Project Information
The Columbus, IN Architecture Depository, creates a record of Columbus’ material history. In combining Irwin Union Bank with a pragmatic-poetic addition, the project engages in praiseworthy competition with its architectural ancestors. Twentieth-century philosophy was driven by either/or: Modernism with the abstract and pragmatic, Postmodernism with the material and poetic. Either/or is no longer sufficient. Architecture necessitates a both/and condition, bringing together the abstract and material, the pragmatic and poetic, and the object and field into a cohesive whole creating a dialogue with context and disseminating meaning.
In Columbus, Indiana this both/and proposition exists through the patronage of J. Irwin Miller. It is a belief that architecture “reflects what a city thinks about itself and what it aims to be”. Columbus’ Modernism responds to previous generations, bringing together pragmatic and poetic. This thesis aspires to create an architecture depository, a record of Columbus’ material history. In combining Eero Saarinen’s Irwin Union Bank with a pragmatic-poetic addition, the project engages in praiseworthy competition with it’s architectural ancestors.
“A good life is one led in praiseworthy competition with one’s ancestors. The best response to the gifts we receive from previous generations is to create something of lasting value in our own time and in our own way for future generations.”
J. Irwin Miller
