Great architecture puts town on map

[PonderInc]

I was just listening to an interview on Studio Tulsa with architect, Deborah Burke.  One of her stories blew me away.

It seems that the little town of Columbus, Indiana (pop 40,000) is filled with magnificent buildings by world-class architects such as Eero Saarinen and I.M. Pei.  The AIA ranks Columbus as 6th in the nation for innovative architectural design (behind towns like NYC, Chicago, Boston...).

How did this happen?  J Irwin Miller, the CEO of Cummins Engine Co, established the Cummins Foundation in 1954.  The foundation will pay the architect fees for any public building in Columbus, as long as they use an architect from an approved list.

Since its inception, the Cummins Foundation has paid over $15 million in architectural fees to build schools, fire stations, public housing, hospitals and a jail--more than 40 projects in all.

Here's a cool article about the Cummins Foundation and its influence on the architecture of the city.  

Here's my favorite quote:
Miller, a fan of modernist architecture, sought to promote good architecture to arrest the deterioration of the core city as people moved to the outskirts. He also wanted to make the Columbus school system as attractive as possible to draw the kind of employees and residents he felt Columbus needed. So in 1954 he set up the Cummins Foundation to pay the fees of world-famous architects to design the city's schools...

...the city's reputation for fine architecture is so well established that other companies have ponied up for top-notch design, just to keep up, as Bolner said, with the "spirit of the community."

[sgrizzle]

Quick, someone tell Kaiser.

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

Quick, someone tell Kaiser.

And get him to have a public works competition with Cadieux or [insert other wealthy Tulsans here].

[Wrinkle]

Been there for an official tour. Nice visit, amazing architecture. Worth the effort if ever in the vicinity.

...probably similar to what they used to say about this place BPL (Before Parking Lots).

[tulsa1603]

I've been there too.  Very intriguing.  In fact, my favorite part was the downtown shopping mall designed by none other than Cesar Pelli.  It was done in the mid 1970's, and is really pretty nasty by today's standards, a totally dead mall, but it was still fun to see some of his earlier work while our BOK Center was being constructed.