gunnar Birkerts 1988

This church is about a block east of the first christian church and across the street from Lincoln elementary School designed by Birkerts too.

The spire and flat cylinder...

and here is an even closer view of the spire and the concrete and brick band detail... inside the base of the spire is a time capsule...

architect: Eero Saarinen 1954

This bank sits a block west of the first christian church and became one of my favorite buildings in Columbus. The idea for the design was to open up the bank to the public, as an economic recession had hit the area hard at the time. The traditional bank before was always very stuffy and traditional and had developed a sense of distrust over the recession period. So the design was to open itself to the sun, with a series of skylights above on a thin flat roof, and then for the walls to be all glass to open up and be "transparent" so that there is "nothing to hide"...

the design is also set within a grid of Trees that create a fantastic aesthetic within the block, as landscape and building work together in compostion...

here is a shot of the other side of the bank with a plaza space filled with the continuation of the trees aligned in a grid and mingle with the banks drive-thru stations...

architect: Kevin Roche 1973

The addition is a glass form that creates a atrium space between Eero's design and several existing buildings to the north of the bank, which the bank has purchased for office space.

here is a shot from across the street, to the west, of the bank looking back at it... this is the entrance for the drive-thru and a back entrance into the atrium space...

here is a close-up of the brick and glass that make up the bank addition and atrium...

here is another shot of the atrium space but inside of it... I couldn't get into the bank as we were there on the weekend so this is the only interior shot I got, through the glass doors :)

and one more... a night shot of the plaza and addition piece...

One more building for the evening... then its off to bed... I didn't intend for this to be posted in two sessions but I am running out of gas :) so I will have to continue my post later on...

architect: Kevin Roche 1983

This building is the headquarters building for the Cummins Engine company (the largest company in Columbus). This building sits across the street, to the west, of the Irwin Union Bank posted above.

The really interesting thing about this building is how its scale is respectfull of the city, as there is no high-rises or tall office buildings. Yet this building holds several thousand employees and is able to do so through a more horizontal solution (it was mentioned as a horizontal skyscrapper). The building was designed with the environment in mind and uses some daylighting and passive solar methods of heating and cooling, as well as having a trellis surround the building on all four sides along the sidewalk/city street edges.

finally the headquarters building also allows for an old factory building to remain and become a feature within a landspaced courtyard area that is accessible to the public and also houses a small pond and cafeteria at the ground floor of the old building

Architect: Cesar Pelli 1973

the commons is a large retail building (mall) that also houses a movie theater, shops, meeting rooms, places to eat, and a large atrium space used for multiple larger gathering events. The hope when this building was built was it was going to help revitalize the downtown area.

The picture here is of the atrium space which houses a large kenetic sculpture by Jean Tinguely using parts from a locamotive train.

this next shot is of the main front of the building which the atrium space is located. This is along Washington street which is the main North/South road going through the downtown area...

Architect: Thosmpson & Rose 1997

Right across the street from the Commons is this recent addition to the city. It was built within what is now the old city hall block. Within the vertical columns were letters writen by residence who had fought in wars dating back to the revolutionary war in the 1700's...

within the memorial looking up...

and a night shot of the memorial...

Architect: SOM 1981

This building was also a favorite of mine... clean simple yet well done with a very cool sturctural jesture with the brick covered beam arms reaching out but yet never touching... This building was directly across the street from the old city hall and memorial posted above...

Here is a shot of those beams reaching out...

here is another shot of those beams but standing within the inner court of city hall...

and one more shot but of the corner of the building... from the front the building looks larger than it really is... is basically is a square footprint but sliced from corner to corner to create a triangle footprint shape. This is the corner it creates...

Architect: Caudill rowlett Scott 1978

This building is just north of the buildings I have posted so far. At the time the residence around the property for this building were concerned how a modern stucture would work within the streets more traditional architecture. The solution was to create reflection in mirror glass volumes that cover most of the building. This building has been used multiple times by the city for marketing material, usually showing off the colorful stack cylinders.

This shot better shows how the glass reflects the context...

and the famous stacks... funny how expressive this very utilitarian building is...

The next few buildings I am going to show are not directly within the downtown area and you would have to drive to them to see. But most of them would not be more than a 10 minute drive as the city is not very large.

This first one is one of the more famous stuctures in Columbus and was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1964. This building can be seen from a ways off and really has a special presence about it... this shot is from the beautifully landscaped property the church sits within...

this next shot is of the side of the church showing how the landscape comes up to meet and create the space for and around the church building.

the front entry doors...

and this is a shot of the structure that becomes the spire at the center...

The next building is an elementary school designed by Richard Meier. This building is about ten minutes east of downtown and on the fringes of the city limits. the school is called Clifty Creek elem.

this shot is of the front entry... very unassuming...

this shot shows most of the front side of the school...

this is the classroom wing end...

and finally a shot of the rear side and a courtyard area just off the main entrance area taken from a lower play area... Meier getting bold here with a little color :)

And finally a night shot of a Union Trust Branch bank that is the newest building in columbus. We can across it just driving around our last evening in town and so I stopped to take a few shots. I forget who the architect was but I am almost positive it was a woman designer.

and a picture of the building further out...

