Latest News
Pelli: Commons surpassed original vision/AMCE Groundbreaking
Pelli: Commons surpassed original vision
STAFF REPORTS editorial@therepublic.com (The Republic, Columbus, Indiana)
“Heartbreaking” is the word Cesar Pelli uses to describe the decision to gut The Commons building he designed in Columbus almost 40 years ago in favor of a newer version.
But he envisions that his latest project in Columbus — the Advanced Manufacturing Center for Excellence at Columbus Municipal Airport — will spawn other futuristic buildings in the area.
The world-renowned architect made these and other observations during a wide-ranging interview with local residents earlier this month following ground-breaking ceremonies for the teaching facility which will be located in a campus-like complex also occupied by IUPUC, Ivy Tech and the Learning Center.
Participating in the dialogue were Harry McCawley and Chrissy Alspaugh of The Republic; Lynn Lucas of the Columbus Area Visitors Center; Lynn Bigley of the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives; Chris Beach of the Learning Center; and Darin C. Cook, a senior associate in the firm of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.
Pelli said that when he was first contacted by Columbus business leader and philanthropist J. Irwin Miller in 1970 to design a shopping center for the downtown area, the vision was simply for a shopping center.
“I just concluded that if we did a traditional shopping center … this was going to do nothing for Washington Street,” he said. “That’s when I proposed the idea of The Commons, which would be on the streets, would belong to the streets and also would have the shopping center … which he understood immediately.”
Although there was some well-known opposition to the project during its conceptual stage and early years of operation, the architect was unaware that Columbus businessman Joe Hilger had coined the phrase “Red Square” to describe the building which featured a bright red band around the exterior.
“I didn’t know that,” he said with a smile. “But that’s delightful.”
JOE HARPRING | THE REPUBLIC
Architect Cesar Pelli - CESAR PELLI Q & A , 2009
QUESTION: When did you first become acquainted with Columbus architecture?
PELLI: I first visited Columbus in 1956. I came with Kevin Roche, who was working on the Miller house, and we came to visit the house, it was under construction. All of the elements were there but it was far from finished, the landscaping had not been finished. It was a great visit and we took a look at the buildings in town. There wasn’t much yet there. The Irwin Union Bank was there and the First Christian Church was there, so the town impressed me very much, a lovely town.
For me, I first came to the United States in 1952, October ’52, from Argentina, to the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, which is not a very different landscape than Columbus. I studied there for two years and then I went to work for Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. I was with Eero until he died.
In 1964, I left (the Saarinen firm) to go to Los Angeles. I was in Los Angeles about 12½ years when I was (asked) become dean of the school of architecture at Yale University. Shortly after that I was selected to do the expansion and modernization of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, so I had to create an office, which I did, and we got other projects.
We were very lucky to win a couple of competitions to design the world financial center in New York, which was a much, much larger project than I ever imagined we would have. And that actually set the tone for the firm, it changed the character of the firm. It made me and the firm very credible in designing large, tall groups of buildings, which we have done since then.
The opportunity to design for Columbus actually came around 1970, and Irwin Miller asked me to work on the design of a shopping center … and how to connect it with Washington Street, I just concluded that if we did a traditional shopping center as it was being recommended, would do nothing for Washington Street, because the life was all inward. That’s when I proposed the idea of the Commons which would be on the streets, would belong to the streets, and also would have the shopping center, but primarily to be primarily a family facility for family events. He (J. Irwin Miller) understood immediately and he liked the idea, accepted it, and we decided.
Since then I have been coming to Columbus every so often, so I have seen the whole growth and change of Columbus, both in sense of buildings, in sense of population.
QUESTION: What were your first impressions of the city? Did you first learn of it through Saarinen?
PELLI: Through Saarinen. First, through Saarinen. Irwin Miller and Columbus were very impressive in the Saarinen firm, everybody knew about Columbus, everybody talked about Columbus. But I already knew about Columbus when I was in the University of Illinois, before I went to Saarinen. We knew about the architecture in Columbus.
QUESTION: What was it like working with Eero Saarinen?
PELLI: It was wonderful. He was an ideal person to work for. He was very considerate. He was very talented, but he never acted as a guru or as a know-it-all, he was always open to suggestions, criticisms, and he expressed all of his doubts in front of us, so that he made the process of design and searching for excellence, he made the process very open and very obvious.
QUESTION: Do you have any favorites among the buildings you’ve designed?
PELLI: It’s complicated, but for me, my buildings are like my children, so I try not to have favorites.
They are all equally important, equally valuable, for different reasons. It’s like children, you like one because he is charming and lovely, and the other because he is hardworking, the other because he plays the piano very well.
QUESTION: Back to the Miller home. The property has been donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Visitors Center will be running tours through the home …
PELLI: This is fantastic, and I believe that the Miller family also gave an endowment to maintain the house. I think that’s very generous of the Miller children.
I was very pleased to hear that and I think the one that most dedicated himself and much of his life to Columbus is Will. Will is the one that inherited the mantle from his father.
