COLUMBUS, Ind. — Some of the world’s most accomplished architects participating in next fall’s Exhibit Columbus exhibition are far more than mere builders, as Sara Zewde sees it. Actually, what they will be building is a connection with community members’ perspectives of various local, well-known sites — and the memories and meanings those sites hold for many.
“So we’re interpreters,” Zewde said, adding that she hopes her firm can create an installation at Mill Race Park “capturing a reflection of a moment in time.”
Zewde, from the Harlem-based Studio Zewde firm, was just one of the four prestigious 2023 Miller Prize recipients speaking as part of a wide-ranging panel discussion Friday evening at The Commons during “Public By Design,” the Exhibit Columbus symposium held every other year. Exhibit Columbus annually highlights art, architecture, community and design amid Columbus’ substantial mid-century Modernist legacy.
While the Miller Prize winners interpreted their views on the city and its celebrated structures before a crowd of nearly 200 people, they told the audience that they were unsure they could necessarily bring anything distinctly “new” to their sites.
That came in response to panel moderator and The Republic Editor Julie McClure asking what new elements designers might add to a structure or landscape. McClure was selected by organizers to bring a more everyday human feel, rather than technical expertise, to the discussion. With that charge, she kept the chatter lively and within the bounds of common terminology all could understand.
Christopher Marcinkoski with PORT, with offices in both both Chicago and Philadelphia, said his team, ready to build at Mill Race Center, wants to “bring the sense of joy out of the center to the broader public.”
The building, opened in 2011, is a community facility for active adults aged 50 plus — and a place that impressed Marcinkoski with its flurry of activity Friday.
Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder of New York City-based Pau studio, was perhaps most impressed with local people on Friday — specifically, high schoolers fascinated with design. He enjoyed lunch with them.
“Whoever their professor is — give that person a raise,” Chakrabarti said.
His firm will be designing an installation for property surrounding The Commons.
“We love the ambiguity of it,” Chakrabarti said, “and the passion that people here have for their downtown.”
Zewde told the audience that she’s especially excited to work at Mill Race Park, designed by noted landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh. Years ago, he was her professor, and she served as his teaching assistant. Plus, she noted that next year marks the park’s 30th anniversary.
Miller Prize winner Tatiana Bilbao of EStudio in Mexico City, Mexico, will have her installation on the Bartholomew County Public Library Plaza. Bilbao mentioned that she nearly wishes the theme for the newest Exhibit Columbus cycle could be slightly tweaked to read, “Designed By the Public” instead of “Public By Design,” such is her desire to allow input and submitted ideas.
When panelists were asked what they hoped to take away from their work and interaction here, her exuberant answer was short and sweet.
“Joy — that’s what we’ll take away,” Bilbao said.
A couple area architecture students said what they took away from the gathering Friday partly was inspiration from top designers, and a chance to speak with them one on one. Ball State University student Ricardo Ayala loved the discussion.
“This is one of the best ways to learn — and where you really discover some of the current (architectural) issues,” Ayala said.
The moderator seemed to speak for many locals in the crowd when she told the group about the sense of anticipation to see their creativity at next year’s exhibition opening in August.
“We’re all excited,” McClure said, “to see our community in a new way through your eyes.”
For a complete schedule of today’s Exhibit Columbus events, visit exhibitcolumbus.org.
