from One Columbus to Another

Columbus IN, a city with a population of less than 40,000, ranks No.6 in terms of architectural innovation and design in US by AIA. I finally made it there right before the new year. It was quite a dramatic journey from one Columbus to another! The arch tour covered buildings by starchitects such as Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, César Pelli, Richard Meier. The following three Saarinen buildings are my favorites -

First Christian Church, Eliel Saarinen 1942

North Christian Church, Eero Saarinen 1964

Irwin Union Bank, Eero Saarinen 1954

"Pop-art" building that looks better on photo -

AT&T/SBC Switching Center, Paul Kennon 1978

Design is everywhere in Columbus IN: from architecture to bridge, from sculpture to landscape. Modern landscape design master Dan Kiley did over 30 projects in Columbus.

2nd Street Bridge, J. Muller International

Large Arch, Henry Moore

Birds of Fire, Ted Sitting Crow Garner

Bartholomew County Veterans Memorial

Besides the numerous sculptures in the city, the trees are also very sculptural, esp. in winter when all that's left is the skeleton. You can’t help imagining how gorgeous they will turn out in spring, summer and fall time.