QUESTION: When you were planning the Commons and the Courthouse Center — how did “Chaos” come to be?
PELLI: I thought that a beautiful piece of sculpture in the middle of it would elevate the character of the space, and I wanted a sculpture that would put a bit of whimsy into it. I knew of Jean Tinguely, so I contacted him and he wrote a letter, yes, I’ll do it, I remember, for $120,000, I’ll fabricate it in Paris and I’ll ship it over there.
But he also came to Columbus and metwith the people. In fact he fell in love with Columbus. His was a great type of genius, or luck, because the fact that he built it here, with technicians from Columbus, made the sculpture as much Columbus as Tinguely. And that was wonderful.
I must say, that’s what great artists are. He sensed, despite difference of what he had imagined, he adopted his piece to it. He went to visit Eero Saarinen’s church and he saw there were some huge nuts and bolts on the building — ‘I want those, I want those on my sculpture.’
Q: He must have been a wonderful character.
He was a character. One day, he was gone away for a week to do something, he came back and the workers had put some work shoes on the sculpture. He loved the idea and he welded them to the sculpture.
QUESTION: What was your emotional reaction when the decision was made to essentially tear down The Commons but leave the shell?
PELLI: Well, unquestionably, heartbreaking, no question.
QUESTION: But there’s still a part of it left, as far as the original ….?
PELLI: Part of it, but the design is gone.
QUESTION: As an architect, do you build for durability, something that’s going to last for generations?
PELLI: No, no, not necessarily. I think if it lasts for generations, that’s luck. I think if the buildings are to be alive, and that’s important to me, then they have to face demolition and death. You cannot have life without death. And I think the same thing is true of the buildings, I think they need to be exposed to the contingencies of life in all of its qualities. And if they have to go, they have to go. And it’s sad, but it happens to real people. They also go and it is sad, but you can’t keep them.
QUESTION: As to the advanced manufacturing facility. Was this a different structure, as far as your history of designing buildings?
PELLI: Well, most of the buildings you do are different, you know. That’s one of the things I love about architecture, that every new project brings a new problem and new conditions and sometimes a new place that I have to go and visit and understand. In the understanding of all of these things I find great richness. So this was new, we have never designed a building with these functions, but I don’t think there are many buildings like this in the world.
It’s a very simple structure, supported all by columns, the walls don’t support anything, the walls can move freely and you can cut holes in the exterior walls if you need, you can make a single huge space, very high ceilings —17 feet.
So it’s a very generous space. They all have windows above work height so that there is total flexibility in the use of the walls and the windows are all very protected so this would be not only a very efficient but a very sustainable building. Really what we have designed is a great tool that will be very adaptable, because they know they will change. That is inevitable, inevitable.
QUESTION: What were some of the challenges you had to overcome with this building and once you figured out how to get around those
PELLI: There were two or three challenges. The first one was the ownership of the site. Fortunately, it was not for me (to get involved in that question). The other one was the budget, because the budget to me was very tight. We had to design very carefully with cost in mind in every decision. But I don’t mind that discipline. If it would have been 1 million less it would have been extremely hard. But as it was we just barely squeezed a very good design within those modest budgets.
QUESTION: What was your vision for the design?
PELLI: What we wanted was a building that would feel simple, welcoming, easy to use, elegant and will fit well within this context of (surrounding) buildings. If we could have had a little more money we would have built a quadrangle involving IUPUC and this building (the Learning Center), which could become the gathering place for all the institutions here. This could be like the quadrangle for this campus. It’s really a campus now.
QUESTION: Your site plan envisions the possibility of other adjacent buildings …
PELLI: I think (that) will happen because once you have a successful gathering of futuristic institutions such as this, there will be many others that want to join or many other needs could appear. This is inevitable, once you start the snowball rolling, it just gathers some momentum.
QUESTION: How did you deal with the traditional perception of a manufacturing facility as a workplace?
PELLI: This is for me more than a manufacturing place. It’s a learning and teaching place. Because it was always very much in my mind, they will be learning manufacturing (but it is also) a gentle place.
QUESTION: And more technology, perhaps?
PELLI: Oh, absolutely. And many will be learning management. I expect that for many, many youngsters, they will come here and they will discover that they have aptitudes and potentials that they did not know about. Many of these youngsters are not going to go into manufacturing but are going to end up being CEOs (or industrial managers). It’s a possibility of talent.
So it’s entering into a place that offers you some possibility where you can go forward, where you can learn something that you can apply in your next step. And I think this is what AMC is all about. It’s not just to train workers. That may be the basic theme, but this is to me a ladder to a better life to very, very many youngsters.
This is a creative opportunity for youngsters. Opportunities to learn and to, not only to learn about manufacturing, but to learn about themselves, that’s what good teaching does.
JOE HARPRING | THE REPUBLIC Architect Cesar Pelli and Will Miller converse in a quiet moment after the groundbreaking for the Advanced Manufacturing Center for Excellence, Nov. 6, east of the Columbus Learning Center.
|
