The highly anticipated Exhibit Columbus 2021 Design Presentations invite the public to experience a virtual and public exhibition. Curated by Architect Iker Gil and critic Mimi Zeiger the third iteration of Exhibit Columbus expands on a theme fit for the current social climate, New Middles.

Archinect, and our sister site Bustler, are the official media sponsors for Exhibit Columbus' Design Presentations this year. Stay tuned for upcoming coverage of the event and participating designers. 

"Over the course of four sessions on March 19 and 26, Exhibit Columbus will host the 2021 Design Presentations" explains the Exhibit Columbus team. "The second public event in the 2020-21 cycle of Exhibit Columbus New Middles: From Main Street to Megalopolis, What is the Future of the Middle City? invites the public to preview design concepts of thirteen site-specific, future-oriented public installations and experience the design process first-hand."

Anne Surak, director of Exhibit Columbus, shares, "The Design Presentations draw on Columbus' identity as a city for experimentation and collaboration by bringing the public into the creative process. The event is the first chance for the public to preview the exhibition and an exciting opportunity to learn how our city continues to fuel new architecture, art, and design." 

The event is the first chance for the public to preview the exhibition and an exciting opportunity to learn how our city continues to fuel new architecture, art, and design. - Anne Surak

This year's critically acclaimed two-year cycle of programming "activates the design legacy of Columbus through a symposium and exhibition. At a moment when reflection, creativity, and innovation is most needed to envision new ways of being, New Middles builds on Columbus' legacy as a laboratory for design as a civic investment to explore the future of the center of the United States and the regions connected by the Mississippi Watershed." 

Participants from around the globe will join in online and listen in during the live-streamed Zoom presentations. Participants will be able to hear from New Middles curators and learn about the Exhibition's core themes and sites. Virtual participants will also be able to meet the 2020-2021 J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize recipients, University Design Research Fellows, and High School Design Team; and view design presentations for the thirteen installations. 

The event is also an opportunity for the public to experience design as a process by seeing how special guests respond to the presentations and infuse the Exhibition with various perspectives. Special guests include community partners and experts in the field, such as David Brown, 2021 Artistic Director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and Jia Gu recently appointed director of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. 

Learn more about this year's designers below

2020-21 Exhibit Columbus Designers

Awarded to renowned national and international design practices who share J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller’s commitment to the transformative power of architecture, art, and design, five J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize Recipients were commissioned to activate the public spaces of archetypal civic forms and create the most highly anticipated installations of the exhibition.

• Dream the Combine (Minneapolis, MN) Mill Race Park (Michael Van Valkenburgh and Stanley Saitowitz, 1993)

• Ecosistema Urbano (Miami, FL and Madrid, Spain)  Central Middle School (Perkins&Will, 2007)

• Future Firm (Chicago, IL) Sears Building Plaza (Cesar Pelli of Gruen Associates, 1973)

• Olalekan Jeyifous (Brooklyn, NY)  Cleo Rogers Memorial Library (I.M. Pei and Partners, 1971)

• Sam Jacob Studio (London, England) Washington Street

Awarded to leading professors of architecture, landscape architecture, and design from North American universities, seven University Design Research Fellows were selected to tackle issues germane to middle cities including sustainability and material reuse, non-human habitat, watershed ecologies, emergent technologies, and migration.

• Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller (Texas Tech College of Architecture, El Paso)  Crump Theatre (Charles Sparrell, 1889) 

• Ang Li (Northeastern University) The Commons (Koetter Kim, 2011)

• Derek Hoeferlin (Washington University in St. Louis) Columbus Pump House (Harrison Albright, 1903)

• Joyce Hwang (University at Buffalo) Mill Race Park (Michael Van Valkenburgh and Stanley Saitowitz, 1993)

• Jei Jeeyea Kim (Indiana University) First Christian Church (Eliel Saarinen, 1942)

• Lola Sheppard and Mason White (University of Toronto & Waterloo University) Washington Street

• Natalie Yates (Ball State University) Franklin Square (ca. 1835; additions 1870, 1920)

Inspired by Miller's vision that innovative education facilities lead to a forward-thinking educational system, the High School Design Team, comprised of students from the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC), was also commissioned to create an installation for the 2021 Exhibition at Central Middle School (Perkins&Will, 2007). 

2020-21 Exhibit Columbus Curators

The 2020-21 cycle of Exhibit Columbus is the first to feature outside curators. Iker Gil is the founder of MAS Studio and the nonprofit MAS Context and executive director of the SOM Foundation. Mimi Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based critic, editor, and curator. Gil and Zeiger bring an extensive background in researching and creating exhibitions and publications around architecture and design through themes related to alternative histories of modernism, cities, and the urgencies of civic space, resiliency, and connectivity.

Event Details 

Design Presentations are organized conceptually around sites. Registration is free through Eventbrite at [link]. AIA continuing credits are available. 

• Friday, March 19, 10 am – 12 pm EST Ecologies: Columbus Pump House and Mill Race Park  Presentations by Dream the Combine, Derek Hoeferlin, and Joyce Hwang 

• Friday, March 19, 2 pm – 4 pm EST Geographies: Crump Theatre, First Christian Church, and Franklin Square Presentations by Jei Jeeyae Kim, Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller, and Natalie Yates

• Friday, March 26, 10 am – 12 pm EST Visibilities: Washington Street, Sears Building Plaza, and The Commons  Presentations by Future Firm, Sam Jacob Studio, Lola Sheppard and Mason White, and Ang Li

• Friday, March 26, 2 pm – 4 pm EST Possibilities: Central Middle School and Cleo Rogers Memorial Library  Presentations by Ecosistema Urbano, Olalekan Jeyifous, and the High School Design Team

To learn more about the 2021 Exhibit Columbus event and register click here.