Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the fire damaged Irwin Block building in Columbus, Ind., Monday, Jan. 9, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the fire damaged Irwin Block building in Columbus, Ind., Monday, Jan. 9, 2022.
One of the 13 Exhibit Columbus exhibition temporary installations will include 2,500 of the bricks from Irwin Block Building on Fifth Street in downtown Columbus destroyed by fire Dec. 3.
They will be a part of Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann’s effort, “Sylvan Scrapple,” to be located near the Bartholomew County Public Library Plaza and the Columbus Area Visitors Center on Fifth Street in downtown Columbus, just a short distance from the former structure.
The University if Virginia pair of University Design Research Fellow architects for the exhibition revealed that tidbit during their installation unveiling Saturday at the Exhibit Columbus Design Presentations.
The nonprofit Landmark Columbus staff gathered the bricks. The 130-year-old building, named for the great-grandfather of J. Irwin Miller, part of the inspiration behind the exhibition’s coveted Miller Prizes for its centerpiece designers, was recently demolished.
The collected bricks will be reconstituted into brightly-hued gabions or cages to augment the existing walls of the visitor center landscape.
Together, the installation’s curving timber panels and brick gabion will build upon a planter wall that links the visitors center to the library. Timber panels will offer thresholds, overlooks, and furniture. Gabions will form railings, creating a wooded oasis for reading, dining, and play.