Architect: KPF

This building was the furthest from downtown and was by the local airport. At first clance I wasn't all that impressed but as I walked around it is a nice clean design, and from some things I noticed probably on a budget too.

here is a detail of a firestair on the end with a nice little expression of form of the stair landing...

What I have posted here is just a sampling of what is in Columbus, In. I only got a weekend to see the town and could have spent a week there to see everything (the Architectural tour map has some 71 buildings marked they feel worth seeing). So if anyone else has some of the other buildings to share please include them in this thread.

Finally, I wanted to give you guys my impression of the town. It is like many cities that have downtowns with growth outside of it and not in it to keep it flourishing with life and activity at all times of the day. the weekend we went to visit was my birthday and so my girlfriend and I had a nice dinner downtown at a nice restaurant. You would think that a place like it would stay open fairly late, as it was a Saturday night. while there we discovered it closed around 9:00 in the evening. Crazy!!! but this reflects the lack of life happening in the downtown area.

Columbus has started to spread out, becoming like any other city across the US, and probably others around the world. But with all that the architecture does hold the city to an interesting place to be and see. there are many designs by many famous or established architects. Yet there isn't one that really jumps out at you. Each architecture is respectful of its context and scale and is still able to carry an identity to each building. I think that aspect is what makes the architecture here special and the place well worth a visit.

Wiz,

I visited Columbus about 3 yrs ago...I'm just surprised you didn't have any shots of Mill Race Park to show. I found that one of the more fascinating parts of town with all the follies. Also, the only other building of noteworhiness I can think of is a Venturi Scott Brown firestation that is there as well...unless I missed it in your huge post.

That's my only criticism of a very well comprehensive look at Columbus. Everything else you've covered, and you did a fine job of documentation. I don't find it that strange that everything shuts down after 9:00...that's just the midwestern mindset for 99% of the towns around here (aside from the larger, fasterpaced cities).

Now, get to work on one of the next largest per capita city of fine architecture and I'll call you a saint. Nicely done.

Wiz,

I visited Columbus about 3 yrs ago...I'm just surprised you didn't have any shots of Mill Race Park to show. I found that one of the more fascinating parts of town with all the follies. Also, the only other building of noteworhiness I can think of is a Venturi Scott Brown firestation that is there as well...unless I missed it in your huge post.

That's my only criticism of a very well comprehensive look at Columbus. Everything else you've covered, and you did a fine job of documentation. I don't find it that strange that everything shuts down after 9:00...that's just the midwestern mindset for 99% of the towns around here (aside from the larger, fasterpaced cities).

Now, get to work on one of the next largest per capita city of fine architecture and I'll call you a saint. Nicely done.


good comments Rogers... yes Mill Race was an interesting park/place... I took a panormaic of the city from the 6 story tower and of a few scupltures in the park. we just didn't have time to do everything, as I mentioned...

But, to mention about the park, and a point I found very cool/interesting, was that the park is placed inside of a flood plane and does flood at least once a year, wihtin the park are bathrooms, a large band-stand, picnic pavillions, and other structures (I forget now :) )... anyhow, all these mentioned structures are designed with the flooding in mind and have bee created in a way for the water to drain from them and for the water to not have that great of an effect to their survival in the park. I thought that was pretty cool...

On the firestation... it was on a main road through town and we did drive past it... very forgettable building and am not sure why you would even take a picture of it :) (well of course it is a venturi building)...

Do you have any pics to add Rogers? There is just a bunch more stuff that people could share of this town...

Thank you Scott!
It's also really nice to see that none of the buildings try to stand out and be a landmark, they are all discrete, but yet they look really good.
Most of these buildings I didn't know.
Now, 9pm?!?!?!? What are they amish?

Do you have any pics to add Rogers? There is just a bunch more stuff that people could share of this town...

I'll see what I can dig up on my home peecee after I get out of work. I've got a few pics, if I got all of them salvaged from my last schizophrenic harddrive...

alright found some shots, but very few:

Mill Race Park on a very wet day...The observation tower shown here.

Park Design (except for covered bridge in next post) by Van Valkenburgh.

open area with bridge

the restrooms: you can see my wife's silhouette if you look closely.

sloppy, but a gorgeous cylinder of ivy along a direct path throught the park. Mill Race Park used to be the worst part of Columbus; it used to be a brownfield...

SOM

the town newspaper.

...and on the entry bridge you see in Wizum's first image shots after the context.

Here is a panoramic I took from the tower in Mill Race Park... its small here and hard to see anything so CLICK HERE (http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=237914681&size=o&context=set-72157594262784047) for a larger version from my Flickr page... All the buildings I posted that were in the downtown area are in this panoramic shot...

I just discovered this forum and am happy to see someone talking about my "adopted" home town. I have lived here since 1999 and am never moving again! I am a volunteer tour guide here (we give daily two hour guided tours of Columbus architecture and history). We would love for you all to visit us when your are in the vicinity of south-central Indiana. We are about an hour and a half from Cincinatti and Lousiville and less than an hour from Indianapolis. Come to Columbus and see why we are "Unexpected and Unforgetable".

wizum, you did it again. Nice pics. This is some kind of USA tour that you are doing. Thanks.