Marlon Blackwell Architects has announced it will be designing a new air traffic control tower at the Columbus Municipal Airport in Columbus, Indiana. The $11.5 million project helps the airport modernize its facilities in line with current Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control Tower design and safety standards. 

Plans call for a 100-foot design to replace an aged-out 80-foot tower with help from a team that includes Woolpert (aviation design), Guy Nordenson (structural design), Thornton Tomasetti (façade design), and Threshold Acoustics (acoustic consulting). The project is being supported, in part, by a grant from the Cummins Architecture Foundation.

Marlon Blackwell was selected over other shortlisted finalists from Snow Kreilich Architects, SO – IL, and Höweler + Yoon. 

“We are so honored to have been selected to contribute to the architectural legacy of Columbus,” Blackwell says of the opportunity to design the firm’s first project in the Midwestern architectural hotspot. “More than a piece of infrastructure, our hope is that the new Columbus Municipal Airport Air Traffic Control Tower will become a beacon of Columbus’s architectural and design heritage, that will mark a key gateway into the city."

In a press statement, Cummins Foundation CEO Jim Schacht offered: “As a woman- and minority-owned business, MBA brings a sought-after level of excellence to its collaborative design process, which will ensure this tower reflects the high standards of the community.”

The Arkansas-based firm had previously contributed a pavilion design to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. 

Construction of the tower will progress along a year-long timeline following the project’s groundbreaking in early 2025.