Officials are looking to add a ramp to the front plaza of Columbus City Hall

Officials are looking to add a ramp to the front plaza of Columbus City Hall and are enlisting Landmark Columbus Foundation to ensure it meshes with the rest of the structure architecturally.

The Board of Public Works and Safety on Monday unanimously approved an agreement between the city and Landmark Columbus Foundation, doing business as Columbus Design Institute, for $35,000.

Columbus Design Institute (CDI) will act as the city’s representative and project manager for the design and construction document phase of the project, which will increase accessibility to the space and be completed by December 2025.

The agreement specifies that CDI will pick a design team, including a licensed architect to carry the project from the design-phase to the bidding-phase. The city will handle the bidding process and construction oversight, per the agreement.

CDI is being paid $10,000, with $25,000 going to the eventually chosen architect.

CDI will work to “ensure the ramp design at City Hall is sensitive to and complementary to the architectural legacy of the building and the design heritage of the community.”

Their work will involve communicating with the Cummins Foundation about potential architecture fees, along with coordinating any public engagement during the process, as necessary.

“We want to engage Landmark Columbus because we do respect that this building has some real architectural significance to the community,” said Eric Frey, executive director of administration. “… They will help us not only navigate this process and community engagement, but also bring in an architect that has the sign-off of the community and Cummins Foundation and those individuals that I think we want to make sure are comfortable with anything we do.”

Columbus City Hall was designed in 1981 by Edward Charles Bassett of Skidmore, Owings & Merill.