Marlon Blackwell Architects has shared an update to their planned air traffic control tower project in Columbus, Indiana, following its initial announcement in December 2023. Renderings of the design revealed this week detail the firm’s pledge to create “more than a piece of infrastructure” but rather “a beacon of Columbus’s architectural and design heritage” standing as a “key gateway into the city."
As such, the 129-foot stainless steel and aluminum creation is set to include a multi-purpose space for education and community events. Thornton Tomasetti is included as a partner for the tower’s facade design.
Construction will progress along a two-year timeline to the early spring of 2027 following the $11.5 million project’s groundbreaking in early 2025.
9 Comments
Bizarre. And not in a good way.
lego minifigure + radiator
i suddenly have the desire to get a haircut…
I usually find their work competent, if forgettable. This is the opposite on both counts.
Opposite of archanonymous, I love Blackwell's work pretty unreservedly. The school in Bentonville is so fantastic. The little pavilion at 100 Acres is delightful.
I'm having a hard time figuring this one out. It might be a rendering problem.
In the same boat as Donna. But also everyone should be aware the FAA has very strict guidelines that dictate how these towers are built. While I don't think this is it, I do sympathize with what Blackwell was up against in dining something that appeared to be elegant.
It's possibly a mismatch of architect and project. Blackwell's talents seem to lie more in the realm of designing horizontal lowrise buildings.
this is an office i hadnt heard of before, but this project made me look them up.
It is a strange object and looks like it might not be functional, but there is no way it isnt. It's kind of magical. It stands out in a sea of boxy functionalist buildings and suggests we could have done something different for all of those blocks too if we only cared enough to live and work in places with poetry. But at least this will exist. No diagrams, no excuses, no real explanations. What more could we want? It's great.
It looks too much like something to be disruptive, though I have no idea what. It reminds of a hair cutter—I bought one during the pandemic.
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