An architecturally significant building constructed more than four decades ago to produce newspapers and anchor a downtown Columbus redevelopment has a new purpose.
The former Republic building, at 333 Second St., which became a National Historic Landmark in 2012, will become the home of Indiana University’s new Master of Architecture program that starts in the fall semester.
Indiana University officials made the announcement Monday evening with Columbus government, education and business representatives at the former newspaper plant, which was designed with an all-glass exterior by renowned architect Myron Goldsmith, and opened in 1971.
IU’s new master’s degree program, which is part of its School of Art, Architecture + Design, received approval March 9, 2017, from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
Classes will begin Aug. 20 at the new space in Columbus, a city that is home to more than 65 examples of Modern architecture, including works by I.M. Pei, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche and Harry Weese, including schools, churches, the public library and businesses.
The program will be named the J. Irwin Miller Program in Architecture, in honor of the late Cummins executive and philanthropist who started the Cummins Foundation’s practice of paying architectural fees for select Columbus community projects, designed by renowned architects.
The Columbus-based Community Education Coalition proposed the idea of the master’s program to IU in 2015, as an extension of the collaboration by the city and school that produced the Indiana University Center for Art + Design, which opened in 2011 at 310 Jackson St.
“The IU M.Arch (Master of Architecture) is a big, bold step, aiming even higher to bring together learning, economic development and quality of place,” said John Burnett, president and CEO of the Community Education Coalition.
Establishment of the program is another step in a long process to bring post-secondary education into the downtown area, Burnett said. It started in 2005 with the city’s Vision 2020 strategic plan, included McRobbie visiting Columbus to discuss opportunities with art, architecture and design, and led to discussions in September 2010 between IU and the city about creating a center that would focus on art, architecture and design, he said.
The master’s program fits well with the city’s efforts in that regard, Burnett said, because of the additions of the Landmark Columbus organization and Exhibit Columbus event in recent years. Landmark Columbus cares for the mid-century modern architecture in the community, while Exhibit Columbus celebrates the community’s design heritage.
“A renewal and expansion of art, architecture and design (and design thinking) is happening here in a dramatic way,” Burnett said.
IU’s master’s program in architecture will have 21 students in its first cohort, said T. Kelly Wilson, director of IUCA+D and director of graduate studies in Columbus. He previously said that the expected growth of the program would have necessitated a space larger than IUCA+D’s current home on Jackson Street next to YES Cinema.
Get Tuesday’s Republic for more information.
