Ivy Tech to debut video for project

Ivy Tech Chancellor Steven Combs interviews Tom Cheesman with CSO architects about the new Ivy Tech campus building as part of the virtual groundbreaking. CSO is the architect for record for this project. Photo provided Submitted photo

Ivy Tech Community College — Columbus, will present a virtual groundbreaking ceremony with a video, which will premier on the college’s YouTube channel at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Ivy Tech selected IwamotoScott Architecture of San Francisco in February 2020 to design its new main campus building in Columbus.

The groundbreaking ceremony video will include information about the approximately $32 million, 80,000-square-foot structure and how it “will cater to modern technology, collaboration, academics, student learning, and the college’s leading programs in high-demand, highly rewarding career fields.”

Communications Coordinator Chris Schilling said that the ceremony will be totally virtual and presented as a prerecorded video.

“There will be a live chat with campus administration, faculty, staff, and students,” he said. The live chat will be available on YouTube as the video premieres and will be open to anyone watching the groundbreaking.

The ceremony will feature representatives from design architect IwamotoScott, architect of record CSO, lead contractor Pepper Construction, Mayor Jim Lienhoop, Ivy Tech Columbus employees and students, community donors, and Ivy Tech leaders including Chancellor Steven Combs and Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann.

He said that by making the groundbreaking virtual, the college has been able to incorporate “unique” elements such as aerial views, views of the new building from different perspectives and involvement from more individuals, particularly employees and students.

“We were able to involve more of our employees, students, and community members and give them more hands-on experiences than a traditional groundbreaking because we had more time to put all the pieces of the ceremony together,” he said. “They got to use the ceremonial shovels to literally break the ground at the site of the new building and will be featured in the official groundbreaking. Employees and students also had the opportunity to virtually walk through the new building using virtual-reality headsets.”

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What: A virtual groundbreaking ceremony for Ivy Tech Columbus’s new main campus building

When: 3 p.m. Thursday

How to watch: The video of the ceremony will premiere at 3 p.m. on the above date at Ivy Tech Columbus’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed at link.ivytech.edu/video. A live chat will be available during the premiere.

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A grant from Cummins Foundation Architecture Program will pay the architectural design fee for Ivy Tech’s new building. The new structure will replace the aging Poling Hall.

Chancellor Steven Combs has said in the past that the project isn’t just a new main campus building, but actually a completely new campus for Ivy Tech-Columbus, with the new building becoming the entryway to the Columbus AirPark and to the entire Learning Center campus.

The architect of record for the project is CSO Architects, and the contractor is Pepper Construction. Both are based in Indianapolis.

Combs has said in the past that the college hopes for occupancy in the summer of 2022 and final completion in December of 2022.

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