Agreeing on a specific definition of design excellence was a challenge for four people linked in some way to design’s impact during a Friday afternoon online panel discussion at Indy Design Week.
Yet, afterward, when pressed, Columbus native landscape architect Randy Royer, past president of the Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, readily identified one example of design excellence off the top of his head: Eero Saarinen’s North Christian Church and Dan Kiley’s celebrated surrounding grounds.
“But each city has a different take on this,” Royer said during the discussion in conjunction with the Columbus Design Institute. That’s an initiative promoting the value of design excellence and the resulting impact on the quality of a place.
On the panel with Royer were Blair Milo, the state of Indiana’s first secretary for career connections and talent; New York City’s Julia Day, director and team lead at Gehl, a global leader in urban design; and Andrew Mitchell, president at the Indiana Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The institute is launching a new annual event to define the “State of Design Excellence in Indiana” in partnership with Indy Design Week.
Richard McCoy, executive director of the Landmark Columbus Foundation that cares for the city’s design legacy and its structures, served as moderator of the hour-long panel discussion. McCoy offered a general example of design excellence earlier in the week.
“Columbus proves that design excellence is a key driver to improving quality of place, which itself is a critical component of developing, retaining, and attracting creative talent,” McCoy said.
He added that the event was meant to “help celebrate and define successes in Indiana design, and the leaders that are making a difference in their communities.”
At the beginning of the discussion, McCoy highlighted late architectural aficionado and advocate J. Irwin Miller’s often-quoted comments in 1964 at the dedication of architect Robert Trent Jones’ Otter Creek Clubhouse and Golf Course to make Columbus “the very best community of its size in the country” — and one strong at attracting families.
The institute’s leaders believe that design excellence is a key to the quality of a place, which they believe in turn helps in attracting, developing and retaining creative talent in Indiana.
“It’s critical to look at how we think about attraction (of workers),” Milo said.
Day mentioned that studies and statistics can be critical in approaching design. For the past several years, she has implemented Public Space Public Life studies to repurpose streets as play spaces in communities lacking open space.
“You measure what you care about,” Day said. “A lot of people don’t have data. But it can be incredibly valuable in the design process.”
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For more information on the Columbus Design Institute:
landmarkcolumbusfoundation.org/institute
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