Columbus Design Institute
Columbus Design Institute is a technical service initiative that promotes the Value of Good Design that built Columbus. It collaborates with partners through its design process to encourage meaningful investments in the sustainable and equitable development of communities.
Featured Projects
Indiana Main Street: Mayors’ Workshop 2021
Inspired and supported by the Mayors’ Institute of City Design, Columbus Design Institute (CDI) hosted an online workshop with five mayors from the State of Indiana. This three-day workshop focused on the challenges cities are experiencing on their Main Streets or in their Downtowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, while looking optimistically towards a safe, post-COVID-19 era next summer.
Indy Design Week 2020: Homeworks
Columbus Design Institute created Homeworks to provide thoughtful responses to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic through the a series of conversations with academics, designers, and community practitioners. Over the course of four days, conversations focused on: Social Connectivity, Public Space, Home Life, and Food Systems.
16 Tech is an urban innovation district under development in the historic Riverside neighborhood and within the Indiana Avenue Cultural District on the northwestern edge of downtown Indianapolis. Columbus Design Institute provided design advisement on the RFQ/RFP process to identify an excellent team to build a $14.5m bridge that will be completed by end of 2023.
Mayors’ Institute on City Design
The Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors. Columbus Design Institute was selected to host a regional session with six mayors and eight design experts from across the country for a Regional Session in October 2019.
Together with People for Urban Progress and with the support of the Cummins Foundation, Columbus Design Institute produced a four-part monthly conversation series in Indianapolis to bring together national and local thought leaders around the topic of inclusive design. The complete series was made into four part podcast.
With support from the Lilly Endowment’s Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Cultural Innovation initiative, Columbus Design Institute partnered with the Central Indiana Community Foundation to run an international design competition to create a transformative public space at the General Motors Stamping Plant site in downtown Indianapolis